The Washington herald., 1911-04-02
"BUFFALO BILL" TELLS OF
OLD DAYS OF WILD WEST

away from the plains, with the buffalo
and the Indian.
Men who grow up in the wilds acquire
wonderful bump of locality and sense
of direction. No compass was ever used
by the Indian or by the scout, and the
Indian seems to know north. south, east,
and west by instinct even to-day. That
Hawaiian scout, Frank Frouard, who
was brought up by the Sioux from in
fancy, developed this instinct to even d
greater extent than the Sioux. He could
tell the north with his eyes shut, any
time, day or night.
''And does not the passing of the old
frontier ever make you feel bit sad.
colonel" l.
Not Sad Over Change.
ION the contrary, 1 feel that 1 have
been singularly blessed and favored in
that Providence has permitted me to live
through two generations and see this
great, glorious Western country of ours
transformed from wilderness into a
beautiful agricultural country capable OF
supporting the entire population Of the
United States for centuries to come.
You know that there was a greater ad-
vance in the last fifty years in the West
than there was in the 900 years that pre-
coded, and have lived to see the begin
ming and the end of it, while all the
other frontiersmen who blazed the way
fifty years ago are long since gone over
the great divide Yet every one of them
did his share OF the work and would
have rejoiced to behold the results that
have followed
over the old frontier days that they did
not possess for those who lived through
them. People liked to hear tales of the
wonderful hunting and thrilling fights we
went through, but start to tell of hard
ships and privations that we all suffered
and nobody cares to listen, yet our lives
were about 80 per cent hardships and
privations. The days of hunger, oh,
yes, there were times when We nearly
starved, Buffalo and game were never
so plentiful as in the story books, and
We never cared to travel very far with
out provisions.
Then there were the sleepless nights
when We were afraid to build a camp
fire or even to take our half frozen fingers
of the triggers of our rifles, and these
nights would be followed by long days
OF thirst and fighting against an unseen
foe. 1t was never the fun that the dime
novel-reading boy thought it was.
About the Hnrdships.
But I will say that. having been born
in the country and brought up on this
sort of thing. we did not suffer these
hardships as much as men would to-day.
The old frontiersman accepted physical
privation as a matter of course and never
grumbled or complained OF his fate.
Every one of the frontiersmen expected
to be killed in a fight with his eternal
foes, the Indians. some day, but. on the
theory that a live man is better than
a dead one. they did not go counting
death as some Of our romancers would
have US believe
ut was the code OF the Indian fighter
to take no chance that was unnecessary.
Daredevil bravery, at times. may be all
very we'll for soldiers in battle against the
soldiers of some civilized nation, but
it was always foolish on the frontier.
What good would a scout be il he got
killed every time be went out to have
a look at the country in 'front.'"
'All of which, colonel, is an argument
that discretion is the better part of
valor'
We'll, II rifles me up considerable when
read some of the accounts that modern
magazine historians are writing of the
Indian wars. l am a veteran OF the
civil war, 1 went through the Kansas %
Nebraska war. and was in every Indian
war that has been fought in this country
the past fifty years. / never saw a truly
brave man who risked his life unless it
was necessary to do so. but have seen
lot of burned fools get killed who
might have been alive to-day il they had
had little frontier training"
II shall be glad when my show days
are over and I can go back to Scouts
Rest and settle down for good by the
bank of the North Platte, our old battle
ground, where We used to meet the war
riors of the Sioux in the springtime.
How those fellows did love to fight, and
what a sight they made when they
charged down on us. 1t seemed that we
could never make them quit until they
were all shot down; they would charge.
ride around US, go back, form, and
charge again and again, until the sun
went down. Brave men, those Sioux,
too brave-'