West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1878-03-23
Glimpse Of Kansas Twenty Years Ago.

ll"ssc hcnton Fremont In Harrcrs Magazine
or every thing in the Centennial Tx
hibluon, | think nothing interested me
so much ~ the display made by Kansas.
IL seemed 80 lew years since | had been
there, when only small settlement
marked the steamboat landing where
now Kansas City stands. Looking nj
its silk manufactures, its produce of
not only essentials, but mNuriCs, il was
hard TO realize the untraCkcd prairie of
my time, with only Indians and wolves
Tor figures. | had been there before To
meet MIR. Fremont on his return from
different journeys; this time IL was To
stay with him until the last preparations
were completed.
The party was gone. Major Cum
mlngs was to take me the next day TO
connect with the river steamer at West
port Landing (now Kansas City) He
had been annoyed by wolf, which car
ried of hls sheep To her cubs, and had
just succeeded i'm following mp her trail
and destroying her young ones, and IN the
place was not far, the good major took
me over for n pleasant change of
idens. was sorry for the wolf "still
FOR all sins of hers with the mother
nature, coming back To her ruined place
and her dead cubs.
We came back by way of the deserted
camp which did not lessen my sympathy
for the wolf the ashes of the morning n
fire were still warm. Altogether nothing
alleviatcd the lonely impression of the
evening, which closed i'm on the old gem
tleman moaning with toothachc, while
the crcak of his wifc's rocking-chair was
the only other break to the silence. |
was glad 10 go of To sleep. While one
is young, that comes with surprising
readiness. The house was succession
of log-cabins, set, some gablc-end on,
some facing front, making series ol
rooms alternating with open places, hav-
ing only the Connecting roof. These
frontier houses grow as the family re-
quirements increase; the timber and the
strong willing hands arc there, and the
getting new house costs no heartburn
ings or cares. This establishment of
Major Cummings, who had been for
thirty years superintendent of Indians
there, was of many years growth, and
my room was the extreme end of the
last added wing. A stone chimney built
up on the outside gave an ample FIRE
place, where the great fire of logs made
a cheerful home light in the great clean
room.
My good "Aunt Kitty" was in my
room, and we were both fast asleep,
when was awakened by sound full of
pain and grief, and wild rage, too-a
sound familiar enough TO frontier people,
but new TO me. Ii was the she wolf
hunting her cubs; there followed with it,
as q chorus, the cry of the pack of
hound pupPies-thcy were young, and
frightened. As for me, with nerves
already overstraincd, regular panic
came on. | knew hunters built fires To
scare of wild things but after Kitty
had made great blaze, a new fear came.
The windows we're near the ground, and
without shutters or curtains. What If
the blaze only served to guide the wolf
More than once ! had seen dogs go
through a pane Of window-glass as safely
as circus-ridcrs through their paper
hoops; so shawls were quickly hair
pinned over the windows, and by that
time mems voices and the angry sounds
from older dogs gave sense Of being
protected, and sleep camo again, TO be
broken again by n big dark object,
roughcoated, and close to me. IL was
speaking wolf, too, but not exactly like
Red Ridinghood's although il was
hungry. Camp had only been moved
about ten miles, and n fast ride through
and back before sunrise would give us
another hour together, "and would
Kitty make teaW And 80, with our
early tea for the stlrrup-cup, "hc gave
his bridle-rein shake, and we went our
ways, one into the midwinter SHOWS Of
uDtracked mountains, the other TO the
long sea-yoyage through the tropics, and
into equally strange foreign places.