1 2 3 4 Impertinences 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 [First Page] 13 [-1], (1) 14 15 16 Lines: 0 to 19 17 ——— 18 * 451.24823pt PgVar 19 ——— 20 Normal Page 21 * PgEnds: PageBreak 22 23 24 [-1], (1) 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 Kim—UofNPress/Pagei//Impertinencies / Elia Peattie 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 [-2], (2) 14 15 16 Lines: 19 to 21 17 ——— 18 0.0pt PgVar 19 ——— 20 Normal Page 21 PgEnds: TEX 22 23 24 [-2], (2) 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 Kim—UofNPress/Pageii//Impertinencies / Elia Peattie 1 2 3 4 Impertinences 5 6 7 8 9 Selected Writings of Elia Peattie, 10 11 a Journalist in the Gilded Age 12 13 Edited and with a biography by [-3], (3) 14 15 Susanne George Bloomfield 16 Lines: 21 to 55 17 ——— 18 10.60019pt PgVar 19 ——— 20 Normal Page 21 * PgEnds: PageBreak 22 23 24 [-3], (3) 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 University of Nebraska Press 39 Lincoln and London 40 Kim—UofNPress/Pageiii/ /Impertinencies / Elia Peattie 1 Publication of this book was supported by the 2 University of Nebraska at Kearney. © 2005 by the 3 Board of Regents of the University of 4 Nebraska. 5 All rights reserved. Manufactured in the United 6 States of America. 7 Set in Adobe Minion by Kim Essman. Designed 8 by R. Eckersley. Printed by Edwards Brothers, Inc. 9 ⅜ϱ 10 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data 11 Peattie, Elia Wilkinson, 1862– 12 Impertinences : selected writings of Elia Peattie, 13 a journalist in the Gilded Age / edited and [-4], (4) 14 with a biography by Susanne George Bloomfield. 15 p. cm. 16 Includes bibliographical references and index. Lines: 55 to 118 isbn 0-8032-3748-0 (hardcover : alkaline paper) – 17 ——— isbn 0-8032-8786-0 (paperback : alkaline paper) 18 * 192.31168pt PgVar 19 1. Omaha (Nebraska) – Social life and customs. ——— 20 2. Nebraska – Social life and customs. 3. Peattie, Normal Page Elia Wilkinson, 1862– 4. Authors, American – 21 * PgEnds: PageBreak 22 19th century – Biography. 5. Journalists – United 23 States – Biography. i. George Bloomfield, Su- 24 sanne, 1947– ii. Title. [-4], (4) 25 ps3531.e255a6 2005 814'.52–dc22 2004025703 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 Kim—UofNPress/Pageiv//Impertinencies / Elia Peattie 1 2 3 4 To Terry, 5 finally 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 [-5], (5) 14 15 16 Lines: 118 to 128 17 ——— 18 * 438.51622pt PgVar 19 ——— 20 Normal Page 21 * PgEnds: PageBreak 22 23 24 [-5], (5) 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 Kim—UofNPress/Pagev//Impertinencies / Elia Peattie 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 [-6], (6) 14 15 16 Lines: 128 to 130 17 ——— 18 0.0pt PgVar 19 ——— 20 Normal Page 21 PgEnds: TEX 22 23 24 [-6], (6) 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 Kim—UofNPress/Pagevi//Impertinencies / Elia Peattie 1 2 3 4 Pardon all this impertinence. I am no crank, though you may 5 suspect it. I am nobody at all except a woman who loves to see 6 her country grow, and the literature of her country grow. 7 Elia Wilkinson Peattie to Hamlin Garland, 30 September 1891 8 9 10 11 12 13 [-7], (7) 14 15 16 Lines: 130 to 152 17 ——— 18 * 407.5364pt PgVar 19 ——— 20 Normal Page 21 * PgEnds: PageBreak 22 23 24 [-7], (7) 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 Kim—UofNPress/Pagevii/ /Impertinencies / Elia Peattie 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 [-8], (8) 14 15 16 Lines: 152 to 154 17 ——— 18 0.0pt PgVar 19 ——— 20 Normal Page 21 PgEnds: TEX 22 23 24 [-8], (8) 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 Kim—UofNPress/Pageviii/ /Impertinencies / Elia Peattie 1 2 contents 3 4 xiii List of Illustrations 5 xv Preface 6 xix Elia Wilkinson Peattie Chronology 7 8 1 Introduction: A Writer’s Beginnings, 1862–1896 9 10 chapter 1. early omaha 11 21 “A Word with the Women” – Defending Omaha 12 23 “Seen with One’s Eyes Open: What Is to Be Seen from an Open 13 Motor Car in Omaha” [-9], (9) 14 15 29 “How They Live at Sheely: Pen Picture of a Strange Settlement and 16 Its Queer Set of Inhabitants” Lines: 154 to 308 17 33 “A Sociological Soliloquy: Some Thoughts Suggested by the ——— 18 Proposed Exodus from the Bottoms” 1.08714pt PgVar 19 39 “Mrs. Peattie in Rebuttal: Just a Word or Two in Passing Concerning ——— 20 the Society Question” Normal Page 21 42 “Work of the Day Nursery: The Creche and What It Does for PgEnds: TEX 22 Women Who Must Work” 23 24 46 “The Working Girls’ Home: A Description of the Place on [-9], (9) 25 Seventeenth Street, between Douglas and Dodge” 26 53 “With Works of Charity: St. Joseph’s Hospital and the Good Sisters 27 WhoDoItsWork” 28 58 “Omaha’s Black Population: The Negroes of This City – Who They 29 Are and Where They Live” 30 65 “Killing, Yet No Murder: A Day at the Stock Yards in South Omaha” 31 32 33 chapter 2. fact and fiction 34 75 “No Need of Prostitution: Mrs. Peattie Refuses to Accept the Claim 35 That the Wanton Is a Necessity” 36 83 “Leda” 37 88 “Lovely Woman and Indians” 38 39 92 “The Triumph of Starved Crow” 40 97 “A Word with the Women” – Francis Schlatter, Faith Healer Kim—UofNPress/Pageix//Impertinencies / Elia Peattie 1 99 “A Word with the Women” – For the Sake of Love 2 103 “The Law and the Lynchers” 3 4 chapter 3. community concerns 5 6 115 “Stand Up, Ye Social Lions: Mrs. Peattie Arraigns the Sickly Forms 7 That Sin from Nature’s Rule” 8 119 “What Women Are Doing” – The Art of Shopping 9 123 “All Fuss and Feathers: Wedding Ceremonies Which Are Almost 10 Grotesque Because of Their Flummery” 11 128 “The Mockery of Mourning: Thoughts upon Outward Signs of 12 Inward Grief Prescribed by Convention” 13 [-10], (10) 14 134 “Want to See a Knock-Out: Americans Seem to Feel That Way in 15 Spite of Their Civilization” 16 141 “The Work of the Worker: Qualities in Evangelist Mills That Give Lines: 308 to 308 17 Him Success in Soul Winning” ——— 18 148 “A Salvation Army Funeral” 0.20297pt PgVar 19 152 “Brains in the School Room: Some Pertinent Remarks Regarding the ——— 20 Normal Page Needs of the Public Schools” 21 PgEnds: TEX 22 23 chapter 4. a word with the women 24 164 “Ties Which Do Not Bind: The Matrimonial Knot and the Ease with [-10], (10) 25 WhichItIsBroken” 26 169 “How Not to Treat Babies” 27 176 “Where Are the Children? A Lay Sermon Suggested by Chief Seavey 28 to Colonel Hogeland” 29 30 182 “The Women on the Farms: A Chapter of Advice for Them Which 31 City Women Need Not Read” 32 188 “Barriers against Women: They Are Mostly Erected by the Women 33 Themselves through Blind Superstition” 34 192 “What Women Are Doing” – Protection for Working Women 35 195 “The Woman’s Club: It Will Be Distinctively Feminine and Run to 36 Please Women” 37 38 198 “A Word with the Women” – Stromsburg’s Woman’s Club 39 201 “No Distinction as to Color: Chicago Woman’s Club Abolishes the 40 Prohibitory Rule at Its Last Meeting” Kim—UofNPress/Pagex//Impertinencies / Elia Peattie 1 chapter 5. people and places 2 208 “A Bohemian in Nebraska: A Peep at a Home Which Is a Slice Out of 3 Bohemia” 4 214 “A Word with the Women” – Willa Cather 5 6 217 “Some Pigs and a Woman: Mrs. A. M. Edwards and Her Herd of 7 Poland China Porkers” 8 223 “The Lady of the Cloister” 9 229 “A Woman Doctor” 10 234 “A Singular Institution: The Christian Home of Council Bluffs 11 and Its Founder” 12 241 “Grand Island and Its Beets: The County Seat of Hall and What Beet 13 [-11], (11) 14 Cultivation Has Done” 15 249 “The State Fish Hatchery: Where the Rivers of Nebraska Get Their 16 Stock of Gamey Fish” Lines: 308 to 310 17 254 “A Word with the Women” – The Hunting Mania ——— 18 * 178.56552pt PgVar 19 257 Conclusion: A Writing Life, 1896–1935 ——— 20 Normal Page 21 * PgEnds: PageBreak 22 269 Notes 23 287 Works Cited [-11], (11) 24 295 A Bibliography of the Works of Elia Wilkinson Peattie 25 331 Index 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 Kim—UofNPress/Pagexi//Impertinencies / Elia Peattie 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 [-12], (12) 14 15 16 Lines: 310 to 312 17 ——— 18 0.0pt PgVar 19 ——— 20 Normal Page 21 PgEnds: TEX 22 23 24 [-12], (12) 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 Kim—UofNPress/Pagexii/ /Impertinencies / Elia Peattie 1 2 illustrations 3 4 introduction 5 2 Composing room, Omaha World-Herald 6 3 Robert Burns Peattie 7 6 Elia Wilkinson Peattie 8 7 Omaha Daily Herald Building 9 9 Cover of A Journey through Wonderland 10 11 Page from “Jim Lancy’s Waterloo” 11 13 Frances M.