The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1890-11-23
NO GRANDMOTHERs THERE.

Thanksgiving.
Especial Correspondence Of THE lNDEPENDENT.]
DENVER, Nov. 1S.-Can you imagine, in
these closing days of the year, with Thanks
giving close upon us, a whole land without
Rrandmothers? That seems almost incred-
IDLE in the long-settled communities of the
east and south, where no family reunion ID
complete without at least one venerable
figure SO familiar and 80 dear to all in that
household from the days of childhood's
earliest recollection. Yet between the Rocky
mountains and the Pacific coast there are
hundreds of thousands of homes where
children are growing up without glimpse
of their own or any other child's grand
mother. They know nothing of the dear
old face the soft, gray hair, the quaint
figure of that patient little woman who,
day after day. sits in the quiet corner
of the old home knitting, knitting,
and still knitting, while her thoughts
are wandering far away into the long ago
OF her childhood. They know nothing of
her gentle chidings, nor can they appre-
ciate the quiet and kindly amusement in
the household at grandmother expense.
When, after searching the honse for her
''specs," she is reminded, in response to
her anxious inquiry, that they are under
the frills Of her cap, Then. there are the
fathers and mothers Of the present day
know not, but which grandmother, with q
quaver in her voice, will hum and sing
when she thinks no one is near to hear.
What fun it used to be, when she
thought no one is near to slip up behind
the sweet snatches of the olden melo-
dies. When a boy, it was my delight to
thus hide myself behind the chair
of my great-grandmother from Virginia,
and listen to her humming como old south
ern air. One day she espied me, and in a
Don't tease your grandmother like that"
1really believe she would have blushed. at
being caught trying to sing, If the face had
not been SO old and wrinkled. She was I'M
doubleday seemingly ruff1ed, but ! coaxed
her into telling me some stories about the
war of 1912, and we were soon friends
again. The children of the far west never
hear the old-time New England and south
ern cradle songs, for the mothers of the
present day hardly know even their frag-
ments. Nursery rhymes, nowadays. change,
az do the fashions.
And think of a thanksgiving without
Rrandmothers. Why, in the land of grand
mothers, it is she who on that day has first
claim upon all our gallantry and chivalry.
A white haired belle on that day at least,
with gray haired sons and daughters. and
troops of happy children around to do her
Thousands of western boys and girls know
nothing of this. Agrandmother is to them
almost as much of a myth as the heroine of
fairy story. A little boy in the Rocky
mountains on being told some events about
his grandmother in the far east actually
asked what kind of being grandmother
was. It is true there are some grand
mothers in the far west, but they are inn
ported from the east and south. For most
Of them the west is too far away. No
doubt their hearts often reach out tenderly
toward their grandchildren in and hey ond
the Rocky mountains.
As to native born grandmothers, they are
very hard to find west of tho Rocky noun
tains. With the exception of the early set
Elements in the Oregon country, the Nor
mons in Utah, and the occasional home Of
the earlier trapper in the mountains, OF
Fanohmen in California. the civilization is
too young for native born grandmothers.
It was only forty years ago that the great
rush was made to the gold fields of Califor-
mia, and not until ten years later did the
tide of immigration start for Pixies Peak.
Possibly. California may prod1ce few
very youthful Rrandmothars. about, say,
forty years of ago, but you could scarcely
find native born grandmother of even
that early age in Colorado. Nevertheless
the state has population of nearly two
millions. Nebraska, too, has hardly a
grandmother to the manor born. Those
two states were waste of prairie and plain
thirty-six years ago, the home of the buffalo
and the Indian, where the face of a white
man was hardly known. In the older ''new
west" consisting of Minnesota, Iowa. Mis-
souri,, Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas, they
have grandmothers of their own.
But YOU look upon all that vast region
west of the states bordering Immediately on
the west side Of the Mississippi river, and
Texas. as having scarcely a native born
American grandmother among millions of