As We Remember featuring Mary Short

This project is made possible by a grant from The U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services.

[Debbie Chook] Welcome to this edition of the weekly program "As We Remember" [Ay-shi-kish-kish-shi-yauhk: Ee-shi-kishkishshiyahk] on 88.5. FM KEYA in Belcourt, North Dakota. Eliza Keplin will be with you in just a few moments to begin our program with a lesson in the Michif language, followed by our weekly visit with a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa. Now, here's Eliza Keplin.

[Laughter]

I--, uh, good evening, uh--

[Michif][Hello.]

[Michif][I'm the same.]

Yeah.

[Michif][And so now we will start visiting with, uh, Mary-- Mary Smith, uh, Short. Last week we didn't finish already too. So tonight we will visit but first before we start to visit, here will be a little language, words, a lesson.]

A lesson we have to have first. So we will have a--

[Michif][...As We Remember in Michif. In english--]

--As We Remember.

[Michif][And so we will start this teaching. Me, I will speak in Michif and Mary--]

[Michif][In English, in English--]

-- I will talk.

She will answer in uh --

[I'll] talk English while you talk French or Cree.

Uh-huh.

That way the people will more understand. Those that don't understand English-- I mean, French or Cree.

Right!

They can understand--

Right! Right!

[What] we're talking about it.

[Michif][That's it.]

You just repeat the same thing I say though, you know, in-- in English.

[Michif][Hello.]

[Michif][Still the same. How are you?]

[Ok, uh--]

That means 'how are you?'

Oh, how are you? Uh-huh.

[Michif][Still the same.]

Still the same, she-- you said eh?

[Uh-huh.]

[Michif][You then.]

You then.

[Michif][I'm still the same.]

I'm still the same.

[Michif][I'm happy that you came.]

I'm happy that you came.

[Michif][Where do you come from?]

Where do you come from?

[Michif][I come from the hospital.]

I come from the hospital, she said.

[Michif][Now what?]

Now what?

[Uh.]

[Michif][I think I'm sick. I think I'm sick.]

I think I'm sick, she said.

[Are you sick?]

Are you sick?

[Michif][Yes, I think you got the flu.]

[You-] I think you got the flu.

[Michif][My chest is sore.]

My chest is sore.

[Michif][I'm sore my throat.]

I'm sore my throat.

[Michif][Uh, my ears.]

My ears.

[Michif][And my head.]

[And] my head.

[Michif][I really feel bad.]

I really feel bad.

- -

[Michif][I think it's the weather.]

I think it's the weather.

[Michif][Yes, that's really true.]

[Yeah,] that's really, true.

[Michif][That's what it is apparently. Uh, I'll be glad when the snow goes away.]

I'll be glad when the snow goes away.

[Michif][Yeah, that's true.]

Yeah, that's true.

[Michif][And when it starts getting warm.]

Then when it starts getting warm.

[Michif][We'll all be crying it's going to be too hot]

We're going to be crying. It's going to be too hot.

Yeah.

[Michif][We're never satisfied.]

We're never satisfied in it.

[Michif][Well, that must be the way us people are.]

That must be the way us-- us people are.

[Michif][I think that is all teaching for now.]

[Laughs]

[Michif][A little bit.]

A little communication--

That [was] just repeating in English [what] was said in French.

Mhm. Yeah, right. Okay, uh, shall we start with the, uh, I think we were talking about uh--

[Michif][...we finished at medicine last week. And again, that is where you want to start? You have something to tell?]

Yeah.

[Michif][After--, after you're finished with that, we will talk about your family. When you got married to each other. Or children--]

Yeah [I- -we were] talking about medicine.

[Michif][But first we will talk about medicine. Alright.]

Yeah, I was telling them about the last time they came and visit over supper were talking about Indian herbs. Indian herbs is something that was from way back in the past. Our people and our days, we never had hospitals to go to so we use Indian herbs. So, I picked it up from my great grandmother, and my [grandmother's] friend, Mrs. Grandbois and Mrs-- The Old Lady Grandbois, Old Lady Belgarde, Old Lady Wilkie. They're all passed away now. Then my-- we used to pick medicine with them. And when we were small we were taught never to ask questions, just to go ahead and pick. Not like today. Today the kids ask you more questions and when you answer them, [they] have it all wrong, they got it backwards, but they think they got it right. But you can't tell him right from 00:06:00wrong because they don't listen. So-- but in them days we had to listen. We had to listen and understand what was said to us. So now I'm trying to teach other people because there's no-- it doesn't make no sense to me that I should let this go away when it helped out a lot of people and it cures a lot of people. There's a lot of times you'll go to a doctor and they're kind of confused about something but then the herbs there's-- God put the herbs on Earth to use, is just a matter of finding out what herbs is for what. And I got books. And I got knowledge of [a] long time ago.

[Michif][Long ago I used to understand her when my Grandma talked.]

That means my grandmother used to talk to me and [used to] tell us.

[Michif][There are many roots in the earth. My mom would say, "Tobacco, you--, you have to put down tobacco. When you take roots from the earth. You have to 00:07:00put tobacco."]

[For Mother Earth. That means you put your tobacco when you put the herbs out of the ground, you put tobacco back for Mother Earth to give you back the plants that you took out. [If] you don't do that, the plants disappear. There-- people don't understand this. They think that's not true but you try it sometimes and [you'll] know it is true. Because I've tried it on my yard because I wanted to know if that was true or not. I was one person [that] disbelieved a lot of things to like everybody else. But what happened, my plants never came back, and they're still not there. I got to pick up plants in different places now. That means--

[Michif][Now I have to go a long way to gather Snake Roots/Seneca Root. We used to take root, root medicine sticks. I still have my root medicine stick, me. He 00:08:00made it, my husband made a root medicine stick. The same like my mom used to have.]

I [got] a snake root digger, the same thing we used to have a long time ago, I said and I still got it. My husband made it for me. So the reason why I'm talking French, Cree and English to repeat, is because a lot of our people, they can't talk Cree, they don't talk French. So by repeating it in English, then they can understand what's it's all about. They can understand what-- the things is going on. So, you take like, Snakeroot. Okay, Snakeroots we call them--

[Michif][...Snakeroots/Senega root.]

And that's good for eczema, it's good for asthma, it's good for uh, TB. So you 00:09:00just make that into a tea, but it's to find them! They're getting more scarce and more scarce every year, but I guarantee if you drink that, on my guarantee that-- that's going to do something for you. And then like-- you take like-- like I was talking about the last time they came to visit, uhm, talking about something simple to us is diarrhea. Blood diarrhea, any kind of diarrhea, you don't give your children or adults anything sweet when they have any type of diarrhea. But what you do give them, is a rose bud. Everybody knows what wild 00:10:00rose buds look like and in French for the Wild Rose Buds--

[Michif][...Red/Pink Buttons.]

And you take a handful of those. You can even dry them to preserve them for the winter. And when they're good and dry you can stack them. Put them into a bag or something, and keep them, they'll keep. And you take a handful of that, you put it in hot water, boil it a little while, turn it off. You can put it into a baby bottle if that baby's small. If it's an adult you take a cup and put them in a cup, drink it. And it doesn't stop you, right off, it's not supposed to. But [then] I guarantee you, in two days, you'll be out of it. Anybody want to try it, I'll-- I'llbe more than welcome to tell them if they forget. I do wish that someone would pick this up, because there's a lot of things like -- there's seven different parts of a person's body.

[Michif][There's seven places in our body to really--]

--to work real good. So that's seven different things I put into this. Well that takes care of all the seven parts of your body that it's supposed to be working. So I got books because I couldn't-- I talk-- I used to be able to call my plants by French, but not English. I couldn't explain to my family or my kids [or] anybody what the plants-- name of the plants were. N-now I sent her a book and I got the book and all the colors, flowers are there. And the name of the plants is there even in our language. The Bitterroot, there's three ways they say it. Even in different languages.

[Michif][Bitterroot--]

--they call it. That's good for a lot of things, good for headaches and it's good for high blood pressure. It's good for a lot of things. Even if you're depressed. It's good for that. So, you use that. You just-- only got to do it -- heart -- it's good for heart. A person has got a heart attack or a slight heart attack like I have. I chew that now because I had gotten a slight heart attack so I'm chewing that and I feel a lot better with my heart, it's just that I have problems now with my body, my leg. But there's a lot of different things that these parts are good for. I know, I remember a long time ago when they used to go around picking. We used to stay and go and pick-- on the same time they were buying gopher tails. That's how we made our living. Cook-- get the golfer and take the tails, and as many tails as we brought in, we got paid. We got paid I 00:13:00think it was 15 cents a tail that uh-- from the gopher tail because there was so many gophers that destroyed gardens. And then we got-- we got hired, uh, WPA and CC, old people used to work on. Well they-- you went around killing pocket gophers. Then we had to tell how many pocket gophers we got. And then they went around and poison to kill him because we had a lot of that. Now, today, we don't have any rabbits. We don't have any ducks. We don't have uhm, no gophers. We don't have wild game of any kind and a long time ago we lived on wild game. But now we don't have that on the crown-- I know what it is, but nobody's paying attention. If the fields were sprayed with poison, how do you expect the animals to eat the grain and not-- and survive? They can't. So, we're running short of-- 00:14:00we're running short of uh, animals. We're running short of animals on account of-- they're dying. Now, there--

I remember about five--, six years ago. I was a heavy smoker. And so, the doctor told me, I had to quit smoking because the cigarettes was killing me. "So." he said. "Cigarettes causes cancer." A month after the doctor told me to quit smoking and uh, cigarettes cause cancer fifty head of cattle -- you can get the papers from that for back and you'll find it on there -- fifty head of cattle died in between Rugby and Rolette. And what did they find in those cattle? 00:15:00Cancer in the lungs. So I asked my doctor, what did that-- what did those cattle smoke? But you can tell from there that it's all caused from the uh, chemical that's put into the ground. Long time ago, we made our own gardens. We lived off of our own gardens and people live longer. People live healthier. And not only that but uhm, we used to do a lot of canning. Nowadays you can't can either because everything is under chemical. So we can go one way or the other. There was an old lady, she was 110, and she looked so healthy. She looked young. She had all her teeth. She had good eyesight. So asked her what her secret was and she said there was no secret if our people would just wake up and do the right thing. Now we have this--

I never drink water from my tap. I say, do you ever boil your water and put it into our kettle? And do you see all the rock into the kettle after you boil water so many times in it? Well, that's all goes into your body. So what we do, we boil our water and we strain our water, and we put-- put it, let it set and then we take the water from the top and put it in a cooler or put it in bottles to drink. So that way we don't get all this rock that comes from the water, hard water, there's a lot of rock in it and that's what causes our problem today in our body because we don't do that. I remember a long time ago, my grandma and them and all of us, when we used to go picking, well we used to even take water from a slough because we didn't-- we couldn't go where there wells. There was no wells. So we just went to a slough and got water. Now today you can't do that either because the chemical from the air goes in the water. So then, that's all polluted. So you can't say, you're going to do that either. Or you got to go with the tap water now.

Sounds interesting Mary, I have a question here uh, the uh, some of these herbs 00:17:00you talk about, I imagine, have to be picked in special places, huh?

Sometimes, yeah.

Some of them.

And a certain time of the year. Like now in uh-- you take-- like in May they call the Mayflowers, they come out. Well the Mayflowers you can't drink but you take the Mayflowers -- they're kind of a lavender. You must see them. They're grown-- they're the first ones that come out. And you take that and you put them--

Is that the crocus?

I think that's what they call them in English.

Yeah. They're right short, they're close to the ground.

Yes.

First ones that come out.

Yeah and then if you smell them too much you get a nose bleed out of them. You know, and they're real strong. So you take that and the tops and then you take the root. You grind up the root before it dries and then you take the top and 00:18:00you boil them but you put just so much water in it and uhm, maybe a half a cup of water, just to boil it. And after you boil it, you take alcohol. Now, this is one way we could probably use alcohol or--

For a good reason.

Yeah. For a good reason.

Without hurting us.

Serve a good purpose. You take the alcohol and you pour it into the water and you strain all that them-- medicine out the flowers. You take that out. But you take the water that it was boiled in and you put it with the alcohol and you use that as a liniment for your legs, for your feet, and your back, if you got a backache something, and that will ease the pain. A lot of times it will take the 00:19:00pain completely away, but you can't drink it because it's not anything to drink. And you take the Big Sage.

[Michif][The Big Sage.]

That one there, that's for horses and cattle. They use that for horses and cattle. You can't drink that. The sage that's small, the Short Sage, you can drink and use. There was a lady, I had her kept-- her clipping from the papers. She had cancer, and she weighed 200 and some pounds, and then here, she got cancer and she came down to 90 pounds. Her husband sold house, home, and everything. So, everything he had. To try to get her to have some kind of help or cure, or e-ease the pain but they couldn't do anything. So the old lady, if 00:20:00she didn't want to die in a hospital. She said she wanted to go home. So they went over to her daughter and stayed there. And uhm, here in the summertime -- so she was sitting outside over there, it was always summertime anyway, because there's no snow up in Georgia and all that, there's no snow there rains a lot but no snow -- So, she was sitting there outside and all of a sudden she seen this little weed. She didn't know what it was, but she said, like something told her to pick it up and boil it and drink it! And here that was Sage! Today that woman, when she last put the paper-- put it onto paper from a long time ago --hat must have been in '78, when I paper came out -- and then when the second time, it came out, that woman was cured of cancer and she weighs 175 pounds and that's all she drank. It was Sage. See the good Lord, put all these things on 00:21:00earth. If we treat the herbs right, we take care of them, we don't take them and abuse them, they'll do things for us.

There's also the bad medicine. Like I'll say well, Satan has got some too. So there is bad medicine. People don't believe that Indians can do things, can hurt you, can cripple, you can kill you. Yeah, it's true. You'd better believe it because it's true. Yeah, they do that. I seen it done. I seen a lady that sacrifice-- if you kill someone, you have to sacrifice someone in your house. Either your grandkids that you love. The one that you love the most you got to sacrifice that person for the life that you're taking of somebody else. And people don't realize these things sometimes, they do it because they think, oh, well, nothing's going to happen to me, but that's not true. Because I seen this lady where -- I won't name the-- who it is -- but this lady's gone now. She passed away. But then she had a son that was married to another girl from 00:22:00Belcourt here and he was up in Minneapolis. He was strong. He was healthy. He had one kid. He was really doing real good. And here this lady, she sold some medicine to another person from Red Lake. This man from Red Lake came to her and she called on me to go help her. So, I didn't know, I used to help her a lot with herbs to doctor people. But then she called on me. She sent her son to come and tell me I had to be there towards evening. So we went over there. She lived here by Dunseith about that time. So I-- we took off and we went there. When we got there her old man looked at me and shook his head. So I thought well, something is up, I wonder what. So I walked in and she said-- I said, "Well," I said. "Grandma, what do you want?" And she said, "Oh, just shut up and sit down," she said. "I'll tell you later."

So, when they tell us to shut up, we would know how to shut up. Not like today. 00:23:00So we didn't say anything, say no more, we went in the kitchen, make some tea, but it was so dark in that room. I didn't even see this man sitting in the corner. So she said, "You see that man sitting in a corner over there?" And I turn her got up and walked around the door and I said, "I didn't see him." Oh yeah now, I see him because I kind of adjusted with the light because they had only-- they had curtains on the windows and it was dark in that room. So, I said, "Oh yeah, I see him." So she said uh, "Do you see that hair dress on the wall?" And I looked on the wall and there was a nice hair dress, on a wall. It was a long one for a man, way down to her heels with feathers and tail and all. She said, "That's an outfit, that's $175," she said. I said, "Oh." But I still 00:24:00couldn't figure out what you wanted me to do. But I tell-- all of a sudden I'm thinking. I bet that man is sick or else his family is sick. So I said, "Well Grandma." I said, "What do you want us to do?" And she said, uh, "Well, you just wait, I'm telling you." She said, "You hang on there now. I'm telling you." So I shut up again and waited for her to finish. She said, "You see that man in that corner I told you?" I said, "Yeah." "Well," she said. "He's from Red Lake and his wife was taken away from his neighbor. And his wife and kids are at the neighbors. He can't get his wife or kids back." Well, that was okay. I could have done that-- helped her to do that to get the kids and the woman back to her-- to him. But she said, "He wants his family back and we're going to work on that." I said, "Oh, okay." "Yeah," she said. "But--," when she said "but" I thought now what else? And she said, "When a man gets his family back, he wants 00:25:00us to kill this man, the neighbor, so he'll never do that to anybody else again."

"Well," I said. "There I draw the line." I said, "I will not kill anybody." I said, "Because God didn't put this on Earth," I said, "To kill anybody." And I said, "And another thing." I said, "I love my family too much. I love my grandkids, my kids too much." I said, "There's no money and there isn't a thing in this world," I said. "That would make me do that." I said, "To kill anybody." Well, she got mad at me and she said, "Well get the-- you can get out of here."

[Michif]["Go home!"]

"Get home," she told me. "Don't come back here," she said. "Because I don't want to talk to you." So I went in the house-- in the other room and I told my husband, I said, "Let's go." He said, "I thought Grandma wanted --" and I went 00:26:00like that, I shook my head. I said, "Let's. Go." So he got up and came and the old man kind of had a smile on his face because he knew that I had turned the old lady down. So we walked out. The old man came along behind. We got in a car and pulled out. So I told the old man, I said, "Well grandpa, I don't think I'll be coming anymore." I said, 'But you can come to the house." "Yeah," he said, "that's all right." So, we left and we come home. So, here that old lady, she did what this whole man wanted her to do. So here she got that $175 robe-- bonnet there and then she got 175, I think, or 150 cash to do this for this man. But then a couple months after -- that man then died alright in Red Lake -- but a couple months after her son took sick and he died in Belcourt hospital here at the old hospital. He died there. He sent for me. And uhm, he said he wanted to talk to me.

[Phone rings]

[Sound of footsteps]

[Someone answers the phone and says, "Hello."]

- -

[Sound of the phone being hung up]

[Whispers] Didn't even answer.

[Whispers] Yeah.

So, uh anyway, here I went and seen this guy in the hospital. So he told me.

[Sound of door opening]

[Rustling in background]

- -

[Talking to someone in the distant background][If the phone rings you answer it. Answer it. There.]

[Sound of door closing]

So then when I went in there, he couldn't hardly talk, already. Though he was bleeding so bad from-- they had tubes running down his chest, his throat. They were pumping the blood on one side and they were giving him blood on the other hand. So, I went down there and they had a bowl of Jell-O there, but he didn't 00:28:00even touch it. So, I put my head down by him. And I said, "Yeah, my boy," I said, "what do you want?" And he -- I could hear him as a whisper in my ear. -- He said, "I want you to promise me something." And now this was the old lady's son. And I said, "Well, it depends. What it is." I told him. I said, "Depends what you want me to promise." I said. "But," I said, "if it's something good," I said "I'll promise," I said, "but, I want you to tell me what it is." So tears came down his eyes. And then he reached out and pulled me down closer. So I went down closer by him. He said "I want you to promise me you'll never do this like my mother done." He knew that his mother had gave him up. So his mother couldn't come in that room. She had to sit outside. Dad and mother couldn't come in there 00:29:00and he passed away that way. So I told him, I said, "I promise to you, my boy."

I said, "You don't have to worry about anything." I said, "This is a promise to you." I said, "I will never take anybody's life." I said, "That I-- I'll promise." I said, "Other things," I said, "yeah." I said, "People gets out of hand." I said, "And don't know," I said, "about hurting kids and hurting people." I said, "Yeah, then I'll take a different-- different way of stopping them. But," I said, "otherwise," I said "I will never kill anybody." I said, "Well, I'll do something, they'll remember." So he kind of-- just trying to smile and then he kind of tried to squeeze my hand, but he had no strength already. So I just lift up his head and cuddled his head and I gave him a kiss and I said, "Don't ever worry about this." I said, "I-- this is a promise that I'm making to you." So I stayed in the room there until-- that was in the 00:30:00afternoon and I stayed there till sundown. The next morning he passed away. But that old lady couldn't go in there because he didn't want his mother in there and he didn't-- he knew his mother gave him up. And that was really heartbreaking to see him. And he was a good-looking man. And he was a really polite man. H-he admired the ground he walked on. And he was a good father to his child. Yeah. H-he was a really good guy. It's hard to see heartbreak like that, you know, when God didn't put that on Earth. God put things on Earth to stop people from being evil, but he did not ever done. And I would give-- I would also say what a person could use for this, but then the stuff that you're using to teach people lessons, it's [also the sort] of stuff they used to kill the people. So that's why I wouldn't-- I wouldn't let that out because a lot of 00:31:00people would use this in a different way, not thinking what they're sacrificing. They got a sacrifice someone in their family!

And I don't think you can hate somebody that bad or want to do something for money that bad, to hurt somebody that-- like that, you know. These little kids is the one that pays. They don't understand why their daddy went, you know, he did-- that little girl didn't understand why his daddy all of a sudden died. Now, she was brought up different places after that. She had a good mother. The mother stayed lot of time with her, you know, took care of her. Took care fairly good of her but then it's not everybody left that kind of mother. Not today. So, these-- there are some secrets that I keep. But otherwise, a lot of people come to me when they have a curse put on them. I had two come from uh, one from Fort 00:32:00Totten, and one came from New Town, because their face was all twisted up and, and uh, Indians did it. Yeah. It's-- a lot of people don't understand that Indians have the power to do this. So they came here and before they walked out, they were okay. So, I still get letters. I get letters and phone calls from all over. So-- like they said I-- a lot of times I read cards. I'm uh, like a fortune teller, I'll read cards. But then my daughter, she thought that was evil for me. "Oh," s-she said, "ma, I don't want you to do it this again!" So Father Frank -- everybody knows Father Frank-- he come down here. Father Frank knew me from the time I was a little kid because he used to come over to my folks as place of my grandpa's place. So that's how old our Father Frank is now. So-- so she went over there to church because Father Frank was there.

I told her, "You go talk to him." I said, "He'll tell you." So she went over 00:33:00there and Father Frank said, "Does your mother hurt people by reading cards?""No, not that I know of.""Well that's-- well what do you want to know?""Well, I think it's evil to read cards." Well, Father Frank said, "All right. I'll put it this way. Do you-- did you hear about the man that went into the church? There's a song made about him and this, uh, telling about him. He went into the church with a deck of cards. He had no bible. He had nothing. He used a deck of cards to explain by-- the apostles and all. He had everything right down to the last card. And what did he do? Did he-- do you think that he was committing a sin by using the cards in the church?" He said "No. You know that man-- that deck of cards, probably served him better than anybody that 00:34:00could read a Bible because it's stuck in his head and that's why it's served a purpose. And if your mother's not hurting anybody. Well then," he said, "there's nothing-- your mother's not committing a crime or sin or anything. She's not hurting anybody. Like when they lose something while your mother helps to try to see where it is. Well, then that's not hurting anybody. That's trying to help somebody." So then, she come back and she said, "I'm sorry, ma I thought that about you." I said, "That's okay. Now you understand." I said, "Because my great-grandmother and my great-great-great grandmother used to read cards to help out people; find out what was wrong with them, if they were sick." Because they had to go one way or the other. We didn't have a doctor. We didn't have doctors even to deliver babies there were midwife's. and that's how I delivered 00:35:00four babies myself.

The first time I delivered her baby I didn't have time to get scared or think or what because the baby came before I had time to think. So I just had to do -- but just like the good Lord was with me and help me out -- so I did what I had to do and that was the right thing.

[3rd person speaking][You want some more? I'll get-- I-I'll get some for us.]

I think [uh] will stop a little while and give you a chance to take a little breath of air here and have a little drink of tea, eh? That one's good to steep. And uh, then we'll start after, and then, uh--

[Speaking in the background]

Well that-- that's true you know, that's what really happened.

That's very interesting.

[Music]

[Debbie Chook] KEYA you're with Debbie [Chook] and Eliza Keplin and the program "As We Remember" and uh, Eliza is listening to a little story here.

[Laughs]

[Debbie Chook] with our guest this week is Mary Smith Short of Belcourt. So here's Liza Keplin with this week's guest on the program [Ay-shi-kish-kish-shi-yauhk; Ee-shi-kishkishkshiyahk].

Uh, well, I think you've had a little rest now. And the tea was very good. Is very good. And ah--

[Michif][Mary. We're going to speak again now. I think this time now, um-- We'll talk about your family. How did you meet your husband? How-- Did you have a wedding? What happened--did someone help you, or else how?]

Yeah. I met my husband, well, I can't remember exactly the year, but anyway, I went with him for one whole year. First, I went with his brother, his brother Fred, but that didn't last very long because I goofed that one up. And uhm, then I met him, met my husband and I start going with him. Then we went out together a whole year and then we got married. We had the wedding over to his folks, because my folks didn't want nothing to do with it, ['cause they didn't] approve of him. And uh, so, them days, you either had to do what they told you to do or not, not at all. So I went against what they wanted me to do because the guy that they wanted me to go with, I thought I had got jilted by him. So, I didn't want to go with him anymore. They couldn't figure it out, but I wasn't going to tell, not-- no way was I going to tell everyone. I think I told was my mother. 00:40:00When I come home on midnight mass. Came home, midnight mass, and we went to the midnight mass. I was going with his brother at that time, he wasn't there. So here when we got in-- a long time ago they used to tell you, if you let a man touch you you're a disgrace for the public. So that was always told to us because you're going to have a baby.

[Laughter]

So, uh, oh we were really cautious about that. We were really afraid. So here, we went to the midnight mass and my uncle was driving horses on the sleigh. And I had a blanket around me to cover it up. And so we were going and we hit a bump -- a rock or something -- and it really knocked us up from the sleigh. My partner fell off the sleigh and this man, his brother, grabbed me and pulled me back on the sleigh and I cried all through mass because I thought, uh-oh, he 00:41:00touched me now I'm pregnant.

[Laughter]

And uhm, so here, then when I came home, he was going to help me off at a sleigh, he told me to be careful and I told him "Don't you dare come by me!" And uh, I was crying all this time. And then when we went in the house. He came in. He said, he told my mother, "I don't know what happened to her," he says, "she's mad at me." He said, "I don't know what's going on." So my mother-- I went in my room there -- and them days there was only one room. You had your beds in your had your stove. You had your table all into one room. -- So, here, I went and laid on my bed, and I started to cry again. I was thinking, what am I going to tell my mother? I'm a disgrace to my family and I'm not my disgrace to the people. So here, finally, my mother came and she said, "What's going on with 00:42:00you? What's the matter? Now, you got to tell me the truth." And I know them days you had to tell the truth to your parents regardless if it hurt it or what you have to tell the truth to the parents. So I told my mother I said, "I'm so sorry Mom." I said that-- I said, "But now we're going to have baby." She says "What!"

[Laughter]

And I said "I'm going to have a baby." And she said, "Well, how do you know that?" And I said, "Well because," I said, "this man touched me and," I said, "put me back on a sleigh because you see," I said, "we hit a stone or something and my partner fell off and he grabbed me and pulled me back on the sleigh." And my mother said, "Oh no, no, no, no, now you got this all wrong," she said. But already I had it in my mind and in my heart that this man could grab me like that. Well, he'd be doing something else. So from there, I didn't go with him. So-- and then I met my husband because he kept his distance from me. So. Oh, 00:43:00that was a good guy to go with. So then I went with him for one whole year. And then finally, he asked to marry me. And I said, "Yeah!" I jumped at the chance of getting married, so I wouldn't disgrace my family anymore. And then my mother said, "Not like that!"She said.

[Laughter]

So she kind of explained a little bit to me. But still I couldn't understand, so I thought maybe she's saying this so I'll feel better. So I-- then I married my husband and w-we had seven kids and I lost seven kids. And uh, I had miscarriages, so I lost seven. I lost one set of twins. And I lost my kids. And I got seven and I praise the Lord wvery day that my seven kids are with me and still alive. They're not right in the same town, but I know where they're at. And I think I'm really fortunate that my kids are all living. I sure feel for 00:44:00the people that lost their children because I think if I lost mine, I don't know what I would do. But then-- my brother lost two of his kids and I try to put myself in his place because I know what he was going through. And every Thanksgiving we try to get as many people as we can to come over and have Thanksgiving dinner with us.

And that way, what we can say, the prayers and thank the good Lord, that my kids were still around. And I--I can't see them. They're too far, but then, I can pick the phone and call and they could call me. And I think, like, a lot of people say, well-- my mother died, my father died, and they didn't leave me nothing. Well, my mother died, my father died, they didn't have nothing to leave me, they think, but I'll tell you what they did leave me, nobody, no one can take away, and that's love and understanding and they put me on my feet. Where that I understand life I understand people. And I love to work with people and I love to be around kids because this is the way we were taught. The last year 00:45:00that my mother -- she died, January 18th and that's-- 1969 when she passed away. I don't know why that number stays in my head, so, so much, but it's-- I could remember that day. And I could remember on New Year's Day, a long time ago, New Years, we cook for two--, three weeks ahead of time and then have people come in. So this one year when my mother passed away, me and my sister-in-law, we cooked for two weeks for her. And we had pies, pies, pies, cakes, cakes, cakes that we made. And--, so we made boulettes and everything ready and then me and my sister in law, we said, "You know what? Let's see-- let's count how many 00:46:00people that come in at twelve o'clock midnight. We won't count the kids, we'll just count the adults." So we did. We count at twelve o'clock midnight, seventy-five adults came in. Then I told my mother, I put my arms around her, and gave her a kiss. And I said "Mama, you know what?" And she said, "What?" I said. "Do you know how many people that came in?" I said, "at midnight? And she said, "No, there was a lot of them." And I said " Yeah, seventy-five people. But," I said, "we didn't count the kids." She said, "Gee! I didn't know that many people love me!" She said.

[Laughter]

So-- but that's the way it was a long time ago. And I'm kind of glad now though that things are going out, because nowadays, there's too much dope. Too much drinking. Adults have no respect for older people. So it wouldn't work out. They would probably come to eat, we'd probably feed them and next thing, you know, 00:47:00they'd probably shoot us or they'd probably get in a fight in the house. So, I'm kind of glad that it's kind of faded away.

Mhm.

But that's the way with my husband, and then he was a Cree and I was a Frenchman. And uhm, so, we just didn't click together, or as far as language went. But then his grandfather, Le Vieux Bachee, was his grandfather. And uh, his grandfather told me that I had to understand. He told me, he says,--

[Michif][..."come sit here and you're going to listen and you will learn what I say in Cree."]

That meant you're going to sit here and you're going to listen and you're going to understand my language.

You're gonna learn!

[Laughter]

So-- so that's the way I kind of got Cree and French mixed up.

[Telephone rings]

Mhm.

So, now I can talk a little Cree and I can talk a little French. I'm losing my 00:48:00French because no-- I got nobody to talk with. I think Eliza has got to come more often so I can pick it back up.

[Laughter]

Yeah, I think we're running short of time now. And uh, and I uh, want to say over and over again. Thank you very, very much. And uh--

[Michif][...thank you.]

Well thank you for coming.

[Michif][Thank you, thank you many times.]

[Laughter]

[Michif][Aye. You really speak the truth. To teach the children how to live right/properly, that one you say the right way. True, that is the truth. And we should have more of that. For our children to have that--]

--the values of our culture and our virtues, you know. So that they can live--

Yeah, we got to try to put--

...better lives.

--respect back into our children.

Yes.

And I think the reason why our children are getting out of hand so much is because they hear the adult today saying, "Oh, I hate that person." Or I hate this, our, we'll do this, and we'll do that when they're small. They pick it up, then they grow up hating. They don't even know why they hate. They don't even know why they can't get along amongst brother and sisters. Because they hear all this in the house because I know, I hear it in my own grandkids today. But I straighten them up as soon as I hear them.

That's good.

Because it's not right.

Not right. That's very true. And uh, we sure need-- I think maybe sometimes that we as adults should get together and talk about all these good things that our parents used to teach us, you know, and left us with. And to help our younger people that way, you know, to teach them also that there's nothing like love and respect. And showing love doesn't mean that you have to give somebody something, 00:50:00it's what you do for them and what's in your heart. That's, you know the love that you hold for them. And, and I want to say--

[Michif][...thank you once again. And again.]

--and maybe--

[Michif][And maybe also--]

A little bit of this lesson. Okay?

Okay.

Thank you very much. Mary, again. And it's simply been enjoyable learned a lot and uh--

Yeah like I said, you know the-- yeah, my mother and them they were poor. They didn't leave me really material things. But it's not the material things that we need.

Right. Very right.

It's the things that they left for you to remember, you know.

Yes. Yeah. The love and the faith and uh--

Like a lot of people, they say, well, ah, I love flowers. I love that dog outside. I love a car.

Uh-huh.

But it's to prove your love.

Uh-huh.

That's the difference.

Yeah.

You could say it. But you also have to prove it.

[Michif][True, yes.]

Yeah, and we do love animals and we enjoy them maybe a-and enjoy things but our people we love just like we love our--

[Michif][...Great Spirit, I'll say. ]

Yeah.

[Michif][The Great Spirit.]

Uh-huh. And uh, so I guess our time is really running up, but maybe we could do a little bit of uh--

[Michif][Here, I lost that paper of mine. We'll try this, here, a lesson.]

[Laughter]

That's Cree. I think that one. Uh-huh. And now you said in English last time, eh?

Yeah.

Okay.

[Michif][Hello.]

[Michif][Still the same.]

[Michif][Hello.]

Just repeat what I say, but you say it in English.

[Michif][Hello.]

How are you?

Yeah, how are you?

Okay.

[Michif][I'm okay yet.]

I'm okay yet.

[Michif][You then?]

You then?

[Michif][I'm still the same.]

I'm still the same.

[Michif][I'm glad that you came.]

I--I like--

[I'm glad.]

I'm glad that you came.

[Michif][Where'd you come from?]

Where'd you come from?

[Michif][From the hospital.]

From the hospital.

[Michif][Now what?]

Now what?

[Michif][Are you sick?]

Are you sick?

[Michif][Yes, I think I got the flu?]

I think I got the flu.

[Michif][My chest is sore.]

My chest is sore.

[Michif][I'm sore my throat.]

My throat is sore.

[Michif][My ears.]

My ears.

[Michif][My head.]

And my head.

[Michif][I just don't feel good.]

I just don't feel good.

[Michif][Yes. A lot of people are sick.]

A lot of people are sick.

[Michif][I think it's the weather.]

I think it's the weather.

[Michif][Yes, true.]

Yeah, really.

[Michif][We're really going to be happy when the snow melts.]

We're gunna be-- we're really going to be happy when the snow goes away.

[Michif][Yeah, ture. True, really.]

Yeah, really.

[Michif][Again. I think, then, we have to stop the time.]

Right.

There's no time.

There's the cut off--

Time is running out.

[Laughter]

Yeah.

[Michif][Thank you, Mary. Thank you.]

[Debbie Chook] Our guest this week on our program "As We Remember" has been a Mary Smith Short of Belcourt. The producer of "As We Remember" [Ay-shi-kish-kish-shi-yauhk: Ee-shi-kishkishshiyahk] is Debbie [Chook] in association with KEYA public radio 88.5. FM Belcourt, North Dakota. Technical engineering is provided by Janice Keplin. For 88.5 FM. KEYA and the weekly 00:54:00series "As We Remember" I'm Debbie Chook. Good night.

[Music][Fiddle tune]