The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1894-03-24
For the Eagle.
KANSAS, YESTERDAY AND TODAY.

Rode on its first construction train:
Then 10 the white flashing mountains
Ribbed with bright silver and gold,
Those peaks and shimmering fountains
llas oft by tourists been told,
/ went with gold seekers DER land
TO gain fortune. power and Nance
With jealous fires my breast was 1anneo
To win honor. glory and fame.
Kansas. then was the buffslo's home,
O'er it they wandered. unfrett-d and free.
Not cen a pioneer had stirred the loan,
As far as the eyes o. man could Sec
During the halcyon days, in oblivion lost,
The buffalo clans. that peopled the plain,
As mighty rulers their proud heaos tossed
Proclaiming undisputed reign.
The reddening tint of rosy dawn;
The deepening pink OF rising sun,
- err cast the prarle lawn.
With hue. no painters brush Ger won,
Heralding the advance of coming morn:
housing the clans from rest and Slumber,
Whose noble monarch's, in lofty scorfl,
Assemble the herds in countless number,
On the sunhaked arena in rage;
Then believing a challenge uerce ana Doio
70 some rival 10 IN combat engage.
Fen as knights in the tournaments of Old,
Quick answered was the buI-throat blast,
BY some old victor wiki matted name,
Who paving the ear h. furious and fast,
:. ct the challenger. with proud disdaln,
Then in earth they buried each horn;
Raised their fronts filed with plastic mud;
High lifted their head in kingly scorn.
A moment they stood. and met with thud,
Then shook the ground a the rivals fought,
Then trembid the air as by thunder rlVen,
Victory and supremacy each sought.
Ger the elysan fields of buffalo heaven
Furiously they plunged. aD9 loudly roared.
Rich, deep, red blood flowed steaInlng hot
They PARTED, and hinged, each other gored,
Der this waIlow OF death, there was no spot,
Where blood was not.
They fought, as men in anger tight
For mans death. whether wrong or right;
Fought as q statesman in the lrm belief.
That while rivals live he ne'er can be chief;
Fought as gladiatoTs in the days OF Rome,
For the shouts of their fellows; ana klngIy
rule at home.
Peacefully lay the dreaming sod.
While the sunflower with willowy charm
Its face upturned 10 an adoring God,
Gracefully swayca unconscious Of harm,
The red bird in the cottonwood tree
Sang its rratutiual carol in glee,
The scraggy trees fringing low bank'd stream,
Waved TO ana fro. sighed in dream,
Ger this landscape SO restful ard free.
Bathed in the suns golden CLEAN
None could divine the havoc wrought
In an hour of the pioneers might
When the eve of greed the vision caught
And forever destroyed the beautiful sight,
Yet, on this lawn which for many year
The wild cettIe roamed without fear.
Their ranks were broken in bloody lane
As they were by countless Plumbers slain,
Shot for sport. hump, hide and horn.
Their bones, rs snow, whitened the plain,
Their hide and horn, rooms adorn,
But the like viii meier happen again.
The wild herd with wilder eyes,
Received the baptism o hre in surprise,
And in believing rage furious and last,
Charged the speeding train as it passed.
But. OH twas ended, their ia eedom galore,
Madden'd, wounded, weary and sore,
They ie1 in dismay with pitiful roar;
Fled the primal field TO return no more,
Man added to civilized domain
The wild and flee unpeopled plain;
In the nations diadem stuck another star,
W HIGH and ait(aVs l. altar
E'en as CanninE's motto in his school days,
He desired ito live and die in blaze,
To be written about and talked about,
From intellects dawn till the candle goes out"
And now as the prairie behold
Ger look this glorious vision
1t seems the half hath not been told,
OF cities. and homes. by enchantment risen,
BuiIded under the providence OF God,
On an arid plain of sunbuFnt sod.
On every hand see rosy sign,
y rainbow seems TO span the sky,
A promise 10 field and tree and vine
To tighten the heart and gladden. the eye.
Since climb'd the mountains crest,
Struck my pick in earth's hard breast,
And was by fieecy clouds carest
The fairest sight that 1 havD seen,
Is the yellow CLINT OF golden grain
Blend'd with DER hanging blue and foot press'd
green.
Proclaiming that wheat and corn in Kansas
reign.
a charming sight ween,
To a miner griZZed and old
Bent. storm beaten and gray,
Deying for Silver and gold
After hidden wealth untold,
Which the rockies hide and enfold.
It seemed 70 me then, and it row seems
That this land for herds was made by God,
And that by His ambitious schemes,
Man sinned in turning up the sod.
Wis carp / bulll this monument,
But only to relate the wondrous change.
Then churches were few; school houses none
Along the line of the old X. +.
There was naught TO temper the torrid sun
Save here and there cottonwood tree,
Down as if in hate the sun beamed
And blistered the dewey grass.
Ger PmtO's fires below it seemed
The wind in its flight had passed,
In its hurry TO reach the sunbrown q plain
And drink the carly dew at morn,
To slake iis thirst and be off again
To reach the land OF Ice and storm,
Recruit its force for winter campaign
Return in fury, laden with snow and frozen
rain.
Oft times blowing gale. ending in shower,
As If to compensate the suncracked plain
For its wanton haste and shriyeling power.
VI
Vain sky-aspiring aim o. man:
Hoping, scheming, planning, painting;
Nalnly elm bling with ropes of sand,
Yearly sinking. fading, fanting;
Wandering alone meath tn blue skies,
Homeless, naked, hungry and cold;
Meeting none save IMPLYING eyes;
A tramp-an outcast-a beggar, old.
'Twere better had I, in youth, meier heard
The silvery note OF the mountain bird;
Could live DER nay life again
I'd build my home on the buffalo plain;r
Neer hunt Tor silver and gold,
And end as a tramp-grizzled and old.
Oh! miserable hours OF feeting year;
DAYS of idleness, nights OF fear:
Obi heart-SickneSs o. months past,
Despondent, desperate, all grew at last:
Broke was the camp, in anguish and pain;
We knew as we felt each tTem bling grasp,
That. as gold-hunters, we'd ne'er meet again.
Scattered we are. as the sands O. tn sea;
And We; am happy and free
I've builded home on the buffalo plain"
And il las home shall ever remain.
Grow QUILL.
CBICAGO'S MENACE.