[Illustration] FRANK'S RANCHE; OR, MY HOLIDAY IN THE ROCKIES. [Illustration] [Illustration: FRANK'S RANCHE, FROM A SKETCH BY HIMSELF.] FRANK'S RANCHE OR MY HOLIDAY IN THE ROCKIES BEING A CONTRIBUTION TO THE INQUIRY INTO WHAT WE ARE TO DO WITH OUR BOYS _BY THE AUTHOR OF "AN AMATEUR ANGLER'S DAYS IN DOVEDALE"_ "To thy bent mind some relaxation give, And steal one day out of thy life, to live!" COWLEY Second Edition. LONDON SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, SEARLE, & RIVINGTON CROWN BUILDINGS, 188, FLEET STREET 1886 (_All rights reserved_) "Oh! happy farmers! overblest I wis, If they could only realise their bliss! For whom the earth, away from jingling strife, In just abundance sheds the gifts of life." VIRGIL'S _Georgics_. (_R. D. Blackmore's Translation._) [Illustration] _DEDICATORY LETTER._ _MY DEAR FRIEND M._, _I cannot but dedicate this little volume to you who have been my pleasant travelling companion for many thousands of miles in the great western world. But for you I should probably never have undertaken such a journey; and for how many acts of thoughtful kindness by the way am I not indebted to you? Can I forget that you always insisted on my taking the best bunk in the cabin, the best seat in stage-coaches, the best room in hotels, the best bed in sleeping cars? Can I forget that it was your warmhearted friendship for Frank which induced you to "rough it" with me in his little log shanty? And ought I not gratefully to remember the inexhaustible resources of that wonderful travelling bag and the cruse of cordials which, in time of need, were ever at my service? No man could have had a more pleasant, unselfish, and kind companion than you were, and my only regret is that I have not been able to produce a record of our journeyings more worthy of your acceptance._ _Yours faithfully, E. M._ _London, Christmas, 1885._ [Illustration] INTRODUCTORY NOTE. "What can justify one in addressing himself to the general public as if it were his private correspondent?" asks Oliver Wendell Holmes. He then answers his own question by stating that "there are at least three sufficient reasons," and proceeding to give them.