Mollie

Mollie is a vivid, high-spirited, and intensely feminine account of city people homesteading in the raw, new land west of the Missouri. More particularly, it is the story of Mollie herself--just turned eighteen when the Dorseys left Indianapolis for Nebraska Territory--of her reaction to the transplanting and her new life which included rattlesnakes, blizzards, Indians, and the hardships of pioneer life. Mollie describes her nearly three-year engagement to Byron Sanford, during which time she worked as a seamstress, teacher, and cook. Following her wedding Mollie's life took a new turn. Catching "Pike's Peak Fever, " the Sanfords crossed the plains to Colorado and the gold diggings. In mining camps and later, after the outbreak of the Civil War, in forts and army posts, Mollie's strength and endurance were tried to the uttermost, but she reports her trials and tribulations with the same gaiety, courage, and common sense that she displayed in living through them. Lillian Schlissel's introduction discusses the Sanfords' courtship, marriage, and their determination to trust in the possibilities of a companionate marriage, against all odds.