DEVELOPMENT OF A WOMAN GUIDE 



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independent, individual homesteader possessed 

 none of these so-called essentials, but she had a 

 greater possession than they could have given her. 

 She had "Happiness." In these lines you have a 

 good glimpse of her life and of herself during her 

 first winter of homesteading: 



Happiness 



My lot is a strangely happy one, 

 Though far from the busy mart; 



I live on my homestead all alone, 

 With ever a song in my heart. 



And if perchance I tire of home 



Away and away I go — 

 To gypsy by a stony brook. 



Or camp-fire in the snow. 



When wily wind blows fierce and strong, 



Or cloud and mist allure, 

 I don my very oldest togs. 



And picnic then for sure. 



My thoughts are as free as the mountain air. 



And never a care have I: 

 Where I live alone in a little hut 



And not even the road goes by! 



In this mountain frontier neighbours are sepa- 

 rated by magnificent distances. Yet this young 

 woman visited all her homestead neighbours, 

 journeying from two to sixteen miles on foot. Last 

 Christmas she and one of the other women home- 



