The New York herald., 1922-06-11

ready many malcontents. for "men
and women grumbled at leaving so
rich and beautiful land lying waste.
lThey were in eastern Kansas, in
all the bloom of early spring.l Nos
talgia was not yet shaken of. This
strained condition OF nerves, COM
biRtd with the trail hardships, pro-
duced the physical irritation which is
inevitable in all amateur pioneer
work. Confusions, discordances.
arising over the most trifling cir
cumstances. grew into petulance, in
civility. wrangling and intrigue, as
happened in SO many other early
caravans at times the long
caravan, covering the depressions
and eminences Of the prairie. wound
along in mile long detachments. each
Of which hourly grew more surly
and more independent. Overdriven
oxen now began to drop. By the
time the prairies proper were reached
more than score of oxen had died
many suffered from ague;
fevers were very common :.
numbers of young children. many of
them in arms. became i'll. For one
cause or another wagons were con-
tinually dropping out. Lit
tie by little. day by day. civilization
was passing. while the need for or
ganization daily became more ur-
gent A strange envisage-
ment II all made, In a strange envi-
ronment, a new atmosphere on
the threshold of the wilderness"
How many OF US give any thought
to this vanished epoch. hardly more
than fifty years ago. for it subsisted
till long after '4s. as we sweep along
the easy miles from coast to coast.
Yet hardly mile but has its ghosts,
its tragedies or could tell q tale of
courage and endurance that would
snatch the breath away.
On into the wilderness: and i'm
mediately the wilderness sets its seal
on the travellers An advanced group
of wagons is set upon by the Paw
nees. then on the warpath and most
Of the men are killed. Ashes, blood,
dying mules. tortured and contorted
bodies meet the horror struck rear
guard as it reaches the scene. And
it isn't the first Indian fight by many
that the settlers have to go through
with before they reach the promised
land beyond the mountains.
Mr.. Hough knows all the ground
over which he goes in this book as
intimately as so vast a trail can be
known. He has known men and
women who made the journey. He
knows the game. the birds. the wild
creatures. most of them already
swept out OF existence except for
small scattered groups where once
they ranged in millions. He has
seen the buffalo running wild. and
he has heard from the lips of those
who participated in the great buff
falo hunts just what was done. And
he tells it yiyidly, all OF IL. 1t is
the huge background OF this book.
He tells for US again the moving tale
Of the prairie fire. and he does it
thrillingly. We see the fleeing wild
things. and we struggle with the
man and the woman who are almost
caught by death in that world of
flames.
Kit Carson and one or two more
of the famous characters OF that era
come into the book. as does the dis
eovery of gold in the Sacramento
Valley. Mr.. Hough delights in por-
traying those men, breed of hunter
and scout that has gone from our
uation. who lived their lives in the
midst of danger and were the very
spirit of the frontier. They live on
his pages. and II is good thing to
meet them there.
II is for these and for the setting
down of that amazing march of
youth and courage and stout hearts
and strong spirits across the con-
tinent that helped to make us the
uation we are that many OF US will
read Mr.. Hough's book and find
pleasure in H. Others win read II
for the strongly adventurous at
mosphere. the love story. the trap
ping of the villain and the fortunes