Conservative *
started John to the plow , saving some
hours in work. Probably few people
would take any notice of this movement
but the party who has property and
often valuable property , left in charge
of hired help , would pay close attention
to such actions , and remember them as
references for the future , and what em
ployer , in whatever sphere in life he
may be , will not readily decide his
choice for help between \ho two boys ?
This is only one in a thousand cases that
may happen to the young man on the
farm. To the one the " Tide was taken
at the flood , " to the other "omitted. "
In all probability neither young man
was aware that such actions were at the
"Flood Tide , " which changed the whole
course of their after lives. In a few
mouths Mr. A. retired and Tom was in
stalled as supervising manager with
a good salary , while John was released
for the winter to mourn his bad luck.
Similar instances are numerous. The
history of the United States affords
brilliant examples from the farm boy ,
while the demand for the competent in
agricultural lines is awaiting the worthy
" to lead them on to fortune. "
One [ more illustration : A few days
ago , while riding to town with a mer
chant , he asked me to recommend him
a good boy to drive his delivery wagon.
The boy he had , about 17 years of age ,
either could not , or would not , or at
least did not learn his duty. Lately he
came home with the horse after deliver
ing goods , the horse minus the collar be
longing to the harness. The boy-main
tained that the collar was put on. The
collar was lost while going his rounds.
Such examples may make or mar the
whole course of life. "Fortune calls
but once at any man's door , " some
say ; a suggestive thought.
It is undoubtedly true that when the
young man has his ideal established
with the determination to gain the goal ,
he will soon find within himself the en
ergetic , encouraging perseverance , men
tally pushing to gain the point desired ,
which is rarely accomplished except by
hard , industrious and attentive toil.
JOHN BETHUNE.
Lincoln , Neb.
THE FREMONT MYTH.
THECONSERVATIVE _ has called atten
tion on a number of occasions to the ap
parent inaccuracy of certain stories
which are in circulation , and in some
cases with the endorsement of excellent
authorities , regarding the "pathfinder , "
John O. Fremont. In our issue of May
80th of this year we discussed at some
length a statement of Dr. George Bird
Grinnell's , in his "Pawnee Hero-Stories
and Folk-Tales , " to the effect that Fre
mont had at some time been the recip
ient of a certain honorable title , Pani
Leshar , from the Pawnees , being the
only white man ever so distinguished
by them , with the single exception of
Major Frank North. This statement ,
we questionedfor the reason thataf tor a
careful , review of Fremont's career in
the west , we were unable to find any
time when he came in sufficiently close
relations with the Pawnees for it to have
happened.
Since then , we have received some
light on the question , which is really a
very interesting one , from two first-
rate sources ; Dr. Grinnell himself , and
Hon. James E. North , of Columbus ,
Neb. , one of the surviving brothers-of
Major North. From the letters of these
gentlemen , extracts from both of which
we give below , it appears that the information
mation of both was derived from the
Indians. We are unable to think oth
erwise than that axonfusion of identity
has arisen somewhere ; but it seems to
be beyond doubt that some white man
besides Major North was honored by
the Pawnees to this unusual degree ,
and it may not be [ impossible yet to de
termine who this was.
Mr. North wrote us as follows :
"When I received your letter , I was in
clined to think that that there was
some mistake about the honor bestowed
upon General Fremont by the Pawnees ,
as from my recollection I had never
heard my brother say anything about
it. I have , however , today seen my
younger brother , L. H. , who was out
with the major a great deal of the time
he was in the government service , and
he tells me that the Pawnees said that
the title conferred on the major had
been given to one white man before ,
who had been through the country with
a command , engaged in building a road ,
and that some of the Pawnees went
with him over the mountains. From
their description my brothers were of
the opinion that the Indians referred to
General Fremont. From this informa
tion I am led to believe that Fremont
must have passed through one of the
Pawnee villages on his way west , and
had some of that tribe in his employ. "
Dr. Grinnell. writes : "Yours with
enclosure from THE CONSERVATIVE , re
ferring to John O. Fremont and the
Pawnees , is duly received and greatly
interests me. It is nearly fifteen years
since this question came up at all , and I
doubt my ability to give you anything
very definite. I can say , however , with
great positiveness , that a Pawnee Indian
told me definitely that John 0. Fremont
was the only other white man that had
ever borne the name of Pani Leshar.
This means the Pawnee Chief , or the
Chief Pawnee , an honorable name
which , however , like any other name ,
was given for purposes of identification
and did not carry with it any special
prerogative. I talked of this matter
with Major Frank North , who told me
that he had been told essentially the
same thing that I had been told. And
from , the Arikara Indians at Fort Bert-
hold I had substantially the same thing ,
p t.they nrado no attempt to give the
muaeof fhe ip n who had borne this
title 'bfefore Frari'kNorth received it.
They sai'd' ie was a' chief who led sold
iers ' '
through'tho' country
" If you iiaycj convihcSiUyourself
that Fremont is uoftfief.mau ( > < vho bore
this name , it is probabfe suppose , that
it may have been Pike. It/seems to mo
the strongest argument against the Fre
mont view is that Fremont passed
through the country of the Pawnees
only a dozen or more years before Frank
North became known to those Indians.
If the name given to him in 1805 had
been borne 21 or 22 years before by Fre
mont , there would have been plenty of
men still alive in the Pawnee tribe who
would have known of the fact , and
there would have been no doubt in any
one's mind as to who Frank North's
predecessor was. On the other hand ,
if it were Pike who bore the name , his
passage through the country , in 50
years , would have been more or less tra
ditional and forgotten by a great many
of the people. "
Mrs. Fremont was also addressed in
regard to the matter , in the belief that
if the story was rightfully attached to
her honored husband's name , she would
be able to give both the time and the
place of its occurrence ; but no reply
was received.
THE CONSERVATIVE is privileged to
number among its readers an unusually
long list of men who are able to speak
with authority on such matters as this ,
some as students and others from per
sonal knowledge of the events of early
western history. We believe that few
other publications have so many , or at
least so large a proportion , of the army
officers , freighters , traders and settlers
of the pioneer period of the plains among
their subscribers. Now cannot some of
these friends of ours name some United
States officer who led a force across the
plains in the 80's , and who made friends
with the Pawnees and took some of
them across the mountains with him ?
This seems to be the main difficulty in
the way of accepting Dr. Grinnell's sug
gestion that it may have been Pike. He
took no Pawnees with him , though he
did meet a returning war party of them ,
after he came in sight of the mountains.
Or , which would be equally to the pur
pose , can some closer student of General
Fremont's career point out when and
where he was , or may have been , thrown
into such friendly relations with the
Pawnees as to have won their esteem
and admiration ?
A. T. RICHARDSON ,
MR. CLEVELAND ON FISHING.
Mr. Cleveland's next contribution to
The Saturday Evening Post of Phila
delphia , will be an extremely readable
paper , in which ho sings the praises of
his favorite sport. The Reflections of a
Fisherman shows very pleasantly the
genial "unofficial" side of the former
President.
