Pioneer Settlers in Nebraska

"A Lantern in Her Hand by Beth Streeter Aldrich" is the story of Abbie and Will Deal, fictious pioneer settlers in Nebraska. Written in much the same style and tone as books like the "What Katy Did" series, the book, now a classic, despite being rather old-fashioned, is incredibly touching, and manages to protray emotions, describe characters and narrate events far more clearly than many contemporary novels manage to do despite being explicit. Perhaps it is the restraint in "A Lantern in Her Hand" which makes a difference coupled, of course, with the talent of its author.

The book focusses on the life of Abbie Deal from the time that she was a child till the time that she died. It isn't a happy-go-lucky book with a feel-good ending but a chronicle of a woman's life in that era. It tells of her falling in love with and eventual marriage to Will Deal, a man who chose to move to Nebraska because land was inexpensive there although he believed that the land was good. It tells of how she herself was less than enthusiastic to shift but that she lived in an era where if her man shifted, she would, of course, do the same. Although it also mentions that as much as she loved her mother, and siblings, and home, her love for them was less than her love for Will.

Life in Nebraska was anything but easy for many years. Crops failed year after year. The rains didn't come. Grasshoppers became abominable pests. Money was short. And it sometimes took great strength of character to keep her love for her husband intact and distinct from the lack of material comfort. Will Deal is described as a man who says little but feels deeply. And Abbie is described as a woman duty-bound, but one who did not truly seem to feel bound by duty.

"A Lantern in Her Hand" speaks of Abbie as a mother, as a daughter, as a daughter-in-law, as a mother-in-law, as a grandmother, as a friend, as a wife, and, finally, as an individual, although all her wants and needs and desires as an individual were invariably subsumed by the deamnds of one or other of the roles which she played. She gave up music and art as a young woman for her husband, and as an older woman, she made way for her daughters. To her, motherhood was about love first and duty second although she never seemed to preach about it.

By the end of the book, it is difficult to feel anything but much respect for the woman who, fictitious thoguh she is, seems just as real as those women who have lived not merely in the pages of a book.

Note: The entire text of "A Lantern in Her Hand" is available online.