Lindsay
This is the final time I will be writing
to you. I am Lindsay, the independent cowgirl. My brothers and I got caught in
one of the first blizzards of the season and nearly didn’t make it home from
school. Pa and Hank were able to save us. Other blizzards followed this one, and
they destroyed cattle by the hundreds. Any cowboys caught outside died. Several
ranchers lost everything as a result of the deep snows and severe cold.
You will have to read my book to see if
the M Ranch survives and what happens
to my family.
It’s Snowing!
by Judy
Like Lindsay, I attended a one-room school in Kansas and
just as it snowed when Lindsay was young, it snowed when I was young and
attending a one-room school. My family did not have a telephone until I was out
of grade school nor was there a phone in my school. After a couple of hours of
heavy snow falling, though, my dad would come in the Jeep to collect my
brothers and me.
There were no official snow days yet, and if it wasn’t
Friday, we were all back in school the next morning. We students were happy to
have snow. Recesses and lunch hours were now spent playing Fox and Geese or
building forts and waging battles with snowballs. Although our coats and
gloves were placed near the one stove in the room, we often wore damp coats and
gloves home.
However, there was one drawback to a good snowstorm for students
attending my one-room school. There was not an inside bathroom. It was at least
a mile from the school house. (Well, maybe not quite that far, but it seemed
like it in the cold, blowing snow.) I will mention, too, it was not well-built.
There were cracks in the walls and a gap between the walls and the roof. These
building issues allowed for snow to drift inside and settle on the seat. On
cold, snowy days…well, a trip to the restroom was not pleasant.
