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The Adventures of the Woman Homesteader: The Life and Letters of Elinore Pruitt Stewart

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This book chronicles Pruitt's life as a Wyoming homesteader and ranch wife in letters to a former employer and friend. Pruitt is hired as a housekeeper by a Scottish rancher named Stewart in Wyoming, and eventually marries him, but she is determined to homestead her own plot of land, so she claims some land contiguous to her husband's. Mrs. Stewart's letters detail her life on a remote ranch with a great deal of vigor. In fact the word "vigor" seems to characterize Stewart herself who sets off on long jaunts by herself, just to see the countryside. She often takes her children on these trips and when things go wrong, the children and Stewart must rely on the rough kindness of other Wyoming pioneers. Thus, she is saved from a spending a freezing night in the snow by Zebulon Pike and is fed by a disreputable character who turns out to know her husband. She assists at wedding and births, visits the Mormons where she finds the "second" wife is not happy, and generally has a wonderful time in turn-of-the-century Wyoming. Stewart has a marvelous sense of humor, an indomitable spirit and a great love for the beauty of nature. However, she is so relentlessly upbeat that one wonders if she is telling the whole truth. Diaries of other pioneer women reveal a rather different picture of life in the west where women were often left alone for extended periods of time to run the ranch, handle the kids, do all the housework, raise the garden, feed the chickens and livestock and do all the other tasks associated with ranching. Many of these women didn't enjoy settling new country, but Stewart apparently loves it. The root of her optimism is that she is trying to get other women to homestead. Her message seems to be "If I can do it, so can you." Her letters reflect 19th century feminism which not only revolved around suffrage but also taught that women could be independent and successful. With women like Stewart settling the state, it is not surprising that Wyoming was the first state that gave women the right to vote. This book is fun to read and informative though I don't think it represents the experiences of a majority of pioneer women. It, like its author, is iconoclastic in its sheer joie de vivre.

When I first began this book I was very disappointed. I finally got in far enough to get to the letters. Even if you never read the pages leading up to the letters or the summation at the end, you will gain from reading it. Elinore must have been a great person to know. I felt like I did know her even though it was soon evident that she was coloring up her letters for publication. She kept me reading and I did what I set out to do. I learned about the woman homesteader in the west and her everyday life.

This is a good book for anyone interested in reading about life on a Wyoming woman homesteader in the early 1900s. Elinore has a delightful way of expressing herself and her love for others and life comes across in her letters. She was an optimistic person and did not dwell on all the hardships like some others who wrote letters at that time. I genuinely believe she had a different outlook on life and made the best of everything instead of dwelling on the hardships. Many of these letters were not published by any magazine so she "lets her hair down" a bit more than her other two books. She is remarkable at observation and recall and it shows in her writing. Read it for yourself and see if you get caught up in her quaint tones and expressions.

If I knew more about this book, I wouldn't have bought it, I would however check it out from a library...