2 City Homes on Country Lanes 



the glory that was to be perhaps because of the clouds 

 of dust that came swirling from the treeless land. So 

 she wept with the women, laughed with the children, and 

 shared with the sturdy, ambitious men the hope of 

 independence that sustained them in their struggle with 

 the grim old desert. But these experiences always left 

 her sad. "It is fine for the men," she would say ; "they 

 see their chance for achievement. But it is hard for the 

 women hard." And she felt there must be a way to 

 soften, to ameliorate, the lot of the pioneer woman. 



Fate made her at length a pioneer woman herself 

 the First Lady of a settlement embarked upon the most 

 daring adventure of all, dedicated to the proposition 

 of "a little land and a living" with the smallest unit 

 ever adopted by any considerable number of families at 

 one time and place. She did not shrink from her duty, 

 ner opportunity, but met it more than half-way with 

 outstretched hand. "Now," she said, "we shall see if it 

 is possible to bring a little sunshine into the lives of the 

 women, while the men are showing us what they can do 

 on the land." 



The amount of money available for the building of 

 her home was small ; the hope of a clubhouse, suited to 

 her plan, remote. In this dilemma, she put nine-tenths 

 of her building fund into a single beautiful room, 

 ideally adapted to social purposes. For the rest of 

 her home tents ; nice, roomy tents, connected by cov- 

 ered passages, and supplied with floors, windows and 

 doors; so that in a benign climate, where shelter is 

 almost negligible, it made a livable and attractive 

 "camp." Even so, it represented a sacrifice of personal 

 comfort in the interest of her numerous neighbors. 



