. Camps in the Rockies [microform] : being a narrative of life on the frontier, and sport in the Rocky Mountains, with an account of the cattle ranches of the West. Camping; Hunting; Camping; Chasse. TT '» 1 i4. i 1 .1 f-| 368 Camps in the Rockies, and-by rigging up such an arrangement in strings, and seeing it work in his own nursery. Several years have passed since that day. I have seen, to speak metaphorically, that baby in a hundr'jd different guises, all displaying the keenness of Western intellect, and from sheer habit it has become with me a sort of standard wherewith to gauge novel and
. Camps in the Rockies [microform] : being a narrative of life on the frontier, and sport in the Rocky Mountains, with an account of the cattle ranches of the West. Camping; Hunting; Camping; Chasse. TT '» 1 i4. i 1 .1 f-| 368 Camps in the Rockies, and-by rigging up such an arrangement in strings, and seeing it work in his own nursery. Several years have passed since that day. I have seen, to speak metaphorically, that baby in a hundr'jd different guises, all displaying the keenness of Western intellect, and from sheer habit it has become with me a sort of standard wherewith to gauge novel and striking instances of the three great qualities of Western men—self-help, self-confidence, and adaptability. But our picture of the frontiersman would hardly be complete were we to leave unnoticed another feature of the West, namely, its humour. Much has been written about American wit, and in the preceding pages I have essayed to give some of its spontaneous emanations as were wont to crop up on my little travels—genuine frontiersmen my companions. Lincoln said the grim grotesqueness and extravagance of American humour were its most striking feature. In the West it is all- pervading ; from cradle to the death-bed, through sick- ness and adversity, it cheers the Western man. Removed from civilization, we see it in its happiest, most unlaboured garb, dramatizing dry facts into flesh and blood. The lingo of the West, so rich in happily-coined words, stands in close connexion with it. A late clever author on Americanisms,* says they are a fair representation of the Western world, which has been created on a larger scale, which in its turn grows faster, works harder, achieves more than any other land on earth has done. Slightly toned down, there is a good deal ». f truth in what he says. No doubt tue language of the West is an intensified and strangely impulsive speech, just as the 1 Dr. De Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjecthunting, bookyear1882
