Arizona republican., 1910-03-24
THE SANTA fE TRAIL.

 This way walked Fate. and as she
 went flung far the line of destiny That bound an untracked continent t0
 brotherhood from sea 10 sea; That long, gray trail of dream and hope
 marked mile by mile with graves that keep
 on every barren hin and slope some
 stout heart lost in dreamless sleep. Patience and faith and fortitude were
 willed to it and justified: Stern. homely virtues. plain and rude
 eternal as the sky. and wide. Nor ever sea king dared the sea in
 braVer mood than these who went Strone-armed tO wrest from Mystery
 their birthright, half a continent. Gay. hawk eked. brown faced voyage urs. tired Of the rivers muddy tide. or drawn by whispered, golden lures. or beckOned by the prairies wide: These first, and lightly down the wind their songs float backward as they pass;
 So light they go they leave behind scarce one dim footprint on the grass. And after them. lean. rugged. grim. one marked untrodden heights to scan:
 The gray peak looking down on him knew something kindred in the man; Prophetic. his keen eye could trace in those lone wastes that seemed to wait.
 The larger promise of his race. the germ of many an unborn state. Then Fremont. leading empires way; beside him. silent, dim, unsuessed. Cnheralded to claim her own. the Soul of the Awakening West; Behind above the laundering flight of fear-swept bison vaguely beat A murmur dominant with might. the trample of a million feet. That long gray trail That path of fate' For gain or loss. for life or death. Driven by greed or hope or hate. 1t drew them to the latest breath: It broke them to it's giant mold. il scared their weakness to the bone; IL stripped them stark to sun and cold and mocked at whimperer and drone. Ana they were men that bore it's mark; and they were men its service made
 Strong -souled to face the utter dark. and watch with fear still unafraid: Stern school of heroes uncOnfessed; unweighed for need of right or wrong;
 By glib late-comers dispossessed of honors that to them belong. As in the fire-tried furnace hour strange. warning clements will fuse TO purpose. unity and power: to truer strength and nObler use:- Unconscious save that here was life q man might live as manhood meant. They wrought a nation from their strife and shaped it with their dis content.
 No pulseless. still-born. hope was theirs: each man a later Argonaut, Who from great dreams and oeaseless cares out-wove the golden fleece he sought;
 And single handed out of need made potent opportunity: Nor shamed the hour with lagKard deed: nor quailed at naked Destiny. They touched the wilderness to flower: they gave the unvoiced solitude \ tongue that spoke with master pow CT the message of its iron mood But ah, the cost. The hands that bled! The toll of heartaches and of tears. The stern Whate faces of the dead that paved that highway through the years.
 The long grass hides the rutted trail where tracked those mighty caravans Whose far-lit campfires lo wand pale. elude. howe'er the vision scans That lost horizon. shrunk to fit the little roads that come and go. By easy ways of greatness quit. that any chance-drawn foot may know; Light trails that traffic OCT the dust of them that were a braver breed; Forgotten in the careless lust for larS- CT gain and lesser deed.- Mother of all the roads that hold that power OCT men that makes Cr mars. These lead to cities. lands and gold