DEVELOPMENT OF A WOMAN GUIDE 261 



And why had this young woman given up business 

 to mountaineer? 



A consuhing decorator for a nation-wide business 

 firm and in love with her job, she overworked and 

 eventually had a nervous breakdown. During the 

 months of enforced rest she had had time to think, 

 and did so. Many things in business life, she had 

 decided, were wearing without seeming really neces- 

 sary or worth while. Once in a routine of work, the 

 average individual ceases to grow — ceases to be 

 the architect of his own fate. She found herself 

 wishing to get away from the city with its exacting 

 demands, to a simple form of existence where 

 money, people, and society were secondary. Then 

 came the opportunity to homestead. 



It was dark when she reached home from the 

 village. After building a fire she sat down to 

 read her letters. One was from the New York 

 classmate whom she had invited to share her cabin 

 and her mountain experiences. Her distressed 

 artist friend, after thinking over the matter for a 

 number of weeks, at last wrote: 



"You are nearly as crazy — yes, I guess you are 

 a little farther gone than I am. Your letter thril- 

 led me to death, I assure you, but being East in a 

 comfortable, steam-heated home, two stories up, 

 I can't help but wonder how it could be done, and 

 we come out of it alive. I always did and always 

 shall want to come West, but I must say I never 

 quite worked myself up to thinking I could really 



