The Girl from the Big Horn Country

Virginia loved the Big Horn Country and leaving was almost more than she could stand. The only peace she had was the thought of returning, and perhaps that boy. "A September afternoon in the Big Horn mountains! The air crystal clear; the sky cloudless; the outlines of the hills distinct! Elk Creek Valley lay golden in the sunshine, silent save for the incessant hum of locust and cricket, the hurrying of the creek waters, and the occasional bellowing of steers on the range beyond the foot-hills; deserted except for the distant cattle, a coyote stealing across the hills, a pheasant scurrying through the buck-brush by the creek, and some cotton-tail rabbits and prairie dogs, who, sure of safety, meant to enjoy the sunshine while they might." Mary Ellen Chase was an American educator, teacher, scholar, author and is regarded as one of the most important regional literary figures of the early twentieth century. She wrote more than 30 books of which her most famous include Mary Peters, Silas Crockett, Windswept, and Edge of Darkness.