The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1894-04-14
PLUCkY PRAIRIE GIRLS.

While women of the east are distin-
gushing themselves by entering pro-
fessions aRditrades alongside their hus-
bands and brothers, and winning both
fame and financial reward, those Of
the prairie are not behind in the race
for prominence. The opening of Okla
homa has developed many a heroine,
and more than one deed of daring has
been performed by the fair sex.
Most striking of all, perhaps, is that
of Miss Minnie Duval, who has spent
nearly all her life in the Cherokee
strip. where her parents by the good
graces of the Indians, located in 1875,
moving from Missouri. She is known
as 1.-The lady cowboy" and her fame
has been spread far and wide by the
influx of jewellers in the new lands.
When the Duval family first entered
the territory, her father invested in
since increased to five hundred, and
make large herd to care for. She is
the only child, and though but eigh-
teen years old, she is her fathers chief
assistant. She does net simply take
the cattle to the range and leave them,
but remains with them all day, look
ing after them as we'll as could any
cowboy. Her duties frequently take
her score or more miles away from
home, as the cattle must be kept NOV
ing in order to feed well. Often some
of the cattle become mired in the mud
along tho streams where they Craze
Then comes the hardest part Of her
work.
With true cowboy skill she throws
the lariat over the slender, branching
horns, while the other end of the long
but very strong rawhide rope is fas-
tened to the saddle. Then a long,
steady pull on the part of her pony
draws the unfortunate animal to a
place of safety on dry ground. She
has large nerd for one person to look
after, but with the assistance of two
well-trained cattle dogs, she does il
perfectly.
While on the range she dresses in
cowboy fashion-wide- brimmed white
felt hat, long gauntlet gloves, a lariat
coiled about her saddle horn and re-
volver in her belt-and rides the wild.
est bronchos with thorough ease.
When OFF duty she is a modest, unas-
Stunning young lady-the last one would
suspect of such masculine accomplish.
ments.
AT the annual roundup she has dur. !
ing the past two seasons taken her
place with the other cowboys and !
made a good record. In a lasso- |
throwing contest, when the widest |
of the cattle were turned loose and |
goaded into fury by matador methods |
she held her own and was given a |
handsome saddle by the cattlemen,
who saw her skiliful work. Her |
fathers rancho is on the banks of the |
Sawleg, not far from Perry, and has
gained considerable notoriety from the |
ability as handler of cat
tie. But it has not spoiled her-she is /
as modest and uuassuming as ever.
Another kind of heroisn. not less /
striking, was that shown by Miss Zells 1
Mason, a teacher in district school OF |
a western Kansas county, during ths
prevalence of the great blizzard taat |
swept over the plains Of the west early
this year The sod schoolhouse is no,
a pleasant resort in which to spend I
zero weather standing, as ii does, in
the midst Of great level plain, IN
sheltered from the winds The cabins
of the settlers are far away, and there
is nothing nearer than a cattle rancho
resen bling human habitation-
The twenty pupils of the school are
all young, the Oldest being fifteen, and
the twenty-year-olG teacher had her
hands full leading them along the way
OF education
When the storm came up there was
no preparation for IL The first indi-
cation was a binding cloud of snow
that hid the prairie landscape FROM
view and sent the fourlike frozen
moisture through every crack and
,ranny, filing the room with intense
cold
School was dismissed and the little
party huddled around the stove, en-
TO keep warm The larger
BOYS were divided into details and set
% bringing in coal from the she'd a
lew feet outside the door. TIE whole
supply, insufficient IN quantity. was
1iled up near she stove; the food that
he children had brought 10 school
vas port!on-diout 70 stand two-days'
,iege. and the pluclly schosln istress
prepared TO keep her little charges
rom suffering, knowing that they
,onld rot De rescued until the storm
Ibsted-
All night she cared fo- the chiidreh. !
seeping the FIRE going vita the coal
md later chcpping up table, desks
-ai chairs In the morninx there Vas