Little Woman

Sarah Camp                                                                                                                 September 5, 2014
                 

                                                               Book Report

     Little Women is written by Louisa May Alcott. This is a three houndred thirty page fiction and takes place in the small city.

     Little Women is about the March family. They have four girls, Margaret [Meg], Josephine [Jo], Elizabeth [Beth], and Amy. In the beginning of the book, Mr. March goes into war, while the rest of the family stays home. It is Christmas and each of the girls have a dollar to  spend. They want to spend it on their selves, but they get Mrs. March [Marmee] something. Then they meet ' the Lawerence boy' Laurie. Meg goes to a friends house and learns that money is not everything. Thier father is sick in Washington and Marmee goes to help him feel better. Then when Marmee is away, Beth gets the scarlet fever. Their life lessons are often our life lessons too. Marmee teaches the girls to be kind, loving, giving, and patient.

     I highly recommend the book Little Women. This book teaches me about a lot of things. This is one of my favorite books. I have read this entire book.

     Sarah Camp 

                      

The Pony Express

     During the Civil War days the Union and the Conferdacy both wanted the state of California. California's population had grown to 380,000 because of the gold rush. The Union tried to find a way to communicate and West mail delivery was the best way of communication. The problem was that it took 6 to 9 weeks to deliver mail. They had to find a faster way to deliver mail.

     B. F. Ficklin had found a way to transport mail and knew it would work. He shared his plans with Senator William Gwin. Gwin introduced it to the Senate in 1855 and it was approved. They called this plan The Pony Express.

     It took five years to set up the Pony Express. They had to put ads in the newspaper and on signs to advertise for riders, station men, and stations. In 1860 they were ready to start with 190 stations, 420 horses, 400 station men, and 80 riders.

     On April 3, 1860 the Pony Express started his first ride. Nobody knows who the first riders were but they have boiled it down to Johnny Fry and Billy Richardson. Most of the riders rarely weighed over 120 pounds so that the horses could run faster. Even though it was a good paying job, with about $50-$150, there was still dangers. One danger was Indians that wanted to stop white men for anything even if it meant death. The trails had bandits that wanted to steal the mail and kill the rider. Also the rider could get lost and starve to death.

     At each station the rider would get a new, fresh strong horse. It took about two minutes to put the mail on another horse and start off again. Sometimes another rider would take the rider's spot and ride off while the other rider rested. The fastest mail ever deliver was a letter written by Abraham Lincoln. It took the letter five days to go from St. Joseph, Missouri to Sacramento, California which is 1,966 miles!!

     Sadly after 18 months the pony express had to shut down because of the telegraph and the $700,000 debt they were in.The Pony Express will be remembered by all Americans through history as "the mail delivered by men and horses 10 in days".