Where the Meadowlarks Sing

About the Book

Teen-age Ellie Langford, now an orphan, becomes aware that she must make plans for an immediate escape; her personal safety is in jeopardy. Does she have the courage and stamina to set forth into a vast open prairie to face her future with only a horse and buggy and a dog? With no one to guide her, will she go the right direction? What if it should storm and prairie dangers arise? She is totally on her own in a world strange to her, as well as the fear of what would happen if she didn’t flee.

About the Author

Iris Thomas was born in her parents’ farm home in 1931, near Morland, in Graham County of Western Kansas. She is the youngest of seven children. The family did not have a car until she was in the early teens. Horseback, and a team of horses on a wagon, used for farming, was their only mode of transportation. Her schooling was eight years in a one-room country school. In her 7th grade the local school was closed so she rode a horse to the neighboring district, a ride of 3 miles one-way, each school day. Her father had made an arrangement with a neighbor, who lived ½ mile from the school, for her to feed the horse and leave him there, then walk on to school. A fond memory of hers is riding to school and seeing Meadowlarks sitting on fence posts along the road ahead of her and listening to them sing in the early morning. In 1950 she married Delmer Pancake and moved to his farm home where they still live today. They have one son, Jonathan. Iris has had a life long interest in the care and breeding of livestock. One of her earliest memories is walking with her father, grasping his little finger tightly, as they went to do the morning chores. She began milking by standing up, not needing a stool because she was so small. Through these experiences and many others, she acquired the knowledge enabling her to write this book.