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Sort order. Apr 25, Diane Barnes rated it really liked it. This lady had everything needed by the pioneer women. She was smart, kind, strong, not afraid of hard work, inventive, humble, had a great sense of humor and love of life. It never fails to amaze me when reading accounts of this type at how much people could get done in a week or a month or a year. Yeah, that's the thing about hard work It gets things accomplished.
Leaves very little time for whining and complaining. I very much enjoyed these letters describing a homesteader's life in Wyoming This lady had everything needed by the pioneer women. I very much enjoyed these letters describing a homesteader's life in Wyoming between and View 2 comments.
Free kindle book and epub digitized and proofread by Project Gutenberg. Project Gutenberg's Letters of a Woman Homesteader, by Elinore Pruitt Stewart This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no.
Jan 03, Carla Baku rated it it was amazing Recommends it for: Anyone who wants some inspiration. This is one of my favorite books of all time, and I have probably read it at least a dozen times. This is the story of a person who followed her heart and worked incredibly hard; the end result is that she built a life she loved. Set in Wyoming at the start of the 20th century, Stewart a widowed single mother left the drudgery of taking in wash to work on a cattle ranch and prove up her own piece of land for homesteading.
She writes with wonderful droll humor and remarkable insight to the human This is one of my favorite books of all time, and I have probably read it at least a dozen times. She writes with wonderful droll humor and remarkable insight to the human condition. To her dear friend, she says, "When you think of me, you must think of my as one who is truly happy.
It is true I want a great many things I haven't got, but I don't want them enough to be discontented and not enjoy the many blessings that are mine Do you wonder I am so happy?
When I think of it all, I wonder how I can crowd all my joy into one short life. Jan 07, Jessaka rated it it was amazing Shelves: pioneer , favoritestar. Besides, it was quite dusky among the trees long before night, but it was all so grand and awe-inspiring. Occasionally there was an opening through which we could see the snowy peaks, seemingly just beyond us, toward which we were headed.
But when you get among such grandeur you get to feel how little you are and how foolish is human endeavor, except that which reunites us with the mighty force called god. I was plumb uncomfortable, because all my own efforts have always been just to make the best of everything and to take things as they come.
When it arrived it was so worn out from so many hands reading it. I loved it, so I suggested it for our book group and read it again. What makes this story so good? First, it is a true story written in the very early s by a woman who had lost her husband and had then taken on a job as a housekeeper for a rancher in Wyoming. Along with the job, she had purchased land next to her new boss, intending to homestead it. She then began writing eloquent letters to her former boss, letters that were filled with adventure, as well as her life on the ranch.
I knew that I would have had to develop a taste for venision, for example, but some of the meals were really good. Then there is a story of her taking her young daughter on a camping trip when she knew that it could snow. They spent the night 30 miles from home, sleeping under a tree whose branches came to the ground. The idea was squeeze between the branches, blocking out access to wild animals like bears or cougars.
Good luck, especially since she had built a campfire and was cooking their dinner, which could have attracted bears. When they woke up the next morning snow had covered the ground. This is when I began questioning her common sense, but then people have questioned my own over the years when I was on my own adventures. So now they had to find their way home. A 30 mile rope connected to her home would have been a good idea. And right now I am thinking of the degree windchill factor in New Hampshire and wondering how people and their livestock are surviving, and then wondering how they would keep their homes warm.
Other stories in this book were just not fascinating but caring as well. Taking food to a starving family, and then on Christmas taking food to the sheepherders in the area, which would make this a good Christmas book. So, if you get a chance check this book out as well as the other two that I have mentioned. View all 3 comments. Jan 29, Artemis rated it it was amazing. Of course I rate this book a five because my great grandmother wrote it and I can relate to it because of my grandmother's stories about growing up.
However, if I was not related, I would still love this book because it is very similar in style to Jack London's prose. It has historical and sentimental value.
View all 8 comments. May 29, Lise Petrauskas rated it really liked it Shelves: biography , homestead.
I have fallen in love with Elinore Pruitt Stuart. For one thing, she's witty and kind. For another, I love her philosophy of scaring off troubles with a belly laugh. She's a keen observer of people and loves and can describe natural beauty. She is independent, curious, loyal, likes to eat, is kind to children and animals, is not afraid of hard work, is open-minded, and is honest enough to laugh at herself when she is wrong. She seems to have made friends easily, which is natural probably for som I have fallen in love with Elinore Pruitt Stuart.
She seems to have made friends easily, which is natural probably for someone who is a cheerful, sympathetic listener, rejoices in the joys of others, and enjoys work. On finding out that she is going to be married on arrival but that no preparations have been made, Pruitt invites herself to the wedding meal.
In the course of decorating a partially built room, arranging a feast, and seeking hot water for the dusty bride's toilette, she ends up helping in the kitchen of the hotel because the landlady doesn't have enough help and a full house. She loses track of the time because she's having so much fun. The woman is not perfect, nor are these perfect times, by any means, but it's an interesting picture of Wyoming society around At one point, Pruitt goes to a Mormon community and has a bunch of questions all ready for the 'bishop', but he is away.
She and a friend end up staying at his second wife's home and being unable to bring herself to ask the questions because she has such pity for wife's situation. The woman does talk about her husband and gives details of her domestic arrangements on the instigation of Pruitt's friend. That she's not partial to Mormonism doesn't bother me. She's open about her opinions and is frankly interested in the phenomenon.
It's a difference in belief. She is however horribly patronizing to and about "negroes. It's disappointing how racist some of my homesteading heroines are. Laura Ingalls Wilder is also not free of prejudice and ignorance, though hers is directed toward native Americans. In the back of my mind while reading this was the thought that the holy homestead act that gave white women like Pruitt such opportunity for independence was destructive of native cultures as well contributing significantly to the environmental disasters of the dust-bowl and extermination of the bison.
So there's that. But Elinore is some good company. I loved that movie, but I remember it being a bit bleaker than I found the book. I'll be interested to see it again. Right now the Kindle version if free at Amazon. View all 13 comments. Definitely love this book. Thank God for pioneer women! Jul 28, Rosana rated it liked it Shelves: bookish-schallenge , , memoirs-diaries.