Promised Land Homestead

Poor Young Girl

Picture with me for a moment, if you will, a poor young girl living in a small, one room house in the middle of the woods.  The house has no electricity, running water, or bathroom.  The family routinely goes without fresh fruit, and must draw water by hand from a stream near their house to wash with and drink.  Cooking and heat can only be done by a woodburning stove.  This little girl owns but one pair of shoes, passed down to her from her older sister.  She does not wear shoes in the summer or spring because her family can not easily afford new ones.  In order for them to last as long as possible, she can only wear them in winter.  She owns only two dresses, one to work in and one nicer one (meaning one she wears less often) for church and special occasions.  They cannot afford store-bought clothes, so her mother must make them.  They can not afford to buy much cloth, so the dresses are only replaced when they are outgrown or thread bare.  Her father can not afford new boots so he works in old boots full of cracks and holes.  When she outgrows her shoes one winter, the family must cut open the sides of them so she can wear them until a new pair can be purchased.  She lives too far from any town to go to school.  She must be taught by her mother.  Although her mother was once a schoolteacher, they have only her old outdated school books with which to teach them.

This poor little girl didn't get much for Christmas this year.  The only thing in her stocking was one piece of peppermint candy and a pair of mittens her mother made.  There were no toys, save a simple rag doll her mother made her from pieces of scrap cloth she had left over from sewing.  Prior to receving this rag doll, she had no doll of her own and had to wrap a corn cob up in a left over cloth to pretend it was her baby.  She had no swingset, or even a tea set.  She and her sister would sit in their attic and use pumpkins from the garden as tables and chairs.  Their one prized possession was a chipped china tea cup with the handle broken off that they must share together.  There is no T.V. or radio.  To pass the long, cold winter months, she and her sister must either play quietly with their crude toys, or look at the only two books the family owns:  the Holy Bible, and a book on animals their father was passed from his father.  Evenings are spent sewing, talking, and listening to their father play the fiddle, if he's not to tired from the days farming.

Do you feel sorry for this girl?  Would you hate to grow up as poor as that?  Would it surprise you to know that this little girl is among the happiest and most content I've read about?

If you ever want to feel thankful for what you have and reminded of how blessed we are, I highly recommend reading the "Little House On The Prairie" series by Laura Ingalls Wilder.  They are a semi-autobiographical portrayal of what life was like for her growing up in the late 1800s.  The books are not depressing, and do not give you even the slightest inkling that Laura was an unhappy girl.  In fact, they are a beautiful look back at how simple life once was, and how content people can be with so much less. 

I love reading these books to my children.  They remind us of how blessed we are to have what we have, but are also a stark reality-check of how spoiled we have become in this country.  We have no idea what true poverty is, and how content people can be  having next to nothing.  Don't get me wrong, I am very thankful that we have the standard of living we have in our country.  The problem is that Americans think hard times are paying $4.00 per gallon for gas, having to shop at Wal-mart instead of the mall, and not being able to go out to eat every weekend. 

What if your father worked his fingers to bleeding planting a wheat crop meant to give you enough money for food for the winter?  What if that wheat crop was eaten by locusts and your father had to leave for 4 months and walk (that's right, walk!) 200 miles to find work enough to feed you?  What if your whole family nearly died of malaria from mosquitoes and your older sister was blinded for life by scarlet fever?  What if you had to quit school at age 13 to go to work as a school teacher on the freezing plains of South Dakota to send that same sister to a school for the blind?  We don't know what hard times are.

These books are really enjoyable and show you just how much pleasure can be had from the simple things in life.  They may highlight just how spoiled we are here in America, but they also make us thankful for what we have.  They help me keep perspective on just how little we could live on if we had to, and what the most important things in life are:  God, family, and faith.