, 1876-05-27
Frontier Yarns.
From tic Denver News J

1t was meeting of the pioneers
gathered in the pr late courtroom. 1t
WAS enthusiastic and lively, and carried
ones memory back to the nssemhIaSrs
that used to congrcgutc in the Cotton'
wood shade to deliberate upon the cases
of horsc.thirvcs and Sich." The min
utes were read, anil the constitution
amended. New members were taken in,
/ dues donated, fines remitted, and officers
elected for the next four years Then
. the old "mossy backs and rusty
coats driltcd off to telling yarns and
swapping lies about the days that tried
mems s-stomnchs, and so the time
passed pleasantly away until the probate
clock, il it had been going, would have
/ pointed to the hour of I. Somebody
made motion to adjourn, and fifteen "r
twenty Others seconded 1t. The presi-
den, arose and said, "Thosc who favor
, the motion to adjourn say aye and they
all -nid AYE" "Those who ure op.
posed" At that moment he was in
terrupted by voice, like one crying in
the wilderness, and it said. Hold on,
Mr.. President, for minute, if you
pease:'' and the president said, "Cer.
tainly," aud held on, and settled back, in
icspairing kind of way, into the Judges
seat.
4 smallish, oldish, mountaincerish
looking man was striding toward the
railing, with an, old slouch hat in his left
hunl and the right arm beginning to saw
the air. lie didn't look as though he
had dropped from heaven, and though
odnrous, it was not Of birthstone. lie
must have come in at the door, though
nobody WIS certain of that. As he
reached the railing he said: "Thank
YOU, Mr.. President fellow citizens, am
late to-night-just got in-rodc to kiowa
anil back-j1 miles and repeat---in lie
last 90 hOurs--wcnt for medicine to cure
Julius Londoner-got paeumonia-saved
his lifc--tlmt's the reason I'm latc--ex.
cuse me-" and the audience excused him
on the spot. Then he started in to give
his own history rs a pioneer, beginning
when Illinois was u Territory. He helped
bring her in as State, then he boosted
Wisconsin over the territorial bar, and
next Iowa, and after that Minnesota.
Then he turned his attention to the wcs-
tern country, and played important part
in the first pilgrimage to Salt Lake set
California up in business; helped Oregon
start on the road to fame, and glided off
into Washington Territory, British Co
!umbia, and Russian America. When he
heard that Colorado was to be settled he
mounted his horse, and, without stop
ping, rode three thousand miles to get
here first, and he got here. lie has been
a government guide, scout and interpre
ter, and attached to all the important
army expeditions since the memory Of
man runneth not to the contrary, and he
speaks every Indian language under the
sun.
But" says the, president, "these
things don't interest his; we only want
to know about your settlement in Colo
rado'
"Ycs, sir, know that, and that's just
what Tin coming to-" And then he
gigged back and told about the building
of Plymouth rock. and the landing of
the pilgrims, and the contract for the
erecti, n of Bunker Hill, and the Boston
elm when it was saping, and Valley
Forge, and the Wyoming massacre, and
Braddock's defeat, and the Indian wars
of Kentucky and Ohio, and the child
hood of Susan B. Anthony, and the dis
covery OF the Mississippi, and so along
down. And as he followed the man
lead he also reached out and traced all
its dips, angles, and spurs to their re-
motcst aud fag-endest ,extremities. BY
these he visited Hudson Bay and Alaska,
and Nova Zembla, and China, and the
centre and circumference of the earth
mere incidents of his memory and em-
bellishments Of the story. And those
sold settlers sat there with eyes and
mouths wide open and ears pointing for
ward. 1t was the biggest story they had
ever heard from a pioneer, and of course
they were astonished. Some OF the sold
coons' began to think about getting
home to breakfast, and wondered what
kind of excuses they could make fol