The recorded sum total of an observation like this would be a noble history of human effort. It would show us the latent causes from which have come extraordinary effects. It would teach us how much this republic owes to its pioneer mothers, and would fill us with gratitude and self-congratulation--gratitude for their inestimable services to our country and to mankind, self-congratulation in that we are the lawful inheritors of their work, and as Americans are partakers in their glory. In the preparation of this work particular pains have been taken to avoid what was trite and hackneyed, and at the same time preserve historic truth and accuracy. Use has been made to a limited extent of the ancient border books, selecting the most note-worthy incidents which never grow old because they illustrate a heroism, that like "renown and grace cannot die." Thanks are due to Mrs. Ellet, from whose interesting book entitled "Women of the Revolution," a few passages have been culled. The stories of Mrs. Van Alstine, of Mrs. Slocum, Mrs. McCalla, and Dicey Langston, and of Deborah Samson, are condensed from her accounts of those heroines. A large portion of the work is, however, composed of incidents which will be new to the reader. The eye-witnesses of scenes which have been lately enacted upon the border have furnished the writer with materials for many of the most thrilling stories of frontier life, and which it has been his aim to spread before the reader in this work. ILLUSTRATIONS. A VIRGINIA MATRON ENCOURAGING THE PATRIOTISM OF HER SONS AT THE DEATH-BED OF THEIR FATHER, LOST IN A SNOW STORM, THE HUNTRESS OF THE LAKES SURPRISED BY INDIANS, A HEROIC EXPLOIT IN SUPPLYING WITH POWDER A BLOCK-HOUSE BESIEGED BY INDIANS, DARING EXPLOIT OF MISS VAN ALSTINE, FOOD AND CLOTHING SUPPLIED TO THE REVOLUTIONARY ARMY BY PATRIOTIC WOMEN, PERILOUS CROSSING OF THE ALLEGHANY RIVER, WAGON TRAIN ON THE PRAIRIE, STRATAGEM OF MRS. DAVIESS IN CAPTURING A KENTUCKY ROBBER, TWO KENTUCKY GIRLS CAPTURED BY INDIANS, PARTED FOR EVER, AN EQUESTRIAN FEAT, TREED BY A BEAR, RESCUING A HUSBAND FROM WOLVES, DEFEAT OF GUERILLAS, MASTERING BANDITS, CONTENTS CHAPTER I. WOMAN AS A PIONEER, America's Unnamed Heroines. Maids and Matrons of the "_Mayflower_." Woman's Work in Early Days. Devotion and Self-sacrifice. Strange Story of Mrs. Hendee. Face to Face with the Indians. A Mother's Love Triumphant Woman among the Savages. The Massacre of Wyoming. Sufferings of a Forsaken Household. The Patriot Matron and her Children. The Acmé of Heroism. Adventures of an English Traveler. Woman in the Rocky Mountains. A Story of a Lonely Life. Nocturnal Visitors and their Reception. Life in the Far West. Mrs. Manning's Home in Montana, Female Emigrants on the Plains. A True Heroine. CHAPTER II.