" still "furnished the cheer."
Once more the spirit of the explorer flamed up in the soldier's heart.
Once more the sunset allured. Once more my mother sang the marching song
of the McClintocks,

O'er the hills in legions, boys,
Fair freedom's star
Points to the sunset regions, boys,
Ha, ha, ha-ha!

and sometime, in May I think it was, father again set out--this time by
train, to explore the Land of The Dakotas which had but recently been
wrested from the control of Sitting Bull.

He was gone only two weeks, but on his return announced with triumphant
smile that he had taken up a homestead in Ordway, Brown County, Dakota.
His face was again alight with the hope of the borderman, and he had
much to say of the region he had explored.

As graduation day came on, Burton and I became very serious. The
question of our future pressed upon us. What were we to do when our
schooling ended? Neither of us had any hope of going to college, and
neither of us had any intention of going to Dakota, although I had taken
"Going West" as the theme of my oration. We were also greatly worried
about these essays. Burton fell off in appetite and grew silent and
abstracted. Each of us gave much time to declaiming our speeches, and
the question of dress troubled us. Should we wear white ties and white
vests, or white ties and black vests?

The evening fell on a dark and rainy night, but the Garlands came down
in their best attire and so did the Babcocks, the Gilchrists and many
other of our neighbors. Burton was hoping that his people would not
come, he especially dreaded the humorous gaze of his brother Charles who
took a much less serious view of Burton's powers as an orator than
Burton considered just. Other interested parents and friends filled the
New Opera House to the doors, producing in us a sense of awe for this
was the first time the "Exercises" had taken place outside the chapel.

Never again shall I feel the same exultation, the same pleasure mingled
with bitter sadness, the same perception of the irrevocable passing of
beautiful things, and the equally inexorable coming on of care and
trouble, as filled my heart that night. Whether any of the other members
of my class vibrated with similar emotion or not I cannot say, but I do
recall that some of the girls annoyed me by their excessive attentions
to unimportant ribbons, flounces, and laces. "How do I look?" seemed
their principal concern. Only Alice expre