The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1880-08-05
Women in the Far West.


Women in the Far West.
Beginning life in new country with
small capital involves, many wears, of
hard work and strict economy, perhaps
privation and loneliness. This comes
especially hard on, the farmers wives,
many of whom have grown up in homes
OF comfort and plenty in the elder
States. Ask the men what they think
of Iowa and they will say that it is
hne' State; 1t has many resources and
advantages; there is room for deyelop-
ment here; the avenues to positions of
profit and honor are not so crowded as
they are in the older States; a good
class OF emigrants are settling up the
State; that, on the whole, Iowa has a
bright future before it. But the women
do not deal in such generalities. Their
own home and individual life is all the
! world to them, and if that is encom-
passed with toll and hardship. if ali
their cherished longings and ambitions
are denied and their hearts sick with
hope. deferred, this talk, about the sun-
developed resources of Iowa and its
future. greatness has no interest or
meaning for them. In, their isolated
| homes on the bleak prairie they have
feWsoclal opportunities and their strait
ened means do not allow them to buy
BOOKS or pictures, to take papers or
magazines. or toindulge in many Of the
little household ornaments dear to the
feminine heart. What wonder. then. if
their eyes have, a weary, questioning
look as If they We're always searching
the Hat prairie horizon for some proni
Use Or hope of better days. something
fresh and stimulating to vary the dull
monotony Of toll? S3-s'5 'Fa3 sti'. sasIsi
I'tIhere's a better time coming, tha
farmer says When we get the farm
paid for we will build a new house and
send the children to. town, to school;''.
and so the slow years. go by. If every
new country is not ACTUALLY fortified
with the hearts blood of women, he'
Settling and development of it none the
less require the sacrifice Of their lives.
/ Il see MANY women who have thus
sacrificed and are sacrificing their lives.
Their faces are wrinkled, their hands
are hard with rough, coarse work, they
have long ago ceased to have any per-
sonal ambitions; but their hopes are
centered in their children. Their self
abnegation is pathetic beyond words.
After a foothold has been gained IN a
new country, and home established, a
generation, perhaps two, must pass
away before a fine type Of humanitv.sis is
produced. The fathers and mothers
have toiled for the actual necessaries of
life, and gained them. The children
are supplied with physical comforts.
Plenty of food and exercise in the pure
air give them stalwart frames, good
blood and perfect animal health, but
there is a bovine stolidity of expression
in their faces, suggestion of 1kinship
with the clod. They are honest-hearted
and well-meaning-stup not natural
ly, but because their minds have never,
been quickened and stimulated. They,
grope in a blind way for better things,
and wonder if life means no more than
to plow and sow and reap, to wash and
cook and sew. Perhaps one out of every
hundred will break from the SLOWLY.
stepping ranks and run ahead to taste
OF the springs Of knowledge reserved
for the next generation, but the vast
majority will go down to their graves
without ever attaining to the ripeness
and symmetry of ully-developed life.
Their children, perhaps s-certainly their
grandchildren-will attain fine physi-.'
cal and mental type. 1telt
What character shall l choose as a
typical Iowan? Not the occupant OF
the large brick house with tall ever
greens in front which meets my SIGHT
whenever look toward the country.
An old woman lives there alone, except
for servant or two, having buried her
husband and ten children. She is worth
S10O,O00, but can neither read nor
write. Her strong common-sense and
deep fund OF experience supply her lack
OF education, and one would not think
while listening to her that she was igno-
rant of letters. Her life has been one
of toll and sorrow, but her expression
is one of brave cheerfulness. She and
her husband came to this place forty
years ago. They were the first white
settlers, and for ,neighbOrs theysh had
Indians and wolves. They entered most
of the land on which The town now
stands, and when other settlers came in
and the town was laid out, their land
became valuable, and thus the founda!
ton of their fortune was, laid. But as
riches increased, cares also increased:
the husband was SO weighed down by
responsibility and anxiety that his, mind
gave way, and in a fit of dependency
he committed suicide. The sons and
daughters who died, with the exception
of two or three, were taken away in
childhood. So the large mansion, with
it's richly furnished rooms, is shut up
from the sunlight and rarely echoes to
the patter of childish feet. The mis-
tress lives in the back part, but exer-
cises care over the whole house, which.
is kept in a state of perfect order and
neatness. Though she has lived on the
prairie for forty years. yet the express
sions that SAVIOR of her early life in a
densely-wooded State still cling to her.
and if you find her in her working dress
among her flowers. she will llbeg you to
excuse her appearance, adding, I. I look
as II 1 was Just out Of the timber" -
Lo'tise G. Jones, in LappiacoH' s. lhdgdzine.
b WHEN Ohio people see couple Of
medical students with rshoyels, though