Produced by Dianna Adair and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) Prairie Gold [Illustration: Rotating the Crops--Corn Isn't Iowa's Only Product] Prairie Gold By Iowa Authors and Artists _Jacket and Frontispiece by_ J. N. Darling _Decorations by_ Harriet Macy and Louise Orwig The Reilly & Britton Co. Chicago Copyright, 1917 By The Reilly & Britton Co. To those whose tender, cooling fingers bind up the bleeding wounds of men who go forth to war: To those who comfort and sustain the widows and the orphans: To all those swiftly flying carriers of warmth and love and cheer who constitute the workers in that greatest of all humanitarian organizations: The American Red Cross Preface This volume, from the land of the singing corn, is offered to the public by the Iowa Press and Authors' Club as the first bit of co-operative work done by Iowa writers. The anticipated needs of the brave men who have given themselves as a human sacrifice to the establishment of a world-wide democracy, make a strong heart appeal, and the members have come together in spirit to do their bit toward the relief of suffering. Many members of the club could not be reached during the short time the book was in the making; others doing work every day on schedule time had no opportunity to prepare manuscript for this publication, while still others preferred helping in ways other than with their pens. The whole is a work of love and representative of the comradeship, the spirit of human sympathy, and the pride of state, existent in the hearts of Iowa authors, artists, playwrights, poets, editors and journalists. _Officers of the club for 1917-18:_ Hamlin Garland, Honorary President. Alice C. Weitz, President. J. Edward Kirbye, First Vice President. Nellie Gregg Tomlinson, Second Vice President. Esse V. Hathaway, Secretary. Reuben F. Place, Treasurer. _Editorial Board:_ Johnson Brigham. Lewis Worthington Smith. Helen Cowles LeCron. Index American Wake, An 217 _Rose A. Crow_ At Kamakura: 1917 44 _Arthur Davison Ficke_ Ballad of the Corn, A 234 _S. H. M. Byers_ Box From Home, A 138 _Helen Cowles LeCron_ Bread 37 _Ellis Parker Butler_ But Once a Year 51 _R. O'Grady_ Call of the Race, The 260 _Elizabeth Cooper_ Captured Dream, The 84 _Octave Thanet_ Children's Blessing, The 236 _Virginia Roderick_