Prairie and Rocky Mountain Life; Or, The California and Oregon Trail ...

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George P. Putnam, 1852 - 448 pages
 

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Page 191 - One touch to her hand, and one word in her ear, When they reached the hall-door, and the charger stood near: So light to the croupe the fair lady he swung, So light to the saddle before her he sprung! "She is won! we are gone! over bank, bush, and scaur; They'll have fleet steeds that follow,
Page 19 - Though sluggards deem it but a foolish chase, And marvel men should quit their easy chair, The toilsome way, and long, long league to trace, Oh! there is sweetness in the mountain air, And Life, that bloated Ease can never hope to share.
Page 15 - The emigrants, however, are not all of this stamp. Among them are some of the vilest outcasts in the country. I have often perplexed myself to divine the various motives that give impulse to this migration ; but whatever they may be, whether an insane hope of a better condition in life, or a desire of shaking off restraints of law and society, or mere restlessness, certain it is, that multitudes bitterly repent the journey, and, after they have reached the land of promise, are happy enough to escape...
Page 177 - I am an aged hemlock. The winds of an hundred winters have whistled through my branches ; I am dead at the top. The generation to which I belonged have run away and left me : why I live the Great Good Spirit only knows. Pray to my Jesus that I may have patience to wait for my appointed time to die.
Page 15 - ... parasol, once gaudy enough, but now miserably faded. The men, very sober-looking countrymen, stood about their oxen ; and as I passed I noticed ' three old fellows, who, with their long whips in their hands, were zealously discussing the doctrine of regeneration. The emigrants, however, are not all of this stamp. Among them are some of the vilest outcasts in the country.
Page 360 - They have the foresight however to leave enough of the crops untouched to serve as an inducement for planting the fields again for their benefit in the next spring. The human race in this part of the world is separated into three divisions, arranged in the order of their merits : white men, Indians, and Mexicans ; to the latter of whom the honorable title of ' whites
Page 392 - Suddenly, to my utter amazement, the hoofs were jerked upward, the tails flourished in the air, and amid a cloud of dust the buffalo seemed to sink into the earth before me. One vivid impression of that instant remains upon my mind. I remember looking down upon the backs of several buffalo dimly visible through the dust. We had run unawares upon a ravine. At that moment I was not the most accurate judge of depth and width, but when I passed it on my return, I found it about twelve feet deep and not...
Page 229 - Several men came forward to meet us. I could distinguish among them the green blanket of the Frenchman Reynal. When we came up the ceremony of shaking hands had to be gone through...
Page 100 - ... gray owls, with a large white ring around each eye, were perched side by side with the rightful inhabitants. The prairie teemed with life. Again and again I looked toward the crowded hill-sides, and was sure I saw horsemen ; and riding near, with a mixture of hope and dread, for Indians were abroad, I found them transformed into a group of buffalo. There was nothing in human shape amid all this vast congregation of brute forms. When I turned...
Page 394 - The dust and tumult passed away, and on the prairie, far behind the rest, I saw a solitary buffalo galloping heavily. In a moment I and my victim were running side by side. My firearms were all empty, and I had in my pouch nothing but rifle bullets, too large for the pistols and too small for the gun. I loaded the...

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