Being stalked by a mountain lion made it frightening as well. Stopping before dark, Helga and her eighteen-year-old daughter, Clara, built a fire. They kept it burning all night, taking turns on guard duty, their Smith & Wesson revolver cocked and ready. When the sun rose, the lion was nowhere to be seen.
How did two women end up alone in the desert? In the early 1890s, Helga Estby lived with her husband and nine children on a small farm outside of Spokane, Washington. Ole Estby worked the land and earned money as a carpenter in the city. Helga raised the children, helped with farm chores, and took care of the house. With everyone pitching in, the family stayed one step ahead of the bank, which held a mortgage on their property.
Then the country was hit with a depression. People stopped building new houses and stores, so Ole’s carpentry skills were no longer needed. An injury left him unfit to do heavy work. Soon the Estbys were in debt and unable to pay their mortgage. Helga decided it was up to her to save their home.
Helga heard that an anonymous person connected to the fashion industry out East was sponsoring a prize of $10,000 for any woman who could walk from Washington State to New York City, a distance of 3,500 miles, in seven months. Traditionally, women wore bone corsets under long skirts that dragged on the ground. These garments restricted movement. The prize sponsor was promoting a modern outfit called the bicycle skirt that left women’s ankles exposed, freeing them to walk or pedal without being tripped by their clothing. Leggings were worn underneath to protect modesty.
To prove their fitness, women were walking long distances. Nicknamed “pedestrians” by the newspapers of the day, they argued that women were equal to men and should be granted the right to vote. Some pedestrians had walked hundreds of miles, but none had ever attempted a cross-country trek.
Esta historia es de la edición October 2019 de Cricket Magazine for Kids.
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Esta historia es de la edición October 2019 de Cricket Magazine for Kids.
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The Tale Of Paddy Ahern
THERE ONCE WAS a lad named Paddy Ahern who trod the green hills of Limerick, Ireland, offering to help farmers with their chores in return for food and lodging.
The Pedestrians
EACH TIME HELGA Estby looked over her shoulder, the big cat was there. Crossing Wyoming’s Red Desert on foot, in the dust and heat of August 1896, was tough.
The Magic Gifts
A Basque Folk Tale
The Dragon's Scales
“THREE YEARS I'VE been waiting, when Torquil promised he’d return them in three days. I’m not waiting three more days to get back what’s mine!” The dragon punctuated his remarks with a smoky snort and a lashing tail.
The Water Bucketre
A Chinese Folk Tale.
Between The Pages
One rainy night, while alone in the castle library with her talking gargoyle, Marcus, Princess Audrey finds a book with the odd title Finding Angel. Meanwhile, in modern times, a girl named Angel is celebrating her thirteenth birthday.
Swim Buddies
I LEAN OVER the side of the catamaran and peer into the crystal blue water. This is my last chance, I think.
The Bushwhackers
I CAN’T ABIDE living one more day in this pigpen!” I groaned and rolled out of bed to pull on my dress.
As American as Appleless Pie!
NOTHING IS MORE American than the humble apple pie. There’s even an old saying to prove it: “as American as apple pie.” So it may come as a surprise that many early settlers who forged the trails of our expanding nation were often without apples to make this most American of desserts. As pioneers headed west in pursuit of territory and gold, they had to leave many things behind, including apples. Not only did life on the trail make fresh fruit like apples hard to carry and keep, apple trees were native only to the east coast, which made finding apples in the West nearly impossible.
The Man Who Built A Better Leg
THE CIVIL WAR was only a few weeks old when seven hundred and fifty Confederate recruits gathered in the fields around Philippi, Virginia. It was early June 1861, and as yet there had been no real battles. The men had eagerly volunteered, but most had no training as soldiers. Their only weapons were the ones they brought from home— old-fashioned flintlock muskets, cap and ball pistols, and a few shotguns.
