Letters of a Woman Homesteader by Elinore Pruitt Stewart was a gem of a book. I loved it. The only downside to the book was it was on my Kindle app on my phone, so I could put it down and forget about in a way that never happens with a real book in your hands.
The series of letters was just phenomenal. I’m so glad that they have been combined together and preserved for history. There is just so much to gleam from it. Everything from the beauty of the untamed west, meeting mormons and other men along the way, and just about daily life. You would have never thought that an ex-laundrywoman would have written the book. There is just so much insight in the book about culture and people that she met while she’s telling her former employer everything. I really liked how she said in one letter, “It has always been a theory of mine that when we become sorry for ourselves we make our misfortunes harder to bear, because we lose courage and can’t think without bias.”
As a letter writer, I couldn’t help to relate to how she would make apologies for her babbling, her forgetfulness and her tone of writing. She tells about her daily life and her adventures. It’s rather neat since I do the same thing in my letters.
One of my favorite letters though was the one her daughter sent. It was a thank you note for Black Beauty mixed with her tale of her mom dealing with a runaway animal. It was special. Then the note afterwards from Elinore was great since she apologized for the grammar errors and the misspellings in her daughter’s letter but seemed to find amusement that her daughter sent the letter without her knowing about it (Jerrine apparently would write many letters to Ms. Coney that were never sent due to the misspellings). It made me wonder if my mom ever wanted to help rewrite a letter I wrote when I was little if only to help perfect the spelling and grammar but not the nature of the letter. Plus it makes me wonder if I had children if they would write letters to my best friend just like their mama.
I feel horrible. I started reading this book over a month ago. It’s a short book and highly pleasurable. It’s extremely easy to read. Given those facts, it seems crazy it would take me so long to read it but I did since it was an electronic book. It wasn’t in a book I could see sitting next me to or I had to actually tote around. I would forget to use my Kindle app unless I was too lazy to turn on the light at night when my insomnia kicks in yet I still want to read to tire my mind out.
I’m glad I actually read a more serious book again where I learned a lot. I really got to balance out my reading selections again since I loved to learn. I highly recommend this book. Get it especially if you have a Kindle! It’s free and fantastic. Just don't forget to finish the book
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