6 BOOK OF A HUNDRED BEARS 



and the railroads, have so beneficently arranged 

 matters that, to break through into the Far West, 

 it is most convenient to stop and drop a few dol- 

 lars in the Denver slot machine. Few escape, nor 

 should you care to do so. You may think you can 

 escape Denver. You may select some railroad 

 leading westward that apparently leaves Denver 

 far to the north or to the south. You embark and, 

 by and by, the porter says, ^'Denvah, all out," 

 and there you are. You can hardly get away 

 from Denver, and Denver knows it. But why 

 attempt it? To him who has never seen Denver, 

 it is a pure joy. You have come, we will say, 

 from some eastern city, with its packing-houses 

 and factories, smells and smoke, torrid heat and 

 stifling atmosphere, and you step into an air that 

 could not be retailed in any prohibitionist com- 

 munity because of its intoxicating effect. You 

 stand on the streets of a great city, where com- 

 merce roars and crashes by you, and raise your 

 eyes to the near peace and solemnity of great 

 snow-clad mountains that seem only a mile away. 

 You breathe western air and behold the familiar 



