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Show PREFACE. Sept. 13,1883, Colorado completed the first quarter century of its wonderful history-the Nation's youngest child; and very large and frisky for her age. The barnacles held a reunion on that occasion, and it occurred to me while at the banquet, and listening to the toasts, that incidents in the lives of the brave people who " First spied the country out, and pioneered the way,'' Might make an interesting book, and now was the time to do the work, when the stories could be gathered from the lips of those who had taken part in the " First Act," over which the curtain had just dropped. Scholarly iconoclasts have annihilated William Tell and his apple by showing that no mention of them was made in Switzerland 'till about two centuries after Tell's supposed time. The story of Romulus, Remus and the wolf, that so charmed us in our impressible and sympathetic years, is now a fable. I solemnly avow that the tales herein related are- " told as they were told to me!" If I have succeeded in reviving some pleasant recollection for the " old timer," beguiling the weary traveler or interesting the general reader, my aspirations have, in a measure, been reached. If I have betrayed confidence or told anything that I ought not to have told-I will graciously accept all apologies. THE AUTHOR. |
