A Lantern in Her Hand

The Place: Nebraska.

The time: the 1870s, when every day on the prairie brought its threat — of hostile Indians, prairie fires, blizzards, and the overwhelming danger of accident or illness to the little homesteading family, Will and Abbie Deal and their babies.

Hope, faith, and hard work finally make real for the Deals and their neighbors the dreams of productive farms and prosperous towns, of schools and hospitals, and of well-paved roads that bring them closer to the rest of the century.

And old Abbie Deal can look back with pride and wonder on her own part in the miracle.