The Salt Lake herald-Republican. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1909-1918, 1910-04-24
SETTLING UP NEW COUNTRY
STUDENTS FROM UNIVERSITIES
TELL EXPERIENCES.

warrant such a queer outlander designa-
ton.
! Three girls and a man they were-girls
with clear eyes. bright cheeks and wind
| blown hair-girls who looked as if they
might have just returned from a busy
afternoon of roofing for their side in
university N football match, The man was
| mere youth, broad-shOuldered and pleas
ant-faced. He presently revealed himself
as the brother of one of the girls.
| These were Honyockers.
| But why?" asked the traveller; why
are you called HonyOckers?"
| Because we're hOmesteaders," said the
| most wind-blown one of the three laugh
ing girls. They call the old timers
| 'guInbo grabbers,' but we belong to the
Honyocker class. l am sure don't know
why hOmesteaders are called that, and
1t never sounded queer to me before"
Varsity Girls on Claims.
The term, it transpired. was quite uni
yersally used throughout the Dakotas.
The traveller asked a good many ques-
tons and finally learned that the four
young persons were all university stu
| dents-tWO of them graduates of the Uni
versity Of Minnesota. They were just
returning to st. Paul after proving up
on their claims. For fourteen months
/ they had lived on the prairie and knew
/ II winter and summer, fall and spring.
| They had gone out to begin their resi-
dence the list Of April, two years ago,
the plains that they had stayed on for
/ several months after coming into pos
| session of their quarter sections of land.
For land owners they all were-each
| fresh-cheeked girl of them a full-fledged
! citizen, so far as her deed of owner
/ ship could make her
'Oh, 10, we're not suffragettes," said
the Oldest one. We've been too busy.
| Life is so full Of interesting things to
| do when you live on the prairie"
This was rather a new way of viewing
| the tabled restfulness of the plains and
the traveller asked her what is was that
kept them so busy.
Lived In a Sod House.
well, you see, If you are a true Hon
yocker $50 the name had to be lived up
TOD you keep your own house and keep
| it clean. Henry and I Cher name is Hen
rietta, you know,) had a shack together
1t was built of sod and was very warm
/ in winter, on that account, and cool in
summer. 1t was really perfectly lovely
to live in, and 1 hardly know what l am
| going TO do in hot wooden house. But
We're going back to the prairie, and we're
going to raise cattle. Busy. Well, if
| you could see the things one had to do
in a day. One gets up early in the morn
| ing on the prairie. The prairie chickens
begin to drum pretty early and the mead
oW larks simply shout at you If you stay
IN bed after o'clock. Then we rush out
to the corral to see If Dandy and Bess
house to make coffee and pancakes"
'Pancakes?"
Yes, you know pancakes are the staff
| of HOnyOcker life. They are so easy to
make, and they are so good with syryp
of sugar. We didn't have any potatoes
for months Snd months. Ours froze be-
cause we didn't make the root cellar deeD
enough, and we really couldn't afford
10 Duy any and there weren't any to buy.
Then, when your appetite is at good as
ours was all the time, most anything is
nourishing.
They can't talk to me about food values
and scientific feeding. Give me a race
on Bess before strong prairie wind in
summer, or hike after the turkeys"
The turkeys?'
yes. we had turkeys and we made
money out of them, too They were the
best product we had But l was telling
you how busy We are.
How Busy They Are.
After breakfast we go to work in the
garden if the season is right for garden
ing. II it isn't, we mend our saddles or
our riding habits, or make a new print
trOck, or doctor the little turkeys, or
churn. We had only one COW, but when
we go back we are going to have a hum
dred head of cattle.
Presently il is time to make biscuits
for dinner, and nearly always the after
noon is full to Overlooking with work.
One season brings one thing and another
season brings another kind of work We
set out hundreds of little golden willows
for a windbreak and also some fruit
trees and box elders. Sometimes, too |
there is long run to make, for we often |
helped in rounding up the cattle on the |
ranch of our neighbOrs. They fenced orr
ranch in exchange for the help we gave |
them. Margaret-thats my chum-used |
to go for the mail to Bixby the nearest |
postOffice. 1t was thirty miles away. and |
some one would go every day on horse
in hot
bOrhood."
And how large might a neighborhood
''Oh, let me see-about twenty miles
or SO either way. Margaret could do
anything with horse, and she drove
eleven head of horses down to Bixby
one day."
Was it Bixby that we passed?''
mo, that was Lemon. We lived IS |
miles from the railway, and we came !
in the automobile stage from Bixby. The
prairie roads are fine in dry weather. as /
smooth and hard as a floor and one can II
drive across the prairie anywhere but II
when it rains the clay is very sticky and II
the automobile is apt to get stuck. Give Il
me horse every time for a steady de-
pendence.'
But didn't you miss the social life
you had at homer"
Not a bit more than / missed having II
ice cream sundaes. l don't believe you II
can miss anything If you have something II
else that's better to fill its place / am II
going to be dreadfully homesick for the II
prairie. / shall gel shut in by the hills II
and houses. II
4 used to study psychology at the u
and l believe l understand some of it now II
better than l did then. There is that II
about love of liberty which sometimes II
makes people break social laws. l be- II
ieve if everybody could get acquainted II
with Nature as we have got acquainted Il
with her they would respect themselves II
more as individuals. I think the prairies II
make egOists, but the egOists make the II
country, and you can't be properly hum
lie unless you are an egOist, and have
-iddsn the range in the early morning
when there was nothing in sight except a
solitary shike-poke or a collection of
;andhll cranes doing one of their remark
lble minuets on the prairie.
Distance? Why. distance is all there
s. You simply can't help stretching your
mental wings and soaring. You remember
low the Girl of the Golden West Is al
ways talking about reaching out% Well
don't blame her any. The prairie makes
'ou feel that way. No skyscrapers for
ninel"
So these were Honyockers. They might
De egoists, but the traveller liked them.
WILL VOTE WEDNESDAY.
Washington, April 23-An under
standing was reached today in the
Senate committee on privileges and