Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1890-05-30
LIFE OF WOMEN on THE PLAINS.
The Gallan, Clusters Widow Tells of Froi
tie, heroisMH.

Wv
I do not find auy woman in history
who embedv to me the very q%uintes-
sence of courage like the resolnte plains
women. The Joan of Arcs, the Mollie
Pitchers were examples surely Of cour-
age that poet. painter and historian
have honored. but the were inspired by
a great courage, by a tremendous sense
of the right of their cause. They were
fanatics in their way. The name fanatic
is not one that any one likes, but l
hardly think many of the great reforms
of the world could have been effected
without fanaticism. 1t needed the alb
sorbing enthusiasm Of their n to
make such heroines forget everything
save the work they felt they were
| chosen to do. Many martyrs have been
supported on earth with the belief, aud
have gone to Heaven convinced that
they were chosen" from on high to
work and die for a aus
Our p~lainswomen We're not so in
spird. They had ofttimes nc choice in
their lives. The liege said, ave go
West" and the wise wife knew usually
that it was best not to combat the reso-
luton, but to enter into the scheme ut
once. She was, of course, ignorant of
all H1e trials that she was to meet. The
successful man who returned from the
border dwelt on the rewards he was
then reaping rather than on the Difficult
ties that DISTRACTED the way to success.
But from the first announcement of the
intention the woman's self-denial was
taxed. She need not try to look for
ward to d%eprivations on the way Or at
the end of the journey, for before she
started there came necessity for the ut
most courage, as she must forfeit so
much that q woman holds dear.
Her church and It's Sabbath school
for her children; the dear association Of
the townspeople, who had been with
her at the marriages, births and deaths
Of the family, the excellent school.
where she hoped to give her children
all the fortune she could ever expect to
give them a thorough education; her
physician, dear to her as her pastor, in
the sad and dangerous hours Of her life.
Perhaps aged parents chung to her with
the knowledge they would not see her
again. She must face q life for years,
at least, without schools, churches, So
cial village communion, physicians,
public library, the old fertile gardens
and fruit trees, and the peace and pro-
lection of a comfortable home.
AS travellers climb the stairs of the
National Capitol many feet are arrested
before the great picture, Westward the
Star of Empire Takes It's Course"
The detail of that huge canvas will
rescue from oblivion the heroic strug-
giles Of our plainsmen. It is q peaceful
scene, but could the artist for a moment
veil the landscape in a thick, murky
atmosphere Of penetrating dust, or, re-
moving that, replace it by hail and in
troduce the shaspest lightning ever
known; or transpose the sunshiny day
into a s%irocco, where the hot wind
scorches the skin and parches the
throat, or even picture the downpour of
the clouds, when week after week the
traveller journeys through the wet sea-
son." the story the canvas tells would
be truer to the reality.
People would be made to know Ehat
when the splendor of a Western SUD in
spring, and the soft cool air of a plains
wind in early summer disappears the
real life Of the pioneer begins.
If women lived through those terrible
days and kept brave hearts, nothing on
earth could daunt them. Imagine one
of them at night, after the bivouac was
made beside a stream, OF at the dry bed
of what had been one, where they had
to dig for water, trying to get the even
ing meal. The rain descended, though
they were in q partially sheltered spot
among the SPARSE timber, and it was an
effort to kindle a fire with the wet
sticks.
Possibly her frugal habits had taught
her to garner a few dry billets from the
previous camp. The fire at last begins
to burn, and, fighting wind, dust, rain,
she cooks the simplest fare for the little
family. They huddle in the wagon for
the night, but the mother must stop to
put on a button or hastily draw together
a rent, no matter how the candle sput-
ters in the dim lantern, nor how
crowded and cramped she is, sitting at
one end OF the wagon.
The pioneer mother had no reserve
clothing with which to dress the sturdy,
active little bodies next day. The nee
essary stitches had to be taken. Thus
cooking, washing, mending, helping
with the stock and making camp, she
made her heroic path across the track
less waste that stretched on to the
Rocky Mountains. The worst Of it all,
there was little or no childhood for the
elder children. They had so SOC to be
given the care Of the Younger brothers
and sisters, to assist in making fires,
driving the team, carrying water, that
the faces Of little shavers l have seen
looked at 10, while maternal
solicitude and anxiety gazed out of the
eyes of a little girl whose slender arms
held the baby of the settlers.
Not long ago had what was to me a
most fascinating description of a life
that was intensely interesting to me. A
gentleman was playing cowboy, aud
after innumerable vicissitndes he came
upon the stone hut OF a sheep ranch on
a New Mexican plain. A t%en-year-old
boy was left in charge. He writes:
Its a marvel how efficient youngsters
become in this precocious country.
Navajo boys care for a whole sheep herd
month after month when only 6 years of
age" He roes on To cav of tho vh 70