first stage to get through, four or five days later, there was a
note from the proof king: "Do not fail to publish last week's paper,
properly dated, along with the current issue." As long as there was one
proof notice running, the newspaper could not skip a single week.

When the two editions were printed I went home very ill. During the
course of a busy and eventful life I have managed--perhaps I should say
happened--to be a trail-breaker many times. And always I have had a
frail body which seemed bent on collapsing at the wrong time. Robust
health I have always coveted, but I have come to the conclusion that it
is not an essential in getting things done, and I have learned to ignore
as far as possible my lack of physical endurance.

The Widow Fergus came over and waited on me all night, using her simple
home remedies. It cost at least $25 to get a doctor out there, and many
times the emergency was over one way or the other before he arrived.
Homesteaders could not afford to call a doctor except in critical cases,
and they relied for the most part upon the amateur knowledge and help of
their neighbors.

From the beginning cooperation had been one of the strongest elements in
western life. When no foundation for a civilized life has been laid,
when every man must start at the beginning in providing himself with
such basic necessities as food and shelter, when water holes are few and
far between and water to sustain life must be carried many miles, men
have to depend on each other. Only together could the western settlers
have stood at all; alone they would have perished. In times of sickness
and individual disaster, it was the community that came to the rescue.
If only for self-preservation, it had to.

The next time the prints were held up by a storm I bought a roll of
wrapping paper at Randall's store, cut it into strips, and got the paper
out.

When I took the papers into the post office to mail, Mrs. Randall
laughed out loud, but Mr. Randall said reassuringly: "That's right, Miss
Ammons; learning to meet emergencies in this country is a valuable
thing."

The proof-sheet king wrote: "It is regrettable that a paper like that
should go into the government Land Offices--such an outlaw printer--"

I replied cheerfully, "Oh, I sent the land officials a good one. They
can read every number."

And printers were not to be found on every quarter-section.

Meantime, while I was hammering the paper into shape, Ida M