Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1888-10-11

MANY are doing well for them
selves and their families by this kind
of work, and many more are just max
ing the venture. And / am assured
that if industry, energy and economy
will succeed they viii; for as rule
thew are the embodiment OF all these
virtues. Near Santa Anna woman
owns a cattle ranch. She hired a man
to cut a piece of alfalfa on land given
, her by her father-in-law. The said
father-in-law forbade the cutting. and
emphasized his order with a revolver.
The hired man retired in good order,
whereupOn the woman took her
seat upon the mower. flanked BY
shotgun, and cut the alfalfa,
the aforesaid fathsr-in-law retir-
ing also in good order. This is case
of commendabie pluck, but, am happy
to say. is not often necessary to the
ownership of land. Miss Carson, the
sheep queen of Montana, has erected
for herself most enduring monument
among the mountains and valleys OF
her chosen home. The memory OF
Miss Macarthur will long be enshrinel
in the hearts of women-not alone be-
cause of her heroic venture to save the
lives of drowning family, but because
of her daring and prosperous business
venture of conducting cattle ranch
amid the wilds of the Upper Sun river
in Montana. In Oregon, women are
land owners to such an extent that it
mas almost ceased to be mitter of
comment. And women land holders
are rapidly increasing in numbers
indeed. it is fast becoming the
fashion there for women to own their
homes, many husbands voluntarily
conveying the home to the vito, thus,
in measure, making her independ-
ent of her husbands speculatiOns. Mrs.
Abby Duniway says there are scores Of
wonGrous feats o. manual farm labor
and care of cattle and sheep that have
been accomplished alone by women's
hands-that women work harder than
men on farms, and are consequently,
more successful on an average. How
ever, farm work is, after ali, no greater
hardship, if there is cash to back it,
when we consider the perfection and
ease with which machinery does its
work. Another class of land owners in
the West are the German women, who
invest in small lots near cities and cult
vate their land for market garden pur-
poses. and the first growth Of the spring
that does not taste of the dollhouse is
the result of their labor. However,
that which is of the most interest to me
in this subject is the fact that, to a very
much greater extent than formerly,
widows who take farm lands as a part
of their husband s estate remain thereon
and manage Or superinterd the farm
work. And women farmers are really
no longer a curiosity. / think am
safe in saying that in Iowa there are
from ten to twenty in every county, and
from what am able to gather, l think
the same is true Of Minnesota. In many
cases the woman farmer is left with her
house filled with little children and her
land burdened with debt; yet, by fru-
gality. and industry and careful man.
agement, she has cleared her home of
its mortgage and raised her family to be
aids and helps in the world, rather than
weights upon it. To such women all
honor is due. and their sons, instead of
merely rising up ''to call them blessed"
will do more-they viii go out into the
world and vote the suffrage ticket-ior
such 4 mother in the eyes of her boy is
good enough and wise enough to be
President of the United States.