A Long Ago Kansas Christmas. 



thrill with admiration for the achievement of vigorous steel- 

 thewed manhood and husky, adventurous youth, but of that 

 greater, more wonderful heroism displayed by their mothers, 

 wives and daughters, historians and novelists have been 

 strangely silent. It is within the rightful province of men to 

 do and dare, and a woman to suffer in silence. Why, then, 

 should the one deserve much praise if not the other? 



The women who molded bullets and loaded rifles for the 

 defenders of the beleagurecl block-house or log cabin are de- 

 serving of a place in history, but no more so than their sisters 

 of pioneer days on the plains. For these women were all 

 heroic, resourceful in emergencies, patient and contented under 

 conditions that only womankind could endure without a mur- 

 mur. Living in shacks, sod houses, and dug-outs, isolated 

 from the world and surrounded by dangers; often alone, or, 

 worse, with the care and protection of a family on their 

 shoulders ; scantily provided with the necessities and comforts 

 of life, and with none of life's pleasures, theirs was a heroism 

 in comparison with which that of the husbands and brothers 

 fades into insignificance. 



These were the thoughts which were running through my 

 mind when I was suddenly brought back to earth by the little 

 lady saying: "It is not such a dinner as you are used to, 

 Doctor, but I can't tell you how glad I am to have you with us 

 to share it." As we pushed back from the dinner table, Dave 

 said : "Now, Doctor, we have everything for our Christmas 

 dinner but the meat, and you or I will have to provide that." 

 I replied: "That's easy; we will have broiled prairie chicken 

 and quail on toast, and that is something that would strain the 

 pocketbooks of our city cousins." 



We had a royal afternoon's sport with the quail along the 

 creek bottom and the chickens in the corn, and brought home 

 birds enough to make our part of the Christmas meal. What 

 a voracious appetite we developed, and how nobly Mrs. 

 H - provided for its appeasement ! 



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