PREFACE Qui sexcuse saccuse. Which, I suppose, proves this a defence to start with But having been a few times accused, there are a few explanations I want very much to make. When this cross-continent story was first suggested, it seemed the simplest sort of thing to undertake. All that was necessary was to put down experiences as they actually occurred. No imagination, or plot or charac- terization could anything be easier But when the serial was published and letters began coming in, it became unhappily evident that writing fact must be one of the most unattainably difficult accomplishments in the world. In the first place, only those who, having lived long in a particular locality and knowing it in all its vary- ing seasons, are qualified truly to present its picture. The observations of a transient tourist are necessarily superficial, as of one whose experiences are merely a series of instantaneous impressions at one time colored perhaps too vividly, at another fogged according to the sun or rain at one brief moment of time. It would be very pleasant to write nothing but eulo- gies of people and places, but after all if a personal narrative were written like an advertisement, praising everything, there would be no point in praising anything, would there Compared with crossing the plains in the fifties, the worst stretch of our most uninhabited country is today the easiest road imaginable. There are no longer any dangers, any insurmountable difficulties. To the rugged sons of the original pioneers, comments upon poor roads that are perfectly denned and traveled-over highways or poor hotels where you can get not only a room to yourself, but steam heat, electric light, and generally aprivate bath must seem an irritatingly squeamish attitude. Poor soft weaklings is probably not far from what they think of people with such a point of view. On the other hand if I, who after all am aNew Yorker, were to pronounce the Jackson House perfect, the City of Minesburg beautiful, the Trailing Highway splendid, everyone would naturally suppose the Jackson House a Ritz, Minesburg an upper Fifth Avenue, and the Trail- ing Highway a duplicate of our own state roads, to say the least I am more than sorry if I offend anyone it is the last thing I mean to do at the same time I think it best to let the story stand as it was written taking nothing back that seems tome true, but acknowledging very hum- bly at the outset, that after all mine is only one out of a possible fifty million other American opinions. CONTENTS PAQS I. IT CANT BE DONE BUT THEN, IT Is PER- FECTLY SIMPLE 1 IE. ALBANY, FIRST STOP 15 III. A BREAKDOWN 18 IV. PENNSYLVANIA, OHIO AND INDIANA . . 23 V. LUGGAGE AND OTHER LUXURIES … 37 VI. DID ANYBODY SAY CHICKEN … 41 VII. THE CITY OP AMBITION 46 VTII. A FEW CHICAGOANS 52 IX. TINS 60 X. MUD 67 XL IN ROCHELLE 72 XII. THE WEIGHT OP PUBLIC OPINION … 75 XIII. MUDDIER 79 XIV. ONE OP THE FOGGED IMPRESSIONS … 86 XV. A FEW WAYS OP THE WEST …. 90 XVI. HALFWAY HOUSE 99 XVII. NEXT STOP, NORTH PLATTE … .107 XVIII. -THE CITY OP RECKLESSNESS … .119 XIX. A GLIMPSE OP THE WEST THAT WAS . . 135 XX. OUR LITTLE SISTER OP YESTERDAY …150 XXI. IGNORANCE WITH A CAPITAL I … 155 XXII. SOME INDIANS AND MR. X …. 159 XXIII. WITH NOWHERE TO Go Bur Our …172 XXIV. INTO THE DESERT 175 ix