I shall try to vary the journey, for frequent changes of scenes are
grateful to travelers. I shall show you some of the humors as well as
the excitements of the frontier. And our last halting-place will be at
sunrise--the sunrise of the New West, with its waving grain-fields,
fenced flocks and splendid cities, drawing upon the mountains for the
water to make it fertile, and upon the whole world for men to make it
rich.
I was born on a farm near Leclair, Scott County, Iowa, February 26,
1846. My father, Isaac Cody, had emigrated to what was then a frontier
State. He and his people, as well as my mother, had all dwelt in Ohio.
I remember that there were Indians all about us, looking savage enough
as they slouched about the village streets or loped along the roads on
their ponies. But they bore no hostility toward anything save work and
soap and water.
We were comfortable and fairly prosperous on the little farm. My
mother, whose maiden name was Mary Ann Leacock, took an active part in
the life of the neighborhood. An education was scarce in those days.
Even school teachers did not always possess it. Mother's education was
far beyond the average, and the local school board used to require all
applicants for teachers' position to be examined by her before they
were entrusted with the tender intellects of the pioneer children.
But the love of adventure was in father's blood.
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