Dorothy lived in the midst of the great Kansas prairies, with Uncle Henry, who was a
farmer and Aunt Em, who was the farmer's wife. Their house was small, for the lumber to
build it had to be carried by wagon many miles. There were four walls, a floor and a
roof. Which made one room; and this room contained a rusty-looking cooking stove,
a cupboard for the dishes, a table, three or four chairs, and the beds. Uncle Henry and
Aunt Em had a big bed in one corner and Dorothy a little bed in another corner.
There was no garret at all, and no cellar-expect a small hole dug in the ground,
called a cyclone cellar, where the family could go in case one of those great whirlwinds
arose, mighty enough to crush any building in its path. It was reached by a trapdoor
in the middle of the floor, from which a ladder led down into the small, dark hole.