Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net WINNING THE WILDERNESS In all the story of the world of man, Who blazed the way to greater, better things? Who stopped the long migration of wild men, And set the noble task of building human homes? The learned recluse? The forum teacher? The poet-singer? The soldier, voyager, Or ruler? 'T was none of this proud line. The man who digged the ground foretold the destiny Of men. 'T was he made anchor for the heart; Gave meaning to the hearthstone, and the birthplace, And planted vine and figtree at the door. He made e'en nations possible. Aye, when With his stone axe he made a hoe, he carved, Unwittingly, the scepter of the world. The steps by which the multitudes have climbed Were all rough-hewn by this base implement. In its rude path have followed all the minor Arts of men. Hark back along the centuries, And hear its march across the continents. From zone to zone, all 'round the bounteous world, The man whose skill makes rich the barren field And causes grass to grow, and flowers to blow, And fruits to ripen, and grain turn to gold-- That man is King! Long live the King! --Mrs. J. K. Hudson. [Illustration: They sought the trail and followed it westward in the face of the wind] WINNING THE WILDERNESS By MARGARET HILL McCARTER Author of "The Price of the Prairie," "A Wall of Men," "The Peace of the Solomon Valley," "A Master's Degree," etc. Illustrations By J. N. MARCHAND Chicago A. C. McCLURG & CO. 1914 Copyright A. C. McClurg & Co. 1914 Published September, 1914 Copyrighted in Great Britain W. F. HALL PRINTING COMPANY, CHICAGO To THAT FARMER FATHER AND MOTHER WITH THEIR HANDS ON TODAY BUT WITH THEIR EYES ON TOMORROW WHO THROUGH LABOR AND LONELINESS AND HOPES LONG DEFERRED HAVE WON A DESERT TO FRUITFULNESS A WILDERNESS TO BEAUTY FOREWORD A reach of level prairie bounded only by the edge of the world--misty ravelings of heliotrope and amber, covered only by the arch of heaven--blue, beautiful and pitiless in its far fathomless spaces. To the southwest a triple fold of deeper purple on the horizon line--mere hint of commanding headlands thitherward. Across the face of the prairie streams wandering through shallow clefts, aimlessly, somewhere toward the southeast; their course secured by gentle swells breaking into sheer low bluffs on the side next to the water, or by groups of cottonwood trees and wild plum bushes along their right of way. And farther off the brown indefinite shadowings of half-tamed sand dunes. Aside from these things, a featureless landscape--just grassy ground down here and blue cloud-splashed sky up there.