Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-07-07

selfish then-and 1 think sometimes that
after all those were happier days. because
for Protection. and SO dependent upon one
another for society. that We had no time
or inclination for fractional quarrels in the
church, or In politics or society. 1t is not
so now. and i find myself actually signing
for the congeniality Of those days"
Pioneer Women.
Tell us something more about the
women" said Dorothy, who had been re-
narkably quiet. Most of the women here
are young. They must have been children
twenty-one years ago. Have any Of them
had careers?"
Not in the sense that you use the term"
replied Elenor. But no woman who came
to this country when 1t was new, infested
with Indian marauders. overrun by buffa-
Ices, cowboys and cattle. has had an easy
life as girl or woman. My parents came in
prairie schooner There were half a
dozen families Joined US before We got far
into Kansas, and SO We were company for
each other. But the lorg hot days when
cur wagon train wound YEARLY over the
bare. brown prairies made many of us i'll,
and l sickened in my mothers arms. She
has often told me how she Rugged me to
her heart and almost cursed God because II
seemed as though 1 must die and there was
no help near. So recently she had lost my
sister, and then came financial misfortune.
added to the i'll health Of my father, whose
vigor had been Slapped by hard service on
the frontier in the war. Taking ii alto
gether she felt as though she could bear no
more. ] vas spared, but many others died.
See that lady who is arranging cups and
saucers on the sideboard? She was one Of
the caravan. Her father was pioneer In
Indiana and afterward rose to high official
position.
'She was q belle, educated ami petted at
home as we'll as in society She chose to
marry a poor man and to follow him west
in a wagon. He came months before her.
When we got little west Of Newton in
this state, her baby then only three months
old. grew ILL., but she would not stop. Tor we
were within hundred miles Of her husband,
who had not seen his son, and she thought
that all would be well II she could only
reach him. Fifty miles east OF here the
baby died.
was no town between: so one evening when
the sun was setting they wrapped the little
pilgrim in its white cradle blanket and
buried It beside the trail My father marked
the grave, and a few months later they
came and got the body. and 1T lies out yon-
der on the hill in Gods Acre. 1t was
their only child. and no other has come to
them. Her hair grew as white WITHIN q
year as you see it now. and she has the
tenderest heart for children; she is noted
phIlanthropist.
The Preachers Family.
"That young matron who Is carving chick
en- was the first school teacher In the courr-
ty Her school room was an old dance
hall: her desk the bar. She had to defend
her little charges from all kinds OF dangers.
Their play ground was the old trail which
ran II, front Of the school room door, and
between drunken cowboys. herds Of Texas
cattle. prairie fires and hizzards she had
no sinecure earning her $50 a month. She
has her reward cow, however, for several
of her older pupils have achieved honors
worth any mans striving for. She Is her
self winning her way In the literary field.
She isn't here. but this is the picture Of
our first preachers daughter. She is BEAN
tiful, you see. There was a big family Of
them, and the struggles they did have, !
have heard them tell about his wife max
ing him trousers out Of ingram carpet
when his own gave out during the grass
hopper year, and he actually preached In
those giddy things.
THE church was the old dance hall In
which school was kept on week days, when
II was not wanted for court or something
of that kind. The preachers family had
often only crackers and molasses to eat,
ar during the first two winters. like every
body else, burned COW chips to keep them
warm. One of the boys died from exposure,
and a little baby had not enough vitality
to live. But the family came through, SUI
perior to such disadvantages. One of the
boys Is bright. progressive physician. A
daughter has voice of marvellous proper
ties and is abroad studying voice culture.
Another has been honored with the chair
Of English literature in a California college,
while this one. after five years in Paris
ard other European art centers, is now
one Of the brightest young artists in the
west"
Dinner" called Mrs. Granger. and thir-
ty-eight old settlers. their children and
grandchildren came trooping in to a din
ner that was simply perfect in point of
quality and service. They laughed. and
with many a Jest made light Of the years
they were concentrating, and chaffed
Mrs. Granger on the superiority of the
silver to the tin pie pans and tin cups
which she used to place before them, and
then, when at the end they all stood for
an instant In silence and with bowed heads
in memory of those who have proved up
and taken out their final papers," / felt
that the tie which binds these old settlers
must be a strong one indeed
These men and women live In very deed.
They make history. Their lives are some
times called narrow and sordid. but a life
can be neither that Is spent In subduing
nature and conQuering self.
SENORA SARA.