Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 1.djvu/457



A tale half told and hardly understood ; The talk of bearded men that chanced to meet, That lean'd on long quaint rifles in the wood, That look'd in fellow faces, spoke discreet And low, as half in doubt and in defeat Of hope; a tale it was of lands of gold That lay toward the sun. Wild wing'd and fleet It spread among the the swift Missouri's bold Unbridled men, and reach'd to where Ohio roll'd.

Then long chain'd lines of yoked and patient steers; Then long white trains that pointed to the west ; Beyond the savage west; the hopes and fears Of blunt, untutor'd men, who hardly guess'd Their course; the brave and silent women, dress'd In homely spun attire, the boys in bands, The cheery babes that laughed at all and bless'd The doubting hearts with laughing lifted hands What exodus for far untraversed lands!

The Plains ! The shouting drivers at the wheel ; The crash of leather whips ; the crush and roll Of wheels ; the groan of yokes and grinding steel And iron chain, and lo ! at last the whole Vast line, that reached as if to touch the goal, Began to str.etch and stream away and wind Toward the west, as if with one control : Then hope loom'd fair, and home lay far behind ; Before, the boundless plain, and fiercest of their kind.

At first the way lay green and fresh as seas, And far away as any reach of wave ; The sunny streams went by in belt of trees ; And here and there the tassell'd tawny brave Swept by on horse, looked back, stretched forth and A yell of hell, and then did wheel and rein Awhile and point away, dark-brow'd and grave, Into the far and dim and distant plain With signs and prophecies, and then plunged on again.

Some hills at last began to lift and break; Some streams began to fail of wood and tide, The somber plain began betime to take A hue of .weary brown, and wild and wide ft stretch'd its naked breast on every side. A babe was heard at last to cry for bread A mid the deserts; cattle low'd and died, And dying men went by with broken tread, And left a long black serpent line of wreck and dead.