The Passionate and the Proud Read Free Page B

OF AMERICA : Territorial offices hereby inform all interested citizens of a land rush to be held in the Territory of Olympia, beyond the Rocky Mountains, on October 1, 1868. All able-bodied citizens who have reached majority may lay claim to no more than one hundred sixty acres of land per family. Prospective claimants must register their intent to claim land with U.S. agent Vestor Tell in the town of Arcady, Territory of Olympia, on or before commencement of the land rush.
    Land! Emmalee studied the announcement carefully. She had always loved to study geography and received something like a physical thrill from the examination of maps. They spoke of distant places, always more exciting than wherever she happened to be. And she had read of land rushes as well. Horses and wagons and people lined up as in a race, and at the sound of a starter’s pistol shot, they went out to claim the best land they could find. Land rushes were a device to attract settlers to distant regions, and from what Emmalee had been able to learn, they were very successful in accomplishing that goal.
    But how on earth was she going to get beyond the Rocky Mountains by October? Another advertisement caught her eye.
HO FOR OLYMPIA OVER THE WESTERN MOUNTAINS
    Mr. Burt Pennington is now preparing an outfit for passage to Olympia starting the 1st of May. Those with an interest in ranching cattle are sought. Experienced guides will be with the company. All possible care will be taken of persons sick on the trip, and proper medicines kept in readiness. Persons wishing passage should contact Mr. Burt Pennington at the Schuyler Hotel on Market Street in St. Joseph.
    Emmalee scanned the notice a second time, feeling a small surge of hope. Pennington must be a gentleman. None of the other notices, she saw after further examination, mentioned medicine, but all of them mentioned money. The cheapest fare listed was $120 per person, but that applied only if the passanger brought along his own horse, mule, or ox, none of which Emmalee owned or had any immediate prospect of owning. But perhaps she might strike some sort of arrangement with this Mr. Pennington. At any rate, all the wagon trains seemed to be leaving from Kansas City or St. Joe.
    She began to think seriously about leaving the home and making her way to St. Joe. The town lay in the northwestern part of Missouri, over three hundred miles as the crow flew. Emmalee had desire, strong legs, a young body, and ten dollars. Would they be a match for three hundred miles of Missouri?
    Emmalee pondered this, doubtful one moment, confident the next. Then little Sarah Shedd came running toward her across the lawn. Sarah was all of seven. She had survived the smallpox, one of the twenty-three orphans fortunate enough to have done so, but the malady had pocked her poor little face for life.
    “Em, Em!” she cried, racing toward the older girl. “Preacher Task wants to talk to everybody right now. Hurry up or you’ll be late.”
    Preacher Task had been appointed the home’s new superintendent and had arrived only this morning to take up his responsibilities. Emmalee had not yet seen him, but she hoped he would turn out to be as good and dedicated as the Reverend Bowerly had been, even though she had no intention of remaining at the orphanage. She got up, folded the newspaper, picked up the remains of her lunch, and accompanied Sarah to the chapel.
    Most of the children, with a mixture of curiosity and apprehension, had already taken their seats in the chapel pews, and Preacher Task was standing in front of the altar when Emmalee entered with the little girl. In appearance and demeanor, Preacher Task stood in stark contrast to the late Reverend Bowerly. He was tall, thin, and brittle-looking, as if his whole body were nothing more than a collection of stiff joints. His face was long, thin, and pale. He appeared to be a man who had known little pleasure or comfort in life, but Emmalee could not tell if that had been