Trm SMALL BROWN RIVER curved around the edge of our town. The<br >farmers plowed close to its muddy banks and left their water jugs<br >in the shade of the willows. There is not much shade in the north-<br >em sections of North Dakota， nor is there much shelter in the<br >wintertime. Even as very small children we could sense the river s<br >life-giving nature and meaning to the farmers， to us all. By Decem-<br >ber， despite the river s current， the men could cut ice blocks three<br >feet square， to be stacked and layered with sawdust in the shed<br >behind Moose s general trading store on Main Street， against mid-<br >summer when the hot winds came across the prairie， a time<br >when the milk seemed to sour just a few minutes after you had<br >milked the cow， when you couldn t even be sure of the butter kept<br >inthewell.<br > Velva (nobody seemed to know where the name came from; I<br >suspect it made a pretty sound to the wife of some early settler)<br >was only one of various villages strung upon the river s wandering<br >length， but naturally we felt we exercised particular rights of pos-<br >session over its flowing. On the red-painted wooden bridge， lead-<br >tug into the "city park" was mounted a large sign bearing a white<br >star and the words in block letters: "Star City on the Mouse." This<br >led also to the baseball diamond and the swimming hole just<br >beyond. Sometimes the team from a village like Voltaire would<br >come to play our men， and I can still remember my own feeling of<br >proud generosity when， after the game， the Voltaire team would<br >hurry to our swimming hole， strip off their overalls， and slide down<br >our mud slide into the water， shouting， splashing， and shoving<br >one another. Voltaire was only a few miles away， but it was bare<br >and riverless. These men swam awkwardly with a great deal of<br >thrashing and spitting. Only their forearms were burned a dark<br >brown， and the face and neck down to the junction of the collar-<br >bone. The rest of their bodies was dead white in contrast. Grown<br >men in those climates did not expose their bodies to the sun， and it<br >