Women In Kansas

WOMEN IN KANSAS. – Mrs. Susan E. Wattles of Lawrence, Kansas, invites her sisters in the States to come to Kansas and “take claims, and make themselves independent.” She speaks of three young women who have pre-empted claims, one of whom has paid for her claim and received the requisite papers from the land office. Five women, however, will be likely to accept this sisterly invitation, and those few must be emphatically “strong minded.” A capital of four or five hundred dollars is necessary, at the outset, to pay for a claim, erect a cabin, furnish it, fence in a planting ground, &c. The sale of a quarter to a half of the claim (160 acres) would refund this money, however, according to Mrs. Wattles, and leave the fair pre-emptor with an independent home. But then neighbors may be half a mile or more distant, fever and ague will vary the monotony and safety and religious worship will be luxuries to be obtained only in the principal settlements. However Mrs. Wattles may look upon such a prospect, women in general, even the poorest would hardly seek “independence” at the sacrifice of those comforts and appliances of civilization so essential to woman’s happiness. Young men who are out of employment are the right persons for such “Life on the border,” and would find health, competence and independence by the cultivation of a “quarter lot” almost anywhere in Kansas.