The Project Gutenberg EBook of My Antonia by Willa Sibert Cather

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no
restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under
the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or
online at http://www.gutenberg.org/license

Title: My Antonia

Author: Willa Sibert Cather

Release Date: November 14, 2006 [Ebook #19810]

Language: English

Character set encoding: US-ASCII

***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MY ANTONIA***

My Antonia

By Willa Sibert Cather

Optima dies {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} prima fugit
Virgil

with illustrations by
W. T. Benda

[Illustration: The Riverside Press]
Boston and New York
Houghton Mifflin Companys
The Riverside Press Cambridge

1918

To
Carrie and Irene Miner

_In memory of affections old and true_

CONTENTS

Introduction
Book I-- The Shimerdas
II
III
IV
V
VI
VII
VIII
IX
X
XI
XII
XIII
XIV
XV
XVI
XVII
XVIII
XIX
Book II--The Hired Girls
I
II
III
IV
V
VI
VII
VIII
IX
X
XI
XII
XIII
XIV
XV
Book III--Lena Lingard
I
II
III
IV
Book IV--The Pioneer Woman's Story
I
II
III
IV
Book V--Cuzak's Boys
I
II
III

ILLUSTRATIONS

Illustration: Immigrant family huddled together on the train platform
Illustration: Mr. Shimerda walking on the upland prairie with a gun over
his shoulder
Illustration: Mrs. Shimerda gathering mushrooms in a Bohemian forest
Illustration: Jake bringing home a Christmas tree
Illustration: Antonia ploughing in the field
Illustration: Jim and Antonia in the garden
Illustration: Lena Lingard knitting stockings
Illustration: Antonia driving her cattle home

INTRODUCTION

LAST summer I happened to be crossing the plains of Iowa in a season of
intense heat, and it was my good fortune to have for a traveling companion
James Quayle Burden--Jim Burden, as we still call him in the West. He and I
are old friends--we grew up together in the same Nebraska town--and we had
much to say to each other. While the train flashed