122

THE CITIZEN, SATUI

you know, and will not down. This is a
poor consolation enough, but it is consolation.

BUFFALO BILL'S EQUINE EXHIBIT.

Buffalo Bill's Wild West exhibition,
adjoining the World's Fair grounds, is
the paradise of those who wish to behold
the poetry of rough riding. There is
also some smooth riding, but the rougher
kind sways the mighty multitudes that
muster in the huge arena ruled by the
picturesque frontiersman, who has succeeded
in preserving for the eyes of the
rising generation stirring realism that
cannot exist within the natural years of
strong men now living. Colonel Cody
has entitled to credit--even gratitude--
for this, because, although his exhibition
is a thing of profit, no man, woman or
child who visits it can deny that the
heart-moving spectacle is worth ten
times the amount paid for the privilege
of beholding it.

The scene, on ordinary days, at the
Wild West Coliseum is inspiring
enough, but, on extraordinary days,
when there is a national holiday, when
the sun shines fair, and the breezes blow
healthfully, the vast array of humanity
that awaits the opening of the exercises,
carries the mind back to the days of
pagan Rome, when the soil of the arena
drank plentifully of the blood of man
and brute, "in one red burial blent."

Fortunately there is no vital stream to
redden the earth of Buffalo Bill's stamping
ground because only friendly rivalry
dominates his territory, and "the neighing
steed, and flashing blade, and bugle's
stirring blast" mean only the semblance
of glorious war, although they carry
with them all its splendid associations
without its gory horrors.