To and Through Nebraska.
Inscribed
Fulton, Frances I. Sims. To and Through Nebraska. By a Pennsylvania Girl. …Lincoln, Nebraska: Journal Company, State Printers, 1884.
8vo.; light blue cloth; stamped in gilt and blind; light edgewear and spotting to spine.
First edition; on the title page Fulton writes, “This little work, which claims no merit but truth, is humbly dedicated to the many dear friends, who by their kindness made the long journey and work pleasant to the author.” A presentation copy, inscribed: To Dr. & Mrs. Blodget - -With kindest regards. Of – the Theological Student of page – 102 – and “The Pennsylvania Girl”/Rev. & Mrs. Joseph Herbert/647 – Wheeler St -/Santa Rosa/Cal./Apr – 1913. The exchange on page 102 is, evidently, the first meeting of the author and her future husband. Fulton describes the Rev. Joseph Herbert as “The thoughtful man…of Union Park Seminary, Chicago, who will spend his vacation in preaching at Ainsworth and Valentine, and is the first minister that has been bold enough to attempt to hold services there” (p. 102).
On two pages – 67 and 159 – Fulton has handwritten postscripts regarding the fates of people she wrote about in the book, leaving readers with the grim impression that forging a life out West had a real share of danger and hardship. Of a “Mr. Newell,” she writes, “Mr. N was shot-down in his door by a band of the horse thieves couple yrs. after this. and that community lost one of its best men” (p. 67); and, later in the book, she writes, “Every member of the Cody family are now dead – five grand children living” (p. 159).
Fulton includes a “Word to the Reader” at the outset, explaining,
We do not want it to be thought an emigration scheme, but only what a Pennsylvania girl heard, saw, and thought of Nebraska. And to make it more interesting we will give our experience with all the fun thrown in, for we really thought we had quite an enjoyable time and learned lessons that may be useful for others to know. (pp. 3-4)
She goes on to explain that she does not portray “perfection” in her characters, only “common, every-day people, with common names and features” (p. 6). She concludes that while she aimed to write her story in a day, “it takes lesson and lessons, read and re-read, and many too that are not learned from books, and then the book will be – only a little pamphlet after all” (p. 7).
Fulton writes about what she knows of the history of Nebraska; she also includes descriptions of the landscape and the people she meets, and summarizes the encounters she had during her westward journey. One of the most compelling of these is her description of and thoughts about a Sioux woman. Evidently, this woman was married to a white man – a Frenchman – and she lived with her family in a sod house, decorated with furniture “all of home make, [with] an air of order and neatness” (p. 69). She reveals, “we left feeling sorry for her and indignant, all agreeing that any man who would marry a squaw is not worthy of even a squaw’s love and labor; labor is what they expect and demand of them, and as a rule, the squaw is the better of the two” (pp. 69-70). She continues in this vein,
Indians are not considered as citizens of the United States, and have no part in our law-making, yet are controlled by them. They are kept as Uncle Sam’s unruly subjects, unfit for any kind of service to him. Why not give them whereon to place their feet on an equal footing with the white children and made to work or starve; ‘to sink or swim; live or die; survive or perish?’ What a noble motto that would be for them to adopt! (p. 70)
In Chapter V of her book titled, “Nebraska and Her Capital,” Fulton includes a section on the rights of married women there. The law states that property owned by women in Nebraska, or that is inherited by a woman, or that is purchased by a women, “shall remain her sole and separate property, notwithstanding her marriage, and shall not be subject to the disposal of her h
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