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every corner; there are hundreds of oxen and mules attached to them. Often ten yoke of oxen to a wagonsix span, oftener four, of mules driven with one line. There is heard the lumbering of these "prairie schooners,' the bellowing of oxen, braying of mules, cracking of the long lariats? which for me is a show of itself, to see the dexterity with which the drivers use them. There is the hollowing yelling-of teamsters, mingled with more oaths than I ever heard before in all my life together. These are some of the street scenes that one meets in Nebraska City. "Everybody for himself." And the people rush up and down the streets in utter forgetfulness apparently, of everything but rushing, rushing right on—not much matter where. The merchants and their clerks seem to care very little whether customers buy or not. If they have plenty of time, will be polite; will attend to you. If not no matter. Tell you the price,-you can take the article or let it alone. If you don't like the price, “lump it," to use an elegant phrase. They don't care, are perfectly independent. Prices of most things are "horrible" for people with short purses. Everything is high in this prairie land. My mother sells some of her butter at sixty cents per pound, none less than fifty cents and that at home -cheese, thirty cents and thirty-five cents--and so on with everything. The great amount of travel on the road, half a mile from us, makes all the market one needs at present. Trains passing with thirty wagons (24 or 18, those being the usual numbers), are, or have been until recently, of almost daily occurrence-some going to the mountains, others going to the states. It is also the stage route (or one), Ben Halliday's Express thro' to California, so that we have a daily mail one day from the West, the next from the East. It seems odd in such a new country, so devoid of almost every thing civilized, to see the coach daily, going and coming. Speaking of trains, everyone has one or more, usually one, wagon-master who conducts the whole concern. These wagon-masters are almost

without exception gentlemen of education, men who talk in a quiet, gentlemanly manner to every one, expect to be obeyed by their inferiors, and are. Do not swear, neither when they are about, will allow the drivers-this, I say, is the sort of men they are as a general rule-such being the case, there are few "fusses" among the different trains that come in contact with each other in crossing the plains, where there are such good opportunities constantly coming up, as there must always be where so many men, most of them, (that is, the drivers) ignorant and ready to fight at the slightest provocation. No coward could fill the post of wagon-master to advantage to himself or anyone else. I have seen several whom I could not but admire not only for their gentlemanly bearing, but their philosophical way of overcoming difficulties, their firmness and presence of mind in imminent danger, and the almost supreme power they had over those under them. And I've seen mule-drivers that looked far less intelligent than the much-abused mule-not all so, of course, but occasionally. To give you a little idea of the magnitude of some of the trains, I'll tell you of one that passed here about Christmas, a mule train. Before they had gone more than sixty miles west of here, having been corralled for the night, a snow storm came up, and the night-watchers, deeming themselves safe, became careless. In the night there rushed upon them, as swift and fierce as a whirlwind, a band of Indians, who stampeded every mule. There they were on the prairie with their huge freight wagons loaded with thousands of dollars-hundreds of thousands [worth of goods]. There was nothing but to foot it back to Nebraska City and report to the owner of the train. He laughed when told of the fate of his mulessaid "$40,000 worth of mules gone to the D-1." He can stand the loss for he's ever so rich. His wagons are on the prairie yet, roads and weather having prevented any disposal of them.

We can see a mile or more to the east from our house,

and two or three to the west. We often hear trains when they are three or four miles away. The roads are very hard, and there being no timber between, I suppose sounds go farther. It is curious to stand in the door early in the morning or near sunset (for the sounds seem to come farther) and listen to some solitary wagon that sounds as though very near, and finally be rewarded by seeing one come over the hill three miles away, and know that is the one you hear.

A

EDITORIAL.

The Nebraska State Historical Society presents to the public its new Quarterly unheralded and unannounced. For some time its officers have felt the need of some better medium of reaching the people of the State, so as to enlist them in its work, than has been at hand. Heretofore no officer has had the time to devote to such a publication, but, with the creation of the office of librarian, it was felt that the time had come, and the means was at hand, to carry out this long-cherished plan. The Society has hitherto published its proceedings at irregular intervals and hence has been unable to gain the attention of the people of the State to its needs, and to gain their help in forwarding the work of preserving the records of Nebraska's early days. The five volumes of "Records and Proceedings" published in the last few years by the Society have done something to put in form the early history of the State. However many items of the greatest value for the future history of the State are still existing only in the memory of the men who have been its makers. We hope by means of this publication to reach them and to arouse their interest in this work. Many of the features of Nebraska's early life are still unrecorded. The freighting business of early days has not found its historian. An account of the roads of early days is unrecorded. The history of the towns and cities of Nebraska is yet unwritten. These suggestions will call to the minds of early settlers, no doubt, scores of other facts that can only be recorded now while the generation that came here in the 50's is still with us.

In this publication we hope to put into permanent form

the records of Nebraska's making. Biographical sketches of all men and women who have helped to develop its material, social, religious or moral life may well find a place it its pages.

By means of the Quarterly it is also hoped that a larger number of the newspapers of Nebraska may be had for preservation. The Society now has fire-proof vaults and rooms in the basement of the new University library building and would like to have a complete file of every paper published in Nebraska in its rooms. In no other way can the history of the State be so easily preserved. The Society will try to bind and make accessible all papers thus donated to it. It is believed that thus, in a few years, may be built up a bureau of newspapers that will be almost invaluable to the future historian and to the people of the future Nebraska, when its people number 10,000,000 instead of 1,000,000. May we not in this way appeal to every editor in this State for his assistance? Again it is the hope of the Society to gather within its walls every book or pamphlet published that in any way relates to Nebraska. It is also desired to get every book or pamphlet that is published by a citizen or resident of the State, whether relating to the State or not. For the present the Quarterly will contain formal papers. read at its annual meetings, editorial notes, and biographical notices. In addition to such matter as the above, important documents and historical notes of a general character will be published from time to time. The people of the State whether members of the Society or not are earnestly requested to furnish the Society with any matter of historical value. Much that now seems of little importance to many will be of the greatest value in the future in order to get a proper understanding of the present condition of the State. Crop records, climatic conditions, economic movements, settlement records, successes or failures in farming in the various sections of the State, should be furnished with the most scrupulous

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