Was very interesting to read. Things were very different in 1909, and yet not so different at all. I would have enjoyed an annotated version more, as there was much I didn’t understand due to shifting vocabularies and changes in society. I also would have liked the whole collection of letters to have been placed in context by an editor. It would have been nice to know what became of Elinore, and who she was before going off to homestead. ( )

I enjoyed reading this---mainly because it was fun to imagine "old Wyoming". Also, some of the characters came from Arkansas, namely Yell County, so that was fun. I would recommend not reading the forward if one doesn't want the entire thing summed up in a few short paragraphs. ( )

This book is delightful. It consists of 26 letters written between 1909 and 1913 by Elinore Stewart to a former employer, Mrs. Coney, and details her everyday (and sometimes out of the ordinary) happenings in Wyoming as a new homesteader.

A couple of my favorite quotes:

"We forgot all about feuds and partings, death and hard times. All we remembered was that God is good and the world is wide and beautiful." (pg. 107)

"One morning [Jerrine] saw [the puppies] following their mother, so she danced for joy. When her little brother came she was plainly disappointed. "Mamma," she said, "did God really make the baby?" "Yes, dear." "Then He hasn't treated us fairly, and I should like to know why. The puppies could walk when He finished them; the calves can, too. The pigs can, and the colt, and even the chickens. What is the use of giving us a half-finished baby?" (pg. 135)

( )

Oh to have such a pen pal as Elinore Stewart! Her collected letters describe the wilds and hard work of pioneer life in Wyoming, seen through her optimistic and generous gaze, with such fresh and vibrant delight. I wish she were my friend.

These letters written for an audience of one exhibit a love of beauty and unconsciously winsome style that moved me to underline often. Elinore claims she is not educated, but her wisdom and love of writing fully compensate for any lack of formal schooling. Elinore has a gift for turn of phrase, robust love of life and self-sufficiency, as well as positive self-image and a friendly heart that made me smile with every page.

I want to live with the same openness, gratitude, and curiosity.

"...when you get among such grandeur you get to feel how little you are and how foolish is human endeavor, except that which unites 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."

"... I am the luckiest woman in finding really lovely people and having really lovely experiences."

"I get myself all ready to enjoy a success and find that I have to fit a failure. But one consolation is that I generally have plenty of material to cut generously, and many of my failings have proved to be real blessings."

"When you think of me, you must think of me as one who is truly happy. It is true I want a great 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." ( )

Young widow with her four-year-old daughter decided she was tired of washing other people’s laundry for a living, and moved to Wyoming to claim a homstead and asisst on a neighbor’s ranch. She found she loved the hard work, and before long married the neighbor (their homestead plots shared a boundary). The book is a compilation of letters she wrote back home to a previous employer (who must have be a close friend). She tells about the weather, the landscape, the neighbors and acquaintances- none of them lived nearby so visits were always welcome and travelers always given whatever they could share. There is really not much detail about the day-to-day work of the homestead (though she mentions planting potatoes, keeping a large vegetable garden and tending flowers, canning goods, sewing clothes, etc) it is mostly about the people around her, interesting little stories and incidents of character. Some surprising, some quite touching. Lots of examples of making do- improptu weddings, helping at a birth, performing funeral services when nobody else was around to do so. Generosity, humor and plain old gumption are strong in these pages. She certainly was an admirable woman and had a lot of interesting stories to tell. I found out there’s a sequel- it's shorter, but still sounds good so I’ll keep my eye out for it. ( )