Anna Ollie Stuart - Fireside Stories

Anna Has a Fright

Anna Stuart. was my mothers name. When I was her little girl she told lots of stories at night before we went to bed and I remember many of them . She named me Faith . I had sisters Dolores, Rae, Shirley, and brothers Stuart and Howard.

Anna was about 10 years old when this happened. She was already riding her horse Cricket, a black mustang horse, to school. Then every day Cricket would bump into someone on the ranch and they would put his bridal and reins on and tie them over his neck and he would walk to school and wait for Anna to ride home , usually bareback. Sometimes they saddled him at the ranch and then it was a softer ride.

Anna was a very brave little girl . In those days there were only soft dirt roads or sometimes just a trail. The horses and mules pulled wagons and equipment and that left a road where they went over and over again. The men did build little bridges here and there over the wagon trails or roads. There was no plumbing in the houses. There were no hospitals so if a snake bit you you had to take your chances on Mom and Dad; and occasionally a Doctor would live somewhere close. There was no electricity. In some cities there was gas and electricity but not out in the prairies and deserts where small towns sprung up around farms and ranches.

It was a very big and lonesome desert except for the Indian camps all around Fallen, it was the only small town for many many miles.

One morning Anna’s mother Pearl Rae was cooking pancakes on a big black wood stove. Anna could smell the good breakfast cooking, especially the bacon, so she went into the kitchen and started to walk over to the big stove when something moved in the dark corner back by the stove and a loud “HO.! HO!” shout came from the dark corner and made Anna jump and squeal like anything. She had a terrible fright. A large handsome Indian grandfather stepped out of the corner and he was laughing ““ha ha ha” he said, ”Anna heap big scared!”. Anna was a very brave girl but she had been “heap big scare.”

Every day Anna rode through the Indian camp to come and go to school. The grandfather of the people had an English name, Mr. Warren, she found out latter from her father Mr. Harry Stuart. Mrs. Warren and Mr. Warren would smile at Anna and wave and say “Ho, Anna.” He never told any of his people she was afraid, and all the Indian people liked to see Anna and knew she was brave to ride a black mustang horse named Cricket to school every day

By Faith Pyle - A story about her mother, Anna Ollie Stuart, known at "Boo" to all her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.