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Show CHAPTER II. A WESTERN CHARACTER. UNCONSCIOUS greatness is a Western product. There many a man, in pursuance of the humblest duties, becomes a hero without knowing it. One such let me celebrate. A most modest hero, he had seen the world without intending it; had lived a romance in the mere earning of a livelihood, and grown great in simple- hearted obedience to family affection. In the autumn of 1873 I made a leisurely journey through the new counties of southern Kansas. The Osage Ceded Lands,, which only five years before had been a game preserve for vagrant aborigines, were now dotted with neat villages flanked by well cultivated farms. From the summit of a lofty mound in Montgomery County one could look over 500 square miles of rolling prairie and fertile valley, the home of 20,000 Americans. Westward the land rose more into barren ridges, beyond which were the fertile slopes of Cowley County and the new country on the Arkansas. Between was a region almost unsettled ; the rocky ridges were fit only for pasturage, and the narrow valleys were neg-lected till better places should be filled. There one might ride for hours without sight of a dwelling, fortunate at night if a settler's cabin furnished him shelter in a room common to all the family. At the close of a September day I had ridden ten miles without sight of a house, and eagerly scanned the horizon. A horseman from the opposite direction hailed me with equal eagerness to learn the distance to Elk Falls, his first chance for the night. On learning that it was ten miles, he indulged in a prolonged whistle, and in turn informed me he knew of no house on this road for fifteen miles. " But," he added, reflect-ively, " ther's old Darnells, only a mile off the road, down Grouse Creek. They'll keep you if you're a mind to stop there. They've got plenty, too, such as it is, and the old woman's a prime cook, and ' 11 set it ' fore you warm and clean. The old man's the wust shuck up settler on the creek, what with rheumatiz and ager and the swamps and one thing an' another; but git him stirred up and he's a powerful talker. Heap o' life in him yet." So I went to Darnells. ( 25) |