Letters of a Woman Homesteader

Letters of a Woman
Homesteader

Project Gutenberg's Letters of a Woman Homesteader, by Elinore Pruitt
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Title: Letters of a Woman Homesteader
Author: Elinore Pruitt Stewart
Release Date: August 30, 2005 [EBook #16623]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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OF A WOMAN HOMESTEADER ***

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LETTERS OF A WOMAN HOMESTEADER
BY
Elinore Pruitt Stewart [Illustration]
BOSTON AND NEW YORK HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
The Riverside Press Cambridge

1913 AND 1914, BY THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY CO.
1914, BY ELINORE PRUITT STEWART
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
_Published May 1914_

PUBLISHERS' NOTE
The writer of the following letters is a young woman who lost her
husband in a railroad accident and went to Denver to seek support for
herself and her two-year-old daughter, Jerrine. Turning her hand to the
nearest work, she went out by the day as house-cleaner and laundress.
Later, seeking to better herself, she accepted employment as a
housekeeper for a well-to-do Scotch cattle-man, Mr. Stewart, who had
taken up a quarter-section in Wyoming. The letters, written through
several years to a former employer in Denver, tell the story of her new
life in the new country. They are genuine letters, and are printed as
written, except for occasional omissions and the alteration of some of
the names.
4 PARK ST.

CONTENTS

I. THE ARRIVAL AT BURNT FORK 3
II. FILING A CLAIM 7
III. A BUSY, HAPPY SUMMER 15
IV. A CHARMING ADVENTURE AND ZEBULON PIKE 23
V. SEDALIA AND REGALIA 45
VI. A THANKSGIVING-DAY WEDDING 54
VII. ZEBULON PIKE VISITS HIS OLD HOME 60
VIII. A HAPPY CHRISTMAS 64
IX. A CONFESSION 77
X. THE STORY OF CORA BELLE 81
XI. ZEBBIE'S STORY 100
XII. A CONTENTED COUPLE 117
XIII. PROVING UP 133
XIV. THE NEW HOUSE 137
XV. THE "STOCKING-LEG" DINNER 143
XVI. THE HORSE-THIEVES 157
XVII. AT GAVOTTE'S CAMP 180
XVIII. THE HOMESTEADER'S MARRIAGE AND A LITTLE
FUNERAL 184
XIX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE CHRISTMAS TREE 193
XX. THE JOYS OF HOMESTEADING 213

XXI. A LETTER OF JERRINE'S 218
XXII. THE EFFICIENT MRS. O'SHAUGHNESSY 220
XXIII. HOW IT HAPPENED 225
XXIV. A LITTLE ROMANCE 230
XXV. AMONG THE MORMONS 256
XXVI. SUCCESS 279
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LETTERS OF A WOMAN HOMESTEADER
I
THE ARRIVAL AT BURNT FORK
BURNT FORK, WYOMING, _April 18, 1909._
DEAR MRS. CONEY,--
Are you thinking I am lost, like the Babes in the Wood? Well, I am not
and I'm sure the robins would have the time of their lives getting leaves
to cover me out here. I am 'way up close to the Forest Reserve of Utah,
within half a mile of the line, sixty miles from the railroad. I was
twenty-four hours on the train and two days on the stage, and oh, those
two days! The snow was just beginning to melt and the mud was about
the worst I ever heard of.
The first stage we tackled was just about as rickety as it could very well
be and I had to sit with the driver, who was a Mormon and so
handsome that I was not a bit offended when he insisted on making
love all the way, especially after he told me that he was a widower
Mormon. But, of course, as I had no chaperone I looked very fierce

(not that that was very difficult with the wind and mud as allies) and
told him my actual opinion of Mormons in general and particular.
Meantime my new employer, Mr. Stewart, sat upon a stack of baggage
and was dreadfully concerned about something he calls his "Tookie,"
but I am unable to tell you what that is. The road, being so muddy, was
full of ruts and the stage acted as if it had the hiccoughs and made us all
talk as though we were affected in the same way. Once Mr. Stewart
asked me if I did not think it a "gey duir trip." I told him he could call it
gay if he wanted to, but it didn't seem very hilarious to me. Every time
the stage struck a rock or a rut Mr. Stewart would "hoot," until I began
to wish we would come to a hollow tree or a hole in the ground so he
could go in with the rest of the owls.
At last we "arriv," and everything is just lovely for me. I have a very,