TO VAN
WHO KNOWS AND LOVES
THE WEST
AS WE LOVE HIM!

Contents

Thursday the Nineteenth[1]
Saturday the Twenty-first[16]
Monday the Twenty-third[33]
Wednesday the Twenty-fifth[41]
Thursday the Twenty-sixth[48]
Saturday the Twenty-eighth[57]
Wednesday the First[61]
Thursday the Second[64]
Friday the Third[67]
Saturday the Fourth[68]
Monday the Sixth[73]
Wednesday the Eighth[80]
Saturday the Tenth[88]
Sunday the Eleventh[91]
Monday the Twelfth[93]
Sunday the Eighteenth[101]
Monday the Nineteenth[103]
Tuesday the Twentieth[105]
Thursday the Twenty-second[115]
Saturday the Twenty-fourth[119]
Tuesday the Twenty-seventh[128]
Thursday the Twenty-ninth[133]
Friday the Fifth[136]
Sunday the Seventh[137]
Tuesday the Ninth[138]
Saturday the Twenty-first[142]
Sunday the Twenty-ninth[150]
Monday the Seventh[152]
Friday the Eleventh[153]
Sunday the Thirteenth[155]
Wednesday the Sixteenth[156]
Sunday the Twentieth[157]
Sunday the Twenty-seventh[158]
Wednesday the Thirtieth[159]
Thursday the Thirty-first[160]
Sunday the Third[167]
Thursday the Seventh[171]
Saturday the Ninth[172]
Monday the Eleventh[175]
Tuesday the Nineteenth[182]
Sunday the Thirty-first[186]
Tuesday the Ninth[188]
Wednesday the Seventeenth[189]
Thursday the Twenty-fifth[190]
Tuesday the Second[191]
Thursday the Fourth[193]
Wednesday the Seventeenth[194]
Saturday the Twenty-seventh[195]
Tuesday the Sixth[198]
Monday the Twelfth[199]
Tuesday the Twentieth[202]
Monday the Twenty-sixth[205]
Wednesday the Twenty-eighth[207]
Monday the Second[209]
Thursday the Fifth[210]
Tuesday the Tenth[214]
Monday the Sixteenth[217]
Tuesday the Twenty-fourth[220]
Friday the Third[222]
Thursday the Ninth[224]
Wednesday the Fifteenth[228]
Friday the Seventeenth[230]
Saturday the Nineteenth[231]
Friday the Twenty-eighth[233]
Saturday the Twenty-ninth[234]
Sunday the Thirtieth[236]
Tuesday the First[237]
Monday the Seventh[243]
Sunday the Thirteenth[247]
Monday the Twenty-eighth[249]
Saturday the Second[251]
Wednesday the Sixth[252]
Tuesday the Twelfth[254]
Thursday the Fourteenth[255]
Wednesday the Fifth[256]
Sunday the Ninth[260]
Monday the Tenth[262]
Tuesday the Eleventh[264]
Wednesday the Thirteenth[265]
Thursday the Fourteenth[267]
Friday the Fifteenth[269]
Saturday the Sixteenth[272]
Monday the Seventeenth[275]
Wednesday the Nineteenth[276]
Friday the Twenty-first[277]
Monday the Twelfth[290]
Wednesday the Fourteenth[292]
Thursday the Fifteenth[295]
Friday the Sixteenth[298]
Sunday the Eighteenth[307]
Sunday the Twenty-fifth[308]
Tuesday the Twenty-seventh[309]
Wednesday the Twenty-eighth[310]
Friday the Thirtieth[313]
Sunday the First[314]

THE PRAIRIE WIFE

Thursday the Nineteenth

Splash!... That's me, Matilda Anne! That's me falling plump into the pool of matrimony before I've had time to fall in love! And oh, Matilda Anne, Matilda Anne, I've got to talk to you! You may be six thousand miles away, but still you've got to be my safety-valve. I'd blow up and explode if I didn't express myself to some one. For it's so lonesome out here I could go and commune with the gophers. This isn't a twenty-part letter, my dear, and it isn't a diary. It's the coral ring I'm cutting my teeth of desolation on. For, every so long, I've simply got to sit down and talk to some one, or I'd go mad, clean, stark, staring mad, and bite the tops off the sweet-grass! It may even happen this will never be sent to you. But I like to think of you reading it, some day, page by page, when I'm fat and forty, or, what's more likely, when Duncan has me chained to a corral-post or finally shut up in a padded cell. For you were the one who was closest to me in the old days, Matilda Anne, and when I was in trouble you were always the staff on which I leaned, the calm-eyed Tillie-on-the-spot who never seemed to fail me! And I think you will understand.