“We are not ourselves when nature, being oppressed,
commands the mind to suffer with the body.”
~William Shakespeare, taken from ‘King Lear’
It is widely believed that the term ‘cabin fever’ originated with those adventurous early settlers who, because of extreme isolation, succumbed to madness when attempting to make their homes in vast territories of uninhabited geography. And although many present-day psychologists and psychiatrists refute such folklore, it’s hard to discount the vivid accounts recorded by a number of early 20th century authors (whose ranks include O.E. Rolvaag [Giants In The Earth] and Jack London [To Build A Fire]). In reading their stories of isolation and survival, one is left with few other alternatives except to conclude that it is quite plausible that cabin fever was (and perhaps still is) a very real phenomenon.
This photograph was taken in the Flint Hills of central Kansas–the greatest remaining tall grass prairie in North America. With more than 120 square miles of mostly uninhabited prairie land, it’s astonishing how utterly alone you can still be on the central Plains, even with all of the technological trappings that modern convenience affords. Looking out on this old homestead, one can only imagine what trials and tribulations confronted its inhabitants–and perhaps more importantly, how these courageous people handled them.
Related Agathos Dorea posts:
The End, August 10th, 2007
One Eternal Winter, February 14, 2008
A Dark Destiny, March 4th, 2008
An abandoned farmhouse stands alone on the prairie, Flint Hills, Kansas
Leave a note.