New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-11-04
THE SODHOUSE.
SCENES IN THE LIVES OF MODERN CAVE
DWELLERS
LABOR AND LONELINESS on THE GREAT PLAINS
A woMAN's WORK on THE FRONTIER


CLASSES AND TYPES.
On new farm in Western Nebraska the house
is very inconspicuous object. The eye wanders
over immense grain fields, perhaps a large timber
claim Of young box-elders and cottonwoods
garden. a roomy stockyard and the sod ROOFS
of many sheds for poultry. stock and machipery
but except for a wreath Of smoke or the chance
reflection Of window pane the dwelling would
be overlooked.
I, IS often Of the half dugout. half sodhouse
order of architecture. he back part followed
out Of the side OF low hill. and the front of the
squares OF sod. merely placed together and all
upheld by a slight frame OF wood with a door
and one or two wind ow -casings. and perhaps
few rafters overhead 1t is very small and low.
and serves the single purpose of shelter There
Is possibility even Of Its failure in this. and the
trapdoor asant at one side OF the house pro-
claims the cyclone extraordinarily, the recep-
tace for milk and butter.
Life in one of these prairie dwellings Is GER
tainly getting close t. Nature ard the priini-
tive: closer perhaps. than the Arab tribes OF
the desert who on the whole. observe more laws.
religious and secular. ard have less solitude and
social deprivation. To realize this. one has only
to fancy man and wife In sodhouse. fifteen
miles from the nearest village In one OF the
sparsely settled districts OF Western Nebraska
For davs and in some seasons for weeks. they
see no human beings outside Of their own house
hold Even begging Indians and ramps are
almost unknown In this country. Prairie dogs
cast up their mounds nd found towns in the
unmoested spots about the place; gophers ana
field mice burrOw through the sod walls or the
house: not infrequently. snakes swing them-
selves down from the raf,ers inside. or crawl in
at the door to get at any milkpans standing
about At night coyot $ and some Of the gray
wolves come up through the canyon ana skuk
about the poultry yard or howl close to the win
dows Through the day. while the man Is in the
fields. the herding usually falls to the woman's
lot Probably each takes a noon luncheon In
paper to save coming back to the house until
night.
The woman attends to her necessary household
duties. throws a gunny-sack over her bronco's
back:,jumps astride. rounds up her cattle. and
drives them down the canyons to Craze on the
steep sides or I'm low strip beside a creek
Canyons are not sociable places; one can scarcely
have a conception Of the primeval unless ne mas
walked through canyon: he thinks of the dawn
of CREATION OF the races OF extinct mammoths
and wonders II contaurs have NOT merely retired
into the inner caverns What the sodhouse
woman thinks about all day long in solitude Ike
that II Is hard to tel.-the mortgage on the
farm diseases among the stock. the prospects OF
crops. the time when they can put up their frame
dwelling. the hard. unadorned facts In the tread
mill Of her life: she makes new plans FOR the
work. work work. which Is her sole law OF EXIST
enre Perhaps she has memories of another
time. other surroundings but they must seem
vague and far away. Even the weather Is
monotonous there IS practically always the
.hn hrtrf;a ha Ell
wind. that curs the leaves Of the young corn,
and turns the buffalo grass brown.
Women and men. too. become withered and
prematurely old Hair and skin take on the
general dun tint Of things about them. Their
teeth drop out without thought OF replacing
them And there comes certain feverish look
In their oyes-a look OF intensified expectation
n straining into the future. They lose all
thought Of appearancei 1t gets to mean vanity
ra Their than se.f-respect 10 them Such Ire
must have It's inevitable mental and moral erect
All the sensitive. the aesthetic. sometimes the
moral sense Itself. becomes atrophied. The
tragedies - a city are unearthed and brought 70
HIGH; but tho silent tragedies OF these desoate
lives are swallowed up and lost in the remote
ness and immensely Of the prairie wastes.
II is a motley assortment Of humanity that
takes the claims and homesteads on the OPEN
ing up or n country like this. Ex-cowboys who
have come 10 admit the claims Of single wife
and family: confirmed pioneers. who move with
the advance Of the railroads.: people Of refine
ment and reverses OF fortune; many Russian
and German emgrants. and a sprlnkling bf all
The other nations ~ the earth. After the first
rush. a sitting process sets in. which soon
separates them into three classes Those who
stay through everything and make the pros
,o,it, of no country. the nOn-prOgrcSSiVe. who
never get beyond the original sOdhOuse; and
the shifting transients. who move at sign Of
trouble and come back In a time OF prosper
itv There Is. however. no sitting social proc
ess during these first years. The sodhouse
levels all ranks. and At the rare intervals wnen
any ~ the people are brought together socially,
i, Is on terms of perfect equality they simply
take one another for granted. with no ques-
ton OF antecedents. family history or social
advantages They are people who are starting
life anew. and living on hopes OF the future.
with forgetfulness Of the past. and endurance
Of the present
4 womans lot is TIM harder: she misses more
things in such a life than man does. II she
is strong enough mentally and physically. to
endure II until they come into better things.
she lives out her allotted time unpraised and
unrewarded Of this world. II she has mental
HAS toward the morbid or melancholy she Is in
danger Of adding one 10 the list Of the women
Of her kind in the hospital for the insane AT
Lincoln.
The real pioneers. who survive everything In the
end have comfortable homes and have created
some advantages for their children They nave
lived In the sodhouse until the year OF "A good
crop and few household necessities to be bought.
and have had the small, bare frame cottage
built. Tie next season. II good fortune contin-
ues n porch and an IL" are added. and In few
wears II is enlarged and comfortably fitted up.
Often the old sodhouse Is left standing near
the new one for some purpose or sometimes
as a matter OF sentiment.