THE LOG-CABIN LADY

An Anonymous Autobiography



PREFACE

The story of The Log-Cabin Lady is one of the annals of America. It is
a moving record of the conquest of self-consciousness and fear through
mastery of manners and customs. It has been written by one who has not
sacrificed the strength and honesty of her pioneer girlhood, but who
added to these qualities that graciousness and charm which have given
her distinction on two continents.

I have been asked to tell how the story of The Log-Cabin Lady came to be
written. At a luncheon given at the Colony Club in 1920, I was invited
to talk about Madame Curie. There were, at that table, a group of
important women.

When I had finished the story of the great scientist, whose service to
humanity was halted by lack of laboratory equipment, and of the very
radium which she had herself discovered, one guest asked: "Why do you
spend your life with a woman's magazine when you could do big work like
serving Madame Curie?" "I believe," I replied, "that a woman's magazine
is one of the biggest services that can be rendered in this country."

My challenge was met with scorn by one of the women upon whose education
and accomplishments a fortune had been spent. "It is stupid," she said,
"to print articles about bringing up children and furnishing houses,