Marching through Boarding School with Mary Bateman

I didn’t know no English I spoke mostly in Arikara language and so when I didn’t know that was about seven years old when I first started at school and there and I never knew anything about trains or and any you know I mean everything was just rather a surprise you know when we whenever started school and now when we’ve got to the Bismarck school you know it’s right here in Bismarck verax know and you know it’s very surprising how well they preserved the yes the buildings yeah I was in there a few times you know and well we after we got off the train I wasn’t the only person there were other children general the same age as I am and I think they were the same you know they didn’t know how to speak English neither so we all had a start and our we got to Bismarck and then of course it was just like the army it took all our clothes away from us and they gave us government curlers you know and you know they put them into certain area give me um and there and then of course they checked us all out you know and I don’t know if you ever went to a government school before over went to the army I think the army too has something you know to that effect you know where we are and then took our names and uh everything you know where we came from and whatnot and then the first and then the Teva their first day of school or we all went in and there was just a few of us in there Margaret Starr was one of them I think she still I think she’s still here I don’t know who about she durst ago I imagine like I am you know and now I myself I’m today I’m I 98 years old and I feel good about that because I still have my mind and she pretty good and the only thing is my legs don’t cooperate with them the top of my body here and I noticed my hands you know as I went to the piano you know and try to strike it was no need but I noticed and then picking up things and you know it’s kind of after you’ve always how always so you know moved around and did things and and I was always active so when I was in Bismarck well we marched and now like you know like oh we marched and then they see that we had clean hands and I hair and like you know and then of course we went down there was a diary room well we all went to the diary room and everything was March you know glad to march into the dining room way then you had to march to the classroom and then now you start you know learning your ABCs and everything because you never knew that before so that’s that was the beginning of our own time and then and then we had those Hickory of you know so he could close so I you know you can pray around here just like pray crows sudo yeah and there’s a lot of things that we never knew get her there was the playgrounds you know and the sliding boards into whatnot there