68

62

"How little I dreamed in the long ago that the lonely path of the scout and the pony
expess rider would lead me to the place to which you have assigned me to-day. And here, near the banks of the mighty Missouri, which flows onward to the sea, my thoughts revert to the early days of my manhood, when I looked across this rushing tide toward the East, to the Atlantic, where then I supposed that all men were rich and all women happy. My friends, that day has come and gone, and I stand among you a witness that nowhere in the broad universe are men richer in manly integrity and women happier in their domestic kingdom than in our own Nebraska. (Great applause.)

" I have sought fortune in my lands, but wherever I have wandered that flag of our beloved State has been unfurled to every breeze. From the Platte to the Danube, from the Tiber to the Clyde, the emblem of our soverign State has always floated over the Wild West. (Applause.) Time goes on and brings with it new duties and responsibilities, but we old men, we men who are called 'old timers,' cannot forget the trials and tribulations that we had to encounter while paving the path for civilization and national prosperity can obliterate our contribution to Nebraska's imperial progress.

"The whistle of the locomotive has drowed the howl of the coyote, the barb-wire fence has narrowed the range of the cow-puncher, but no material evidence of prosperity can obliterate our contribution to Nebraska's imperial progress. (Applause.)

"Gentlemen of the Directory, I will not assume to comment upon what you have done to make this exposition the peer of all that have gone before. Far abler testimony that I can offer has sped on electric wings to the uttermost parts of the earth that what you have done in the interests of Nebraska has been well done. (Applause)

"Through your kindness to-day I have tasted the sweetest fruit that grows on ambition's tree, and if you will extend that kindness and let me fall back into the ranks, those rear ranks, as a high private in those ranks, that will be honor enough for me. (Applause).

"Now, will you extend that kindness and let me call upon the Wild West, the Congress of Rough Riders of the World, to voice their appreciation for the kindness that you have extended to them to-day?"

At the signal of Colonel Cody the Wild West then gave three ringing cheers for Nebraska and the Trans-Mississippi Exposition. Their band followed with "The Red, White and Blue," and the Wild West fell into line for the parade through the grounds, headed by Colonel Cody, mounted upon the splendid chestnut horse, Duke, presented to him by General Miles soon after the battle of Wounded Knee. At the Administration Arch the cavalcade was reviewed by the members of the Executive Committee of the exposition.

THE OLD-TIME LIONS AT LUNCHEON.

The official and popular reception was notably supplemented by an informal luncheon given to the old-timers by Colonel Cody, and never before had such a party of representative pioneers met around the banquet table and exchanged reminiscences of the stirring days of their younger years. At one long table were seated Governor Holcomb at the head and General T. S. Clarkson at the foot, and on the sides ex-Governors John M. Thayer, James E. Boyd and Alvin Saunders, Senator John M. Thurston, Major John M. Burke, John A. Creighton, Alexander Majors, W. A. Paxton, Capt. J. E. North. E. Rosewater. Louis E. Cooke, Col. W. L. Virscher, ex-Secretary of Agriculture Norman J. Coleman of Missouri, and others. Over the champagne General Clarkson, who acted as toastmaster, called upon those present who were a number of after-dinner speeches that would have done honor to any occasion that has ever been graced by eloquence in words. The theme was the upbuilding of the West, with Colonel Cody as a factor in guiding empire to the region, and, incidentally, reminiscences of pioneer times.

Ex-Governor Thayer expressed pride in the fact that he had commissioned Colonel Cody on his military staff and sent him abroad to acquaint the Old World with Nebraska's opulence of resource, in which the gallant Colonel had far exceeded what could have been hoped for in that time. He had not only carried to the Old World and its people the story of this great West, but had in the meantime become the associate of princes and potentates, who learned from this representative of the West, in a little time, more than decades of reading might have taught them. The ex Governor closed with an earnest commendation of his gallant staff officer, who, by the way, had been an honor to the military staff of all the succeeding Governors of Nebraska.

62

"How little I dreamed in the long ago that the lonely path of the scout and the pony
expess rider would lead me to the place to which you have assigned me to-day. And here, near the banks of the mighty Missouri, which flows onward to the sea, my thoughts revert to the early days of my manhood, when I looked across this rushing tide toward the East, to the Atlantic, where then I supposed that all men were rich and all women happy. My friends, that day has come and gone, and I stand among you a witness that nowhere in the broad universe are men richer in manly integrity and women happier in their domestic kingdom than in our own Nebraska. (Great applause.)

" I have sought fortune in my lands, but wherever I have wandered that flag of our beloved State has been unfurled to every breeze. From the Platte to the Danube, from the Tiber to the Clyde, the emblem of our soverign State has always floated over the Wild West. (Applause.) Time goes on and brings with it new duties and responsibilities, but we old men, we men who are called 'old timers,' cannot forget the trials and tribulations that we had to encounter while paving the path for civilization and national prosperity can obliterate our contribution to Nebraska's imperial progress.

"The whistle of the locomotive has drowed the howl of the coyote, the barb-wire fence has narrowed the range of the cow-puncher, but no material evidence of prosperity can obliterate our contribution to Nebraska's imperial progress. (Applause.)

"Gentlemen of the Directory, I will not assume to comment upon what you have done to make this exposition the peer of all that have gone before. Far abler testimony that I can offer has sped on electric wings to the uttermost parts of the earth that what you have done in the interests of Nebraska has been well done. (Applause)

"Through your kindness to-day I have tasted the sweetest fruit that grows on ambition's tree, and if you will extend that kindness and let me fall back into the ranks, those rear ranks, as a high private in those ranks, that will be honor enough for me. (Applause).

"Now, will you extend that kindness and let me call upon the Wild West, the Congress of Rough Riders of the World, to voice their appreciation for the kindness that you have extended to them to-day?"

At the signal of Colonel Cody the Wild West then gave three ringing cheers for Nebraska and the Trans-Mississippi Exposition. Their band followed with "The Red, White and Blue," and the Wild West fell into line for the parade through the grounds, headed by Colonel Cody, mounted upon the splendid chestnut horse, Duke, presented to him by General Miles soon after the battle of Wounded Knee. At the Administration Arch the cavalcade was reviewed by the members of the Executive Committee of the exposition.

THE OLD-TIME LIONS AT LUNCHEON.

The official and popular reception was notably supplemented by an informal luncheon given to the old-timers by Colonel Cody, and never before had such a party of representative pioneers met around the banquet table and exchanged reminiscences of the stirring days of their younger years. At one long table were seated Governor Holcomb at the head and General T. S. Clarkson at the foot, and on the sides ex-Governors John M. Thayer, James E. Boyd and Alvin Saunders, Senator John M. Thurston, Major John M. Burke, John A. Creighton, Alexander Majors, W. A. Paxton, Capt. J. E. North. E. Rosewater. Louis E. Cooke, Col. W. L. Virscher, ex-Secretary of Agriculture Norman J. Coleman of Missouri, and others. Over the champagne General Clarkson, who acted as toastmaster, called upon those present who were a number of after-dinner speeches that would have done honor to any occasion that has ever been graced by eloquence in words. The theme was the upbuilding of the West, with Colonel Cody as a factor in guiding empire to the region, and, incidentally, reminiscences of pioneer times.

Ex-Governor Thayer expressed pride in the fact that he had commissioned Colonel Cody on his military staff and sent him abroad to acquaint the Old World with Nebraska's opulence of resource, in which the gallant Colonel had far exceeded what could have been hoped for in that time. He had not only carried to the Old World and its people the story of this great West, but had in the meantime become the associate of princes and potentates, who learned from this representative of the West, in a little time, more than decades of reading might have taught them. The ex Governor closed with an earnest commendation of his gallant staff officer, who, by the way, had been an honor to the military staff of all the succeeding Governors of Nebraska.