EARLY HISTORY OF CHERRY COUNTY, NEBRASKA

     "Say, Grandpa, what's a pioneer?"

     "A pioneer? Look, son, what do you see out yonder past the mill?" "I see a hill, a lake, a tree, a passing cloud, a mallard duck on wing."

     "That, son, is what a pioneer is . . . . . . . that is a 'settler pioneer'. A 'settler pioneer' is a part of nature. A living moving part of God's great out of doors. A thing that's wild and free . . . . . . and like other things of nature, takes on individuality and benefits other things in need.

     He lives clean and open by the sinews of his own hands and the beneficence of an impartial Mother Nature . . . . . . he dies too standing straight and strong as yonder tree."

     "But, Grandpa, that isn't what I mean. I heard them talking. They said something about courage. I thought pioneers shot game for food, rode wild horses, and lived in homes of sod."

     "Did they say anything, son, about faith . . . . . faith in a future that would be good for boys like you to pioneer in ?"

     "Like me? Do you think I can ever pioneer?"

     "Certainly, son, you're made of pioneer stuff. You can't 'Settler pioneer.' There is no west left for boys of your generation. But any man who can meet himself honestly, who can look into his own heart in solitude and find a fit companion there can pioneer."

     "But where, Grandpa, if the west is gone, the game tamed, and the fury of the blizzard stilled? How can I pioneer now?"

     "The west is gone, and if it weren't men would go into it in cars with duel-tired trucks and aeroplanes. They'd rip into the sod with motored plows and do more from dawn 'till dark than we could do in one long season."

     "But you said, Grandpa, that I could pioneer."

     "You can, son, and you will. I see vision in your young eyes. Whole new worlds will be discovered by you. I can't tell where or what you'll find. I'm old. My eyes can't see your opportunities. My pathway can't parallel your avenues, nor my strength support your burdens. You will pioneer too, son, but under blue skies of another world called science, or history, or statesmanship. But we won't forget each other, will we son?"

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