The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1895-01-08

LIR1 III 4 son 30usx.
H Ahsdss - - ssssvisg xasnsss -
Weesssn A~bsaslD.
Chicae0 Tunes.
On q new 1nxm n Western NehraskA
The house = = very inconspacuous OBJ
ject. The eye wanders over tnDenss
grnin fields. perfnpo large timber
claim of yOang bon e2derU ard cotton
woods. garden. q focmy stock yard.
and the sod roofs Of many sheds for
poultry. stock. and machinery; but ex-'
cep& Tor q wreath Of smoke. or the
dwelling would % overlooked.
1t Is often Of the haif-dugout half
sodhouse order OF architecture. the back
part followed cut Of the side Of . low
hill. and the front Of the squares OF
sod. merely placed together and all
upheld by q slight frame OF wood. with
q door and one or two window castings.
and perhaps few rafters overhead.
II ID very small and low and serves
the single purpose Of shelter. There Is
possibility even OF its failure In this.
and the trap door asl4nf 1t one side OF
the house proc4aims the cyclone cave
ordinarily the receptacle Tor milk and
butter.
Life in one Of these prairie dwellings
Is certainly getting close to nature and
the primitive: closer. perhaps. than the
Arab tribes OF the desert. who. on the
whole. observe more laws. religious and
secular. and have less solitude and So
ciai deprivation. To realize this. one
has only to fancy man and his wife
in a sodhpuse fifteen miles frcm the
nearest village. In one of the sparsely
For days. and In some seasons. for
weeks. they see no human beings out
side OF their own household. Even beg
ging Indians and transps are almost un-
known In this country. Prairie dogs
cast up their mounds and found towns
In the unmolested spots about the
place; gopahers and fed mice burrow
through the sod walls OF the house; not
infrequentiy snakes swing themselves
down from the rafters inside. OF crawl
In at the door to get at any milk pans
standing about AT night coyotes and
some OF the gray wolves come up
through the canyon and elulk about
the poultry yard or howl close to the
windows. Through the day. while the
man Is in the fields. the heriing usual
~ falls to the woman's lot Probably
each takes noon luncheon In a paper.
to save coming back to the house until
night.
The woman attends to her necessary
household duties. throws q gunny sack
over her bronco's back. Jumps astride,
rounds up the cattle. and drives them
down the canyon to Craze on the steep
sides, or In a low strip beside a creek.
Canyons are not sociable places; one
can scarcely have a conception Of the
primeval unless he has walked through
canyon. He thinks Of the dawn OF
creation OF the races OF extinct man.
moths. and wonders Il centaurs have
not merely retired into the inner cav
ems. What the sodhouse woman thinks
about all day long In solitude like that
II - hard to tell-the mortgage on the
farm. diseases among the stock. the
prospects Of the crops. the time when
they can put UP their frame dwellings.
the hard. unadorned facts in the tread
mill Of her life: she makes new plans
for the work. work. worw. which Is her
sole law OF existence. Perhaps she has
memories OF another time. other sur-
roundlngs. but they must seem vague
and far away. Even the weather Is
monotonous: there u practically always
the cloudless sky the brilliant sun. the
strong. dry wind. that curls the leaves
OF the young corn and turns the buffalo
grass brown.
Women. and men, too, become wither-
ed and rrematurely old. Hair and skin
take on the general tinge OF things
about them. Their teeth drop out With
out thought OF replacing them. And
there comes a certain feveriSh look
IN their eyes-a look OF intensified ex-
pecsation. a straining into the future.
Ihey lose ali thought OF appearances;
Il gets to mean vanity rather than self
respect to them. Such a life must have
Its inevitable mental and moral effect.
All the sensitive. the aesthetic, some
times the moral sense itself, becomes
atrophied. The tragedies OF a city are
unearthed and brought to light. but
the silent tragedies of these desoIate
lives are swallowed up and lost in the
remoteness and immensely OF the prairie
wastes.
" Is motley assortment Of human
ity that takes the claims and home
steads ON the opening up of q country
like this. Ex-cowboys. who have come
to admit the claims of single wife
and family. confirmed pioneers who
move with the advance OF railroads. peo-
PIE OF refinement and reverses of for
tune. many Russian and German srnyni-
grants. and a sprInkiing or all the other
nations Of the earth. After the first
rush sitting process sets In which
soon separates them into three classes.
Those who stay through everything ana
make the prosperity OF the country: the
non-progressive. who never get beyand
the original sodhouse; and the shifting
transienss who move at sign CT trouble
and come back In time OF prosperity.
There Is. however. no sitting social
process during these first years. The
sodhouse levels all ranks, and at rare
intervals when any OF the people are
brought together socially 1t Is on terms
OF perfect equality; they simply take
one another for granted. with no oues-
ton OF antecedents, family history o.