annie oakley was my stage name but i was christened phoebe ann moses. they thought phoebe was too fancy. as soon as i was big enough to lift my daddy's hunting rifle, he taught me how to shoot. but my daddy died when i was 6. just left my mama in an awful way. we were dirt poor. when i got a little bigger, i discovered a way to help my mama. i saw a squirrel nibbling a nut on the fence post outside our cabin and i decided to shoot it. i got my daddy's long barrel rifle from above the fireplace and filled it with enough gun powder to kill a buffalo. and that was no easy task because the barrel of the rifle was taller than me. eyeballing that squirrel i placed the long gun on the railing of the front porch and pulled the trigger. when all that smoke cleared, that squirrel shot cleanly through the head. i still think it's one of the best shots i ever made. i spent my days hunting to provide food for my family. my mother would often say to me, phoebe ann moses. stop shooting, you're supposed to be going to school to prepare to be a wife and a mother, not sho