The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1910-04-28

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and orderly living
II the story of how this came about Is the story
Of the Royal Northwest Mounted Police
The mounted police, Don't you remember
when YOU we're a little chap. how you looked after
the uniformed man on the glossy bay he can
tered through the park. and how you had no
dearer dream of glory than TO be like him. Even
now don't you feel the old. boyish thrill at the
sight of blue-coated. erect figure In the saddle
at crowded city crossing? II you do not. you
are grown up"-saddest Of labes-and will
Journey no more to the Never Never-Never Land
But for 'incurable children" the sight OF
the mounted policeman still catches at those old
heart.strings.
And II all this for the blue-coated brassbut.
toned horseman OF the parks and bouevards
what of that other horseman. the one who rides
alone with the stretch of endless praries for his
beat. with the criminal who holds life at less
than naught. his quarry? Surely even your dued
Imagination. poor. tobe-ptied grown-ups
catch fire family from the CLEAN OF his scarlet
coat. a4-Ie
Recruited chiefly from the younger sons OF we'll
TODD. and even titled. English families the North
west Mounted Police has long been an institu-
ton where English university man work
OF the bubbng froth OF a drop of gypsy blood
before settling down head OF county family
and warden OF his church. In the main a eollec-
tion of young men for whom the Red Gods call
too wildly men with a daredevil dash In their
makeup. who leave England because they are i'm
pecunous or because OF a with their fami-
lies, or for sheer love OF adventure. Come with
me 10 Regina Edmonton and you will hear
stories Of men who gave the recruiting officer the
name of plain John Smith with something of a
cynical smile-and II was bad form for the re-
cruiting officer to notice this smile-men who had
a habit of reaching for a monocle that wasn't
there. of talking with the correct London pronun-
citation and thrashing the felow-trooper who
called attention to this fact.
And any story you ever heard OF the her-pre
sumptve to an English marquisate patroling a
500-mile beat along the Arctic circle be out
matched the written records OF the force, aud
in the memory OF any officer Fifteen years ago.
Englishmen OF Kpling's "gentleman ranker" type
made up fully half OF the force. ard the other half
composed of wild Irishmen with all their
country's love OF fight, old plainsmen and Indian
fighters. the silent. steady-eyed. hard-riding men
who gather on the frontier where the savage falls
away before the ragged vanguard OF civilization
And they have done their work so well that they
are fast driving away their own excuse for be-
ing. The present northwest Is no more what II
was in 1874 than busy Winnipeg of to-day is the
old Fort Garry TO which the first troop OF the
mounted" came 40 years ago. They have made
western Canada what IL is out OF the lawless ter
ritory'-an almost preposterous undertaking
onequarter OF the number OF policemen In New
larger than the United States,
In short, the mounted police have brought
British law into western Canada. and firmly es-
tabhshed IT,. The homesteader can go into any
OF the provinces and take out his Calm, secure In
the assurance that he work his land undis-
turbed and harvest his crop unnjured. The home
steader is doing IL by thousands and the Last
West is vanishing. The frontier-the last from
tier of America-is being prosaicaIy plowed by
the practical man In blue overalls, who doesn't
carry even hunting knife. except to cut OF his
chew OF Granger Twist ~ e st Ivr
The Indian has been reduced to his lowest
terms. When men OF, the United States were
building the Union Pacific across the plains. they
were obliged to employ Uncle Sans troops TO
guard the builders. II the ghosts of the dead who
died violently in that first hyeyears' fight for the
west were TO line up along the right OF way there
would be almost enough OF them to mark the
miles. nflt .r f
on 30rnile ride from the North Saskatche
wan last fall met dozens OF teams driven almost
wholly by Indians and half-breeds They
hauiirg the long logs that were to be driven
twenty TO thirty feet into the sands OF the sas
katchewan TO carry the false work OF the Grand
Trunk Pacihc's steel bridge
What contrast! Instead of hindering. was
once the case the northern Indians are helping TO
build the railroad In the construction Of the
government transcontinental line. the In
dams employed wherever they can be used.
Tor the ROAD III DelnS rushed WIN all possiDie
speed consistent with good work. The Indians
are useful also. TO the pathhnders guides;
they know the forests Of new Canada; they know
the mountain Businesses OF the Peace river. and
they know all the crooks and canyons OF the
Coast Range In short. the red man OF to-day Is
the trusted guide and faithful servant OF the path
finder. He hunts for the white man still but quite
from the way he used TO hunt for the
pioneers a. old.
Thanks to the Royal Northwest Mounted Po-
lice. ciyiiEations house Is In order. To-day tho
be long before the mounted will be