We were accustomed to the meegwam, having grown up in it. There was no furniture in it. We would go outside to use the washroom. A toilet was constructed. The teepee was comfortable, it was never cold. You hardly noticed any stormy weather outside once in it.
You would get up early in the am., and bring your bedding outside to be hung to freshen. You did this daily. In bad weather you would hang these inside a maki (tent) set apart from the teepee.
Children were not permitted just to play with anything let alone to eat at any time. My mother supervised this. We only ate at breakfast, lunch and supper. You drank during break times. No sugar at 10am., with your drink. Everything was rationed carefully. Nothing was wasted. At the end of every week, you replaced the boughs for flooring. This was done every Friday to keep the place fresh. You did this every week. Saturday you collected wood, water, ice or snow in bags. Sunday was a rest day. You didn’t get wood or water. This was the teaching long ago. You only prayed just like you would in a church, morning prayers. That’s what my parents taught us. The meegwam (tent) was nice. Now, life is so different. The life long ago was peaceful, now it’s completely different. The youth are noisy at night. You never heard children run about at night long ago. Now they ‘re noisy at night, they don’t sleep or they sleep in.

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