Women on the Prairie 



" Some of the women want the Government 

 to let them homesteads for themselves, don't 

 they ? " said Tom. 



" I wish they'd homestead here," remarked 

 the Sunny one, " and take summer boarders ; 

 they'd get me. I'm sick of cooking, washing, and 

 baking. Oh, lots of 'em don't want that job, and 

 don't know how to do it either, if they did ; but I 

 think," he went on, " that idea of women home- 

 steading might have worked all right had it been 

 organized under suitable conditions ; for instance, 

 what would be wrong if two sisters of a married 

 couple took up an adjoining homestead for 

 dairying ? " 



"That's so," said Bob; "here's a lot of us 

 trying to grow grain, running into debt for im- 

 plements and taking it out of the land, and 

 the Prairie Provinces importing tons of butter 

 and eggs." 



So the desultory conversation ran on, and here 

 a few explanatory words may not be amiss on 

 the subject of women on the prairie. 



It will be evident to the reader that the con- 

 ditions of an unmarried woman, or a middle- 

 aged matron, and that of a young wife bearing 

 and rearing a family, are radically different. Now, 

 the ideal of the Canadian Government seems to 

 be a vast number of men owning small farms, 



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