Bette Wolf Duncan

                       SHANEY RIDGE

  They rode into Montana 
  with a pocket full of poor,
  their appaloosa ponies 
  and the homespun clothes they wore.
  what was it about Shaney Ridge
  That drew the brothers there?
  Clear springs of mountain water!!!
  They glistened everywhere.

  Through icy chills and six foot drifts,
  Through mud and sleet and mire,
  Across the range their claim spread out
  from Shaney Ridge to Pryor.
  None of it was easy.
  One crisis spawned another;
  but through it all good-humored George
  cheered his worried brother.

  Winters tortured Shaney Ridge;
  and when the tenth one passed,
  nature begged forgiveness
  and the range thawed out at last.
  Caleb's spirit blossomed out
  as soon as winter died;
  and that spring,Caleb left the Ridge
  to fetch a promised bride.

  When Caleb and his bride returned,
  two months had passed them by.
  The parching sun was over head.
  The water holes were dry.
  The cattle languished on the range;
  and George was not around.
  As searing as a red-hot brand.
  the note that Caleb found.

  One night, it seeemed  that George  played cards
  with other gambling men.
  He lost his cash.and saddle.
  He lost his horse and then-
  he bet the spread at Shaney Ridge.
  He lost his bet again!
  George wrote that he was leaving 
  that someday when he'd earn
  enough to buy their holdings back,
  then only, he'd return.

   It took a while for all the words
   to really filter through.
   But when they did, the pain evoked
   each curse that Caleb knew.
  The dream called Shaney Ridge was gone
  and Caleb had a bride.
  So Caleb started over
  and hid the rage inside.
  Slowly, slowly years passed by,
  as slowly as his ire;
  and just as slow, he gained control
  of all the range near Pryor.

  What became of Brother George?
  Caleb never knew.
  His brother simply vanished
  like Rocky Mountain dew.
  Just like the evanescent dew,
  impossible to find;
  yet when he viewed the Pryor spread,
  George often crossed his mind.
  He knew he'd chuck the lot of it-
  each acre, steer and calf-
  just to see George once again
  and hear his brother's laugh.

How must the untamed plains of Montana appeared to a
pioneer, especially a woman, seeing it for the first time?

            EMMA,THE RANCHER'S BRIDE

   How primitive it seemed to her;-
   such wild and untamed glory.
   Not even yet a full-fledged state,
   but just a territory.
   Just miles and miles of untamed range.
   Montana! Even its name was strange.

   Just a newly married bride,
   She rode with Caleb by her side.
   Montana!  Such an Indian land,
   with such an Indian name.
   Sagebrush lurked like hoary scrags
   upon the windswept plain.
   It seemed to grow more savage
   the farther west she came.

   So distant from New Brunswick
   and Emma's genteel life.
   She wondered what possessed her
   to become a rancher's wife.
   But she loved Caleb more than she
   loathed hardship, pain or strife;
   and Emma vowed she'd find the strength
   to make a rancher's wife.

   When they reached the Shaney Ridge,
   everything went wrong.
   Caleb's dream- the Shaney Ridge-
   his ranch and spread were gone.
   It was Emma, gentle Emma, gave him
   strength to carry on.
   Together they faced years of toil.
   They conquered each dilemma-_
   Caleb, with his dream renewed,
   and gentle, genteel Emma.

                   THE PAINTER'S HAND

   He'd seen the painted, twilight sky-
   the gold and purple morn,
   but never saw the painter's hand
   until his son was born.

   He'd never been a man to ponder
   what was life about_
   too consumed with life itself
   to question it or doubt.

   It was enough to wake and hear
   the chorus of the birds.
   No need to ever think about
   some preacher's mystic words.

   But when he saw his newborn son,
   with certainty he knew
   that all the things he'd heard about
   a mighty God were true.

   He'd seen the vibrant prairie blooms
   painted on the land.
   But on the day his son was born,
   he saw the painter's hand.