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Letters of a Woman Homesteader by Elinore Pruitt Stewart
page 68 of 156 (43%)

Tam is just a Scot with an amazingly close fist, and he is very
absent-minded. I had met Annie, his wife, and their six children. She
told me of his absent-mindedness. Her remedy for his trouble when it
came to household needs was to repeat the article two or three times in
the list. People out like we are buy a year's supply at a time. So a
list of needed things is made up and sent into town. Tam always managed
to forget a great many things.

Well, bedtime came. I offered to show them to their room, but Aggie
said, "We'll nae sleep in your bed. We'll jest bide in the kitchen." I
could not persuade her to change her mind. Tam slept at the barn in
order to see after the "beasties," should they need attention during
the night. As I was preparing for bed, Aggie thrust her head into my
room and announced that she would be up at three o'clock. I am not an
early bird, so I thought I would let Aggie get her own breakfast, and I
told her she would find everything in the pantry. As long as I was
awake I could hear Archie and Aggie talking, but I could not imagine
what about. I didn't know their habits so well as I came to later. Next
morning the rumbling of their wagons awakened me, but I turned over and
slept until after six.

There are always so many things to do before leaving that it was nine
o'clock before we got started. We had only gotten about two miles, when
Mr. Stewart remembered he had not locked the granary, so back we
trotted. We nooned only a few miles from home. We knew we could not
catch the wagons before camping-time unless we drove very hard, so Mr.
Stewart said we would go by the Edmonsons' and spend the night there. I
enjoy even the memory of that drive through the short spring
afternoon,--the warm red sand of the desert; the Wind River Mountains
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