The second song requires a longer explanation. It expresses in brief the goodness of the father. Some one of the dancers has come to life from the trance, and has just related his or her experience in the other world. The Messiah, or Father, has been very near to the subject, and the high priest, enlarging upon the importance of this fact, runs about the interior of the circle handing several pipes around, exclaiming that these pipes were received direct from the Great Spirit, and that all who smoke them will live. The people are worked up to such a pitch of religious frenzy that their minds are now willing to receive any utterance as truth indisputable, so they pass around the pipes, singing the song meanwhile. The repetition of the words, “This the Father says,” indicates that the God inspires all that is done. One of the visions seen by a young woman when under the influence of the trance, varied somewhat from the others. She told the following story: “I was carried into the beautiful land as others have been, and there I saw a small but well-made lodge constructed entirely of rushes and reeds. These were woven closely together and resembled the fine basket-work that many of our squaws make during the winter. The tipi was provided with a stone wall, which was composed of small, flat stones laid up against the walls to the height of three or four feet. In this lodge the great Wakantanka dwelt and would issue forth at noon. Promptly at the time when the sun was above me the lodge trembled violently and then began its descent toward the earth. It landed near the dance-ground, and there stepped forth a man clothed in a blanket of rabbit-hides. This was the Messiah, and he had come to save us.” The vision of Little Horse is still more remarkable. He said: “Two holy eagles transported me to the Happy Hunting Grounds. They showed me the Great Messiah there, and as I looked upon his fair countenance I wept, for there were nail-prints in his hands and feet where the cruel Whites had once fastened him to a large cross. There was a small wound in his side also, but as he kept himself covered with a beautiful mantle of feathers this wound could only be seen when he shifted his blanket. He insisted that we continue the dance, and promised me that no Whites should enter his city nor partake of the good things he had prepared for the Indians. The earth, he said, was now worn out and it should be repeopled. “He had a long beard and long hair, and was the most handsome man I ever looked upon.” Before concluding my description of the dance as it appeared during the first few months of its existence at Pine Ridge, I would like to add that the dances were held throughout the day usually, but that once in a while, when a village was especially devout, they were continued all night. In that event food was prepared in large quantities, so that the worshippers could partake of refreshments when they desired.