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Death on the Prairies: the Murderous Blizzard of 1888

In: Historical Events

Submitted By hersheyxo
Words 825
Pages 4
In this passage: Death on the Prairies: The Murderous Blizzard of 1888 two stories were the most compelling and memorable. The first story took place on January 12, 1888. The blizzard that took place on this day was known as "the Schoolchildren's Blizzard" due to the multiple deaths of children that were caught out on their way home from school. This was surprising because today a lot of children walk to and from school. Just imagine sending a child off to school, expecting their return, and to not get a result as such would leave one questioning. Not to mention more than just one child died in this blizzard, but "an estimate between 250 and 500". "The School Children's Blizzard" got its name because the victims were young, and things were just out of hand through out the while pioneer period. Unpaid children were the hands of the unwanted work. This era may be the reason for the laws against labor for minors in today's time. Another sad fact stated in the article is, "The outpouring of grief after scores of children were found frozen to death among the cattle on Friday, January 13, was at least in part an expression of remorse for what children were subjected to every day - remorse for the fact that most children had no childhood" (p. 47).
The next story that was mind boggling was the story of Lois Royce. The article states, "... a young teacher from Nebraska country school, huddled on the open prairie all night with three of her pupils: two nine-year-old boys and a six-year-old girl". The story goes on to say that, "she cover their cold body with a cloak"(p.45). In my opinion, this teacher was very well prepared and concerned, and just to compare to today's time she really went out of her role as a teacher, but escalated to a caretaker. She basically risked her life for her pupils, and compared to the other stories in my opinion she was very courageous. To make a

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