EARLY DAY STORIES. 127 



be in sight, some of them so far off as to be indistinctly 

 seen unless on some prominent hill, while others are so near 

 by as to be plainly visible and easily counted, their natural 

 curiosity having been so aroused that they are already ap- 

 proaching to investigate the intruder, coming within forty 

 or fifty rods, stopping to gaze, then bounding away, and 

 again approaching from a different direction, until either 

 satisfied or alarmed they strike out for good, stopping to 

 take a last look from the top of a ridge half a mile or more 

 away. Who that has a love for nature or a soul for the 

 beautiful could fail to be enchanted with such a scene ? And 

 yet such scenes were so common in the early days as to be 

 little thought of and lightly appreciated by many of the early 

 settlers. It seems too bad that these things can be looked 

 upon and enjoyed no longer. Why did not the government 

 reserve two tracts, each twelve miles square, in each one 

 of the western states for a home for the deer, the antelope 

 and the wapati, or elk? These preserves should have con- 

 tained both rough and smooth land as well as timber and 

 water, and would have been available as homes for the wild 

 animals and pleasure resorts for the people. But in this 

 utilitarian age these things are not thought of. 



As I look backward I almost wonder that I ever could 

 have been hard hearted enough to help destroy these beau- 

 tiful and innocent wild animals. However we did not hunt 

 them solely for sport, and seldom for any purpose except 

 when needed for food, and we never wantonly destroyed 

 them. On two occasions only, when money was very scarce, 

 and game very plentiful, did I kill any for market. It is 

 a fact, however, that their disappearance was inevitable, from 

 a country such as we have, that ranks high as a farming 

 district. As the country filled up with farms, the wild ani- 

 mals had to go, and although this is an unpleasant thought 

 to contemplate, it could not have been otherwise. 



