Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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M rord to a | “Powder Rii A Mile Wide and “During the la^^Kr the Wy oming troops foug^Tunder that gonfalon of words, usually just the two words ‘Powder River!*' Short, sharp, shrill, like the cow boy yell, which is the Confederate yell brought up the Texas Trail with the longhorns, the echo of the coyote added, the last note pitched high and held so that it will carry a long distance. Pres ently almost the entire United States army in France knew the battle cry . . . “Wherever men ride bad horses, either for amusement or for money, ‘Powder River!* greets them as man and horse turn loose, in wholehearted ad miration if the ride is good, or edged with ridicule, the admira tion reserved for the horse, if the rider is thrown . . . “In the most unexpected places they spring out at you. A brand. An open-sesame. A voucher. A visiting card. To repeat ... a password. Ip the East. In Eu rope. In South America. In the Orient. That’s all a man has to say to you and the roaring stam pedes of cities are soundless for a moment.. And you are sur prised, and pleased.** All of which explains, in part, why anyone who has ever visited that country grows homesick for it even though it has never been his home. For, as Mr. Burt ex plains it. Powder River is “above all a symbol of an American way of living which, despite all the varied drama of American life, took hold of the American imagi nation, and still holds it, as an epitome of perhaps the deepest and most universal expression of this continent’s wish. The ex pression of some longing, some vision, some desire for loneliness in crowds, some inherited hori zon line, some nostalgic hope, as close to the American heart as the old life of the South or the lost quiet akns and spare democracy of New England.” * • • Compared to other rivers in America in terms of length, breadth or beauty, the Powder is not an impressive stream. It’s only about 300 miles long and a part of that length is due to the way it winds across the land scape. It’s not a broad stream— that phrase “a mile wide and an inch deep” is, according to Mr. Burt, “the acidly affectionate de scription used by those who are its intimates . . . it is by no means a mile wide and it is con siderably Over an inch deep . . . the phrase possesses the exag gerated truth common to folk de scription; an exaggerated truth conveying a picture clearer than exactness” le of sen kidec- feudal, ias been save in gentine and ! In 1878, the was opened it and within ss was becom- iir toll. Spec- Rustlers of the the flanks pools of buf- Srful.” The John- sunty War of 1892 (also known as the “Rustler war”) marked the beginning of the end of this epic. The appearance, in t-vMiC r — originally from the forests of the | lower Mississippi. They followed the “Father of Waters” north to the woods of Wisconsin and Min nesota where they strove mighti ly to oust the Chippewa, or Ojib- wa. Then a part of this nation, the Teton Sioux, began to push west, following the buffalo who followed the grass across the greatest grasslands this continent has ever known. ^ In the “great grass that rip pled to the horizon like a green ocean” they found the horses that made them, in the words of Gen. George Crook, “the finest natur al cavalry the world has ever seen” and the terror of the north ern plains. When they reached the Big Horn mountains of Wyo ming they found the Crows, or Absarokas, in possession of the Powder River country and drove them back across the Big Horns into the basin beyond. “For almost eight decades the Sioux and the buffalo kept invi olate the green strip of country, a hundred and fifty miles long from north to south, 25 to 50 miles wide from east to west, between the Big Homs and the Powder; between the North Platte in Wy oming and the Rosebud in Mon tana.” Then the first thin trickles of the tidal wave of white inva sion began to seep into this coun try. First, there were the trap- \ pers and fur traders and next the government exploring expedi tions. Then the tide of emigra tion to Oregon and the California goldfields began to flow along the Oregon Trail which ran through southern Wyoming. That was no direct threat to Sioux supremacy in the Powder River country but when soldiers were sent to pro tect the emigrants on the Trail there came the inevitable clash between the white man and the red. Then the Bozeman Trail was laid out as a short cut to the Montana mining camps and it ran through the heart of the Pow der River country. Despite the protests of the Sioux, forts were built along this trail. The re sult was Red Cloud’s war which ended in a complete victory for the doughty leader of the Ogala- las in the treaty of 1868. The forts were abandoned and for a few years the Sioux held undis puted possession of their hunt ing grounds. But the peace, a precarious one at best, lasted only a few years. Then the whites’ violation of the treaty, when the government failed to keep prospectors out of the Black Hills, sent the Sioux on the warpath once more. But this time they were doomed to even tual defeat, despite their one great victory over General George A. Custer and his Seventh cavalry “Powder River! A mile wide and an inch deep!** turn, of the “nester,” (the home steader), the sheepman, and, finally, the farmer, wrote “finis” to that epic. After the World war, “drouth came, even deadlier than bliz zard. Erosion was helped along by its greatest friend, man.” So the third epic began. It is the epic of grass and, says Mr. Burt, “it has not yet reached its con clusion. Powder River is still asking the question of what shall happen to the great grazing high lands of America.” Whether br not that question will be answered is still unknown. But the people of the Powder River country have developed a new form of ranching which seems to guarantee that the spirit of the old days shall sur vive all the changes that have taken place. It is “dude ranch ing” and its development has done much to spread the fame of Powder River. “Twenty-five years ago the West laughed at the ladies in ‘queer pants’ and their male com panions who wore neck handker chiefs wrongly” says Mr. Burt. “The West also regarded with suspicion those ranchers who en couraged these aliens to ruin horses and frighten steers.” Now all this is changed.” Mostly because of the growth of the dude ranching industry, “today most Americans know the West and, being Americans, most of them love the West and find there something indigenous, and American and revivifying; and comfbrting, and magnificent. The ‘Wild West,’ as it persists in fic tion and the movies, for the re freshment of city dwellers who never leave their eastern towns, is based on actuality however distorted and foreshortened and heightened. It is merely 10 years of history, let us say, condensed into two weeks of impossible liv ing. The real West, as it actual ly was—and still is—yields tales that need no heightening; that are beyond the imaginings of scenarists . . . “Nor can the ‘real West’ die; not so long as there are cattle and the herding of them is a busi ness and a way of life. Not so long as there are thousands of miles of loneliness; of plains, of mountains, of forests, and of des erts. And this, the whole of it, is just a simple fact, apart from ‘blurbs,’ denials, ‘dudes/ high ways or anything else you care to mention. “To those who deeply know the West, from the Rio Grande to the Arctic circle, from eastern Oregon to western Nebraska, the West is a fact, a tradition, an in tention, a point of view, a blood stream, a way of doing things, and a devotion.” They tell a story about old Jim Bridger that on one occasion guiding a detachment of troops under command of a second lieu tenant across the Big Horn river in flood, when he made sugges tions as to safe swimming, he was told by the embryo officer to mind his own business since he was merely a “civilian scout.” The result was that a trooper was drowned. When eventually Bridger got the troops across without further loss, the young officer, a very religious man, knelt down on the bank and loud ly and publicly thanked God. Bridger watched him in silence till he had finished, then raised his eyes devoutly to the skies. “And, pardner,” he said con fidentially, “he never once men tioned Jim Bridger!” ton for iyed is a ty blue, a led down over trder River is a and painted for Powder River is a Crow, ig down from the summits of‘the Big Horns. Powder Riv er is a man of a dim historic race who has left only a few un decipherable signs behind him'. For all we know. Powder River may also be a “tall man in shining clothes, feathers on his head.** A ghost, speaking Span ish. * Thus does Struthers Burt apos trophize the country whose geog raphy, whose people, whose his tory, traditions, customs and spirit he has placed within the covers of his book. On one page of it he also ob serves: “The Powder River is knee-deep in stories”—this river which is said to be only “an inch deep”! Here are only a few of those yams: A well-known western Wyo ming brand was obtained in the following manner: The owner having sold his for mer brand wanted another one in a hurry. Three times he sent brands in to the state board and three times they were rejected. Finally he telegraphed, “Please send brand of your selection PDQ.” The answer came back, “PDQ fine!” t*«bn subjects and Script feted, and copyrighted by InU _ ouncu of Religious Education; permission. PETER COMMENDED REBUKED LESSON TEXT—Matthew 16:13-25. GOLDEN TEXT—Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.—Matthew 16:16. There is a ghost story on the Powder. The tradition of an army of ghosts, ragged and grim, who had marched up the Bozeman trail a little while before Carring ton (who established Fort Phil Kearney of tragic memory), un harmed and hardly noticed, and had disappeared into the moun tains of western Montana. The ghosts wore uniforms, whatever remnants were left, of a different color from Carrington’s men. You remember perhaps, Price, the Confederate general who fought in Texas and who was the one Confederate general whose army never surrendered, and who himself fled to Mexico? The story goes that part of Price’s army marched up from Texas, marched all those long, arid miles, and then up the Bozeman to the edge of the Bitter Roots, where it scattered and settled. There seems to be little basis for this story, but it is true that numerous Confederate veterans took up land in western Montana as they did all over the West. Anyway, it’s a nice ghost story. The Spanish-American war had just been declared and most of the leading bad men of the West at once wanted to enlist in the United States army. Well-wish ers persuaded them that discre tion is often the better part of patriotism, but some minor hard characters did get to Cuba. Possibly you remember the fa mous story told by Col. Theodore Roosevelt in his autobiography of a friend of his in New Mexico who wrote as follows: “Dear Colonel: “I’m sure sorry I can’t join you and the other boys in your Rough Riders. But, Colonel, I’m in jail. I shot a lady in the eye. It was a mistake, I meant to shoot my wife.” A friend of mine trapping in the mountains came down at dusk to the cabin of an old bach elor whom he knew. The cabin was blazing with light and he heard many voices—in turn—in dulging in earnest debate. Look ing through the window he saw that the old man was alone. He was holding court, taking the part of judge, witnesses, crimi nal, and counsel for the defense and for the state. Well, that’s the Far West. When a man can’t find someone ^else to argue with, when he’s “argument hungry,” he splits himself into halves, or quarters, and argues with halves or quar ters. We’re amoebas when it comes to argument. “What think ye of Christ?” This question, which was asked by Jesus Himself (Matt. 22 : 42), is the touchstone that tries men, and churches, organizations, and move ments. The answer to it determines character, condition, and destiny. As we study the life of Peter and see how he responded to the ques tion of Jesus, let us not fail to apply the truth to ourselves and to those to whom we minister. This is indeed I. A Crucial Question (w. 13-16). With His crucifixion now only six months away our Lord in prepara tion for it is about to make a more definite claim to Messiahship, and thus to establish the truth in the minds of His disciples. He there fore asks this all-important ques tion about Himself. First, it is a general query, “Whom do men say that I am?” The answer (v. 14) indicates that the common opinion concerning Christ was a very high one. He had made an impression on the people of His time, and this has been true down through the ages. Even those who do not believe on Him admit that He was “the ideal representative and guide to hu manity,” or the person before whom “everyone would kneel.” But beau tiful tributes to His character and leadership are worse than mean ingless unless they lead to a per sonal confession of Him as Lord and Saviour. The question becomes personal as He asks, “Whom do ye say that I am?” That question no one can es cape. We cannot refuse to answer. Neutrality is impossible. Whatever we do or say, or do not do or say, is a decision. Peter’s answer is really the sum and substance of Christian doctrine. He recognized Him as the Messiah, the fulfillment of all Hebrew prophe cy, and as the Son of the Living God, the Redeemer and Savior of men, the One in whom centers all Christian faith. H. A Divine Revelation (w. 17- 20). Peter had been ready to be taught by the Holy Spirit, and therefore made a confession of Christ which was not conceived in the mind of a man but was' a conviction born of the Spirit of God (cf. I Cor. 12:3). Upon Peter’s confession, which was thus really a divine revelation of the person and work of Christ, the Church is established, Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone (I Pet. 2:7) with Peter himself as one of the apostles built into its very foundation (Eph. 2:20). Note that Christ calls it “my church.” It is His Body, and He as the Head rules over it. The gates of Hades, that is, the wicked pow ers of the unseen world, while they now seemingly have great power against the Church, shall not ultk mately prevail. We have a victori ous Christ. The giving of the keys, and the authority to bind or loose have been variously interpreted. It would seem to be clear, however, that this was not intended to be any personal power to be used by Peter, and quite evidently not to be transferred by him to others. It was rather the authority to admit men into the kingdom of God as they fulfill His provisions for entrance, and to de clare that those who do not enter by way of Christ must be forever "barred from its sacred precincts. III. The Shadow of the Cross (w. 21-25). . The cross of Christ casts its shad ow over the little group as Jesus begins to show to His disciples (v. 21) what He is to suffer as the Saviour of the world. The city of Jerusalem exalted to heaven by its opportunities and privileges is to be the place where He is to be nailed to the tree. “Where roses ought to bloom, sin has often plant ed thorns.” Peter in an outburst of affectionate folly tries to hinder Christ from going to the cross, and becomes for the moment the serv ant of Satan. He “meant well,” but it is not enough to have good intentions. The cross of Christ calls for the cross of the Christian (v. 24). Note well that this does not refer to little acts of so-called “self-denial,” but rather to the denial of self. It means that self-will is set aside and God’s will becomes paramount in the life V. 24). It means the abandon ment of selfish motives and desires, the losing of life for Christ’s sake. Thus only do we find the real ful fillment of life (v. 25). For God to Decide There are those who say, and that continually, that life is too short. That depends. What are you doing with it? For some things it is; for others it is not. In any case, it is not for us to make any declaration on that pmnt. God knows whether it is, or is TK>t, too short. And it is safe to leave that matter with him. —Christian Conservator. Stockiny Case For Dress^ Drawer By .RUTH WYJfrH SPEARS. TGS that'-will have a, ready lA at a , fair or church ba- lat may be made odds and ends of ma- on hand; colorful, useful igs for gifts—these are the re- lests that come in the mail. Hoift is another suggestion that the test of practical use flat case that holds six pairs :kings. What a relief not t o'‘‘have them all mixed up with undef"fce&K and other things in dresser drawers. This case .may be made quickly on the sewing machine. A piece of cretonne or bright ticking or other cotton material of the di mensions given here, and about two yards of contrasting bias •: *v £ -15“ DOUBLE STITCHING CUT I MATERIAL THIS SIZE { L- H-6'H r-6>r FOUX- BIND ENDS rsi binding are the materials needed. The diagrams given here in the sketch, explain each step in cut ting and making the case. If a more elaborate case is de sired, silk may be used with rib- ( bon for the bindings. A quilted, silk case of this type would make an exquisite gift. Machine quilt ing may be used for this purpose. Be sure to clip and save these lessons as they are not in either Book 1 or 2. These books are full of still other useful ideas, with complete cutting and sewing di rections for each item clearly il lustrated. They save the price of many patterns and you will use them constantly for references and inspiration. NOTE: Mrs. Spears’ Book 2— Gifts. Novelties and Embroidery, has helped thousands of women to use odds and ends of materials and their spare time to make things to sell and to use. Book 1 —SEWING, for the Home Decora tor, is full of inspiration for ever homemaker. These books mal delightful gifts. Mrs. Spears wi autograph them on request. Bool are 25 cents each. Crazy-patch quilt leaflet is included free with every order for both books. Ad dress Mrs. Spears, 210 S. Des- plaines St., Chicago, 111. Jlsk Me .Another ^ A General Quiz **************** The Questions 1. What direction does one trav el through the Panama canal when going from the Atlantic to the Pacific? 2. How does Frank Buck list the jungle beasts in order of ferocity? 3. What word is the most mis spelled in newspapers? 4. Did the dachshund originate in Germany? j The Answers 1. Southeast. 2. Tiger, black leopard, wate] buffalo, king cobra, sloth bear rogue elephant, Russell’s viper black spitting cobra, rhinoceros and crocodile. 3. Antarctic is said Jo be th< most misspelled. 4. The breed originated h France. gyU-DI Quickly 'iSraMFomlRelieved st.Josepn GENUINE PURE ASPIRIN In Uncertainty When the mind is in a state of, uncertainty the smallest impulss directs it to either side.—Terence. Can’t Eat, Can’t Sleep, Awful Gas PRESSES HEART “Gm on my rtomach was so bad Z ooold not eat or sleep. It even pressed on my heart. A friend suggested Adlerika. The first dose brought me relief. Now X eat as Z wish, sleep fine, and never felt better.”— Mrs. Jas. Tiller. Adlerika acts on BOTH upper and lower bowels. Adlerika gives your intestinal system a real cleansing, bringing out waste matter that may have caused GAS BLOATING, aour stomach, headaches, nervousness, and sleepless nights for months. You will be amsied at this efficient intestinal cleanser. Just one spoonful usually relieves GAS and constipation. Adlerika does not gripe, is not habit forming. Becommendod by many doctors and druggists for 35 yearn. Sold at oil drug stores WNU—7 1—39 ADVERTISING • • • is as essential to business as is rain to growing crops. It is the keystone in the arch of successful merchandising. Let us show you how to apply it to your business. ■Will —— J r> A