The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1881-11-23
Women in the Far West.

Women in the Far West.
Louise c. Jones, in Lippinco.ts Maglzinel
Beginning life in new country with
small capital involves many years Of
hard work and strict economy, perhaps
privation and loneliness This comes
especially hard on tire farmers wives,
many Of whom have grown up in homes
of comfort and plenty in the older
States Ask the men what they think
of Iowa, and they will say that il is
fine State it has many resources and
advantages; there is room for develop
ment here; the avenues 10 positions of
profit and honor are not so crowded as
they are in the older States; good
class of emigrants are settling up the
the State; that, on the whole. Iowa has
a bright future before H. But the wo-
men do not deal in such gcueralities.
Their own home and individual life is
all the world to them, and if that is en-
compassed with toll and hardship, If all
their cherished longings and ambitions
are denied and their hearts sick with
hope deferred, this talk about the un-
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
few social opportunities, and their
straitened means do not allow them to
buy books or pictures, to take papers or
magazines, or to indulge in many of the
little household ornaments dear TO tho
feminine heart What wonder, then,
if their eyes have Il weary, questioning
look, as if they We're always searching
the flat prairie horizon for some promise
or hope of better days, something fresh
and stimulating to vary the dull monot-
ony Of toll
''Theres better time coming" the
farmer says. "When we get the farm
paid for we viii build new house and
send the children to town 10 school" ;"
and so the slow years go by. Ii every
new country is not actually tertili1cd
with the hearts blood Of women, the
settling and development Of itnone the
less requires the sacrifice of their lives.
| 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
personal ambitions but their hopes are
centered in their children. Their self
Iabnegation is pathetic beyond words.
After foothold has been gained in a
new country and home established, a
generation, perhaps two, must pass
away before fine type OF humanity is
produced. The fathers and mothers
have toiled for the actual necessarics 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 bovine stolidity of expression
| in their faces, a suggestion Of kluship
with the clod. They are honest-heart-
ed and well-meaning-stupid, not nat
urally, but because their minds have
never been quickened and stimulated.
They grope in blind way for bet
ter things, and wonder If life means
| no more than to plow and SOW and
reap. to wash and cook and sew. Per-
haps 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 gener-
alton, but the vast majority will 60 down
to their graves without ever attaining
to the ripness and symmetry Of a fully
developed life. Their children, perhaps
certainly their grandchildren-will
attain a fine physical and mental type.
What character shall | choose as a
typical Iowan Not the occupant Of the
large brick house with tall evergreens
in front which meets my sight whenever
II look toward the country. An old
woman lives there alone, except for n
servant or two, having buried her hus-
band and ten children. She is worth
800, 900, but can neither read nor
write. Her strong commonsense and
deep fund Of experience supply her lack
of education, and one would think while
listening to her that she was Ignorant OF
e letters. Her life has been one of toll
. and sorrow, but her expression Is one OF
: brave cheerfulness. She and her hus-
band came to this place forty years ago.
They were the first white settlers, and
for neighbors they had Indians and
wolves. lHCN cubtIth ll'ot u It'S AeAANA
on which the town now stands, and,
when other settlers came in and the
7 town was laid out, their land became
; valuable. and thus the foundation of
q their fortune was laid. But as riches
increased cares also increased; the hus-
;. band was SO weighed down by respon-
4 sihility and anxiety that his mind gave
wav. and in fit Of dependency he
y committed suicide. The sons and
4 daughters who died, with the exception
e of two or three, were taken away IN
" childhood. So the large mansion, with
n its richly furnished rooms, Is shut W
Il from the sunlight and rarely echoes tC
10 to the patter Of childish feet. The mis-
!. tress lives in the back part, but exer
h cises a care over the whole house, which
! is kept in state of perfect order anC
r, neatness. Though she has lived on the
r prairie for forty years, yet the expires
p sions that SAVIOR Of her early life in {
g densely-wooded State still cling to her
q and if you find her in her working-dres
T. among her flowers, she viii beg you I,
.. excuse her appearance, adding, 81 lool
TX as if was Just out Of the timber.
" The Methodist Bishops.