The Kansas herald of freedom. [volume] (Wakarusa, Kan. Territory) 1854-1860, 1857-06-20
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buried in oblivion.
In this age of progress, when the world,
and ali that in it is, seems on the advance,
and the motto is Ever onward . how few
there are who venture to look back upon
the past, which has glided, almost imper-
ceptibly as it were, into the great reser-
voir of departed things. We have no
thoughts save for the present, and the fu-
ture az promising so large a reward; yet
there lies hidden in the bong gone past
many a gem Of rich and rare beauty, smil-
ing even in their secIusion and which only
need unearthing TO become begirt with
interest and perhaps instruction.
1t Is pleasant recreation, during long
day i'll Autumn when the rain drops beat
most monotonous tattoo overhead, and
the cool breeze signs among the fresh
budding leaflets, to explore some old lab
yrinth of books or papers, tinted with the
rust of age, and bring To light and memory
many and varied scenes which transpired
| in the now dim confines of long ago. Per-
/ hal.s among those bOokish treasures are
/ thoughts and scintillatioils Of genius,
! flashes OF wit, and depth of reasoning,
which would honor even our age of steam
and hydrogen, with Its many strata of
wisdom and folly; and in thus bringing
them forth to float once more upon the
surface Of the lfe-tide. we amuse ourselves
for the time, and it may be others, in the
act
| Retrospect Is natural to those who arc
fast gliding adown the declivity of life.
for it placeth on mcmory's walls many a
picture of the l,ast-of the time of child
hood, when it seemed as If they could
never grow old-never reach the ''sere
and yellow leaf
| Is it childish to wish to draw from the
we'll of by-gone times, or muse upon its
moss-covered remains? Do they not equal
/ in many respects all that to-day can pre-
sent or tomorrow promise? AsSuredly
they do; and well we love the treasures
of yesterday, though they come in q more
primeyal form, and clothed in garments
not precisely te mode.
Even now, III view of the strange aspect
presented upon the plains of Kansas when
compared with that of but a few wears
ago-aunit in the ages of the past-ro
farther back than 1917, when, as now
the cry was westward no =" but farther
yet than we are-farther yet toward the
setting sun swept the wagon of the emil
grant, to the El Dorado of the NewWorld.
| There was magic in the word, and Cal
ifornia was the Utopia in which conferred
mans highest dreams of wealth and po-
litical or social preferment. Upon our
plains We're the "gold hunters each with
eager eyes turned toward the Ophir of the
West, and their long trains wound slowly
over the green verdurc of the prairies,
startling the antelope and buffalo from
their propriety, and the red men to WON
der at the strange sight. Vehicles of
every pattern. from the numbering
wagon of the Key Stone State hills. to the
primitive wheelbaTow, pushed before the
hardy adventnrer lured onward by the
hope of wealth, the Alpha and Omega of
mans ambition, the handspring in the
complicated machinery of life-rolled on
ward towards the shores of the Pacific.
Smoke rose brightly from passing camp
fires, where at evening the yoyageurs
spread their blankets upon the earth to
pass the time of darkness, until the sun
again should light them on their way; and
their white tents dotted the prairie green,
PERHAPS where Lawrence now lies, and
where Is seen in the haze of autumn the
yellow ripening grain. No trace of the
white mans art INSTRUCTED the landscape
east or west, and the wild flowers lux
uriated on the summit of Dread. ruff
fed not by the feet of civilization, nor did
the woods re-eeho to the hum of the saw
mill or the stroke OF the mechanics ham,
mer. All was quiet then. save where the
hoop of tlle woodland lords broke upon
the ear or the crack of their guns disturb
ed the stiffness, reigning as it had since
the breeze from Haytian shores famed
the cheek of the first voyager to the CONT
nent of the West. Silently flowed the
winding kaw, the abode of the wild duck.
and the drinking place of the. glen mon
arch whose antlers tossed proudly in the
wind, beside his gentle doe; or, startled
by the CLEAN of the council fire, he fled
from the scene with terror underlined.
The plains were fresh and green as now,
the wild-woods as beautiful, and pre-
sented as inviting all aspect; but, as the
SUMS rays pass the summit of the Hottest
mountains, melting not fake of snow,
50 did the emigration of IA pass Kansas
on its way 10 the golden land, leaving the
spot to the full possession of the red
tribes who roamed in perfect freedom over
its plains, or met in hostile encounter
among its woods, with no motive forex-
ertien save savage ambition to excel on
the war path, and having in the wigwam
the greater number of scalp locks torn
from the conquered foe. But they, too,
with all of earth's ephemera, are passing
away-therc eometh unto them, as unto
ali. a hushcd and breathless sleep, where
there shall be no retrospect, no longing
for the scenes of the past, and no vain
regrets for actions lily performed or en-
tirely omitted.
Once lords of Americas woods, ae-
knowledging no superiors, and knowing
none, the last expiring ray ffickers feebly
in the distance, and despair settles down
upon the Indians hopeless spirit-they