24 PRAIRIE AND FOREST. 



when useless is detestable : unnecessarily taxing the 

 endurance of his steed, or paining it with uncalled-for 

 punishment, is a crime he would no more be guilty 

 of than the honest man of despoiling his friend. 

 Again, your gun or rifle, ever a willing servant when 

 properly taken care of, requires no small amount of 

 attention ; to no other hands than your own trust it to be 

 cleaned. However high your birth, delicate your nur- 

 turing, or boundless your means, to do without the 

 assistance of hirelings, and rely entirely on yourself, is far 

 from derogatory ; on the contrary, it is deserving of com- 

 mendation, and the benefit, that will result in after-life 

 from such lessons cannot be too highly estimated. I have 

 known a few months of wild western life do more good in 

 forming a character than years passed in cities or con- 

 tinental tour ; for here the fop forgets his folly, and the 

 timid and nervous becomes self-reliant. 



Imagine spread before you an immense plain ; in what- 

 ever direction you look, the same expanse of level 

 country stretches before you. Such is the prairie. The 

 dear old ocean, as viewed from the deck of a vessel, is the 

 nearest simile I can think of. In both an almost level 

 horizon in each direction is met by the sky. Nothing in 

 either is to be seen to break the stillness, save it be the 

 animal life that have these elements for their home. 

 Although this may be applicable, as a general rule, to 

 prairie scenery, there are portions less monotonous ; in 

 places, heavy belts of timber mark the margin of streams 

 that ultimately help to feed some of the giant rivers of the 

 American continent; while as you approach the great 



