The Sioux Indians came into my life before I had any preconceived notions about them, or about anyone else. In our family no formal pattern of philosophical or religious thought was thrust upon the children, and I was left free to learn about our Indian friends as I did about the rest of our neighborhood of mixed beliefs, languages and origins-homeseeking immigrant Poles, Czechs, Irish, Dutch, French, Germans, Danes, Swiss, a few Serbs, a Bulgar, a Mohammedan, a negro and a smattering of so-called native Americans, including Texas cowboys.