irth
Of strata, should show the wonder-worth
Of patience to all eyes.

Amid luxurious surroundings we lived the October days upon the canon's
rim, where, half a century ago, we had gone in hardship and looked on
tragedy. We crept down all the dizzy lengths to the very heart of it,
and ate and slept in easy comfort, and gazed upward at the sky-cleaving
edges thousands of feet above us; we stood beside the raging Colorado
River, which no man had explored when we first looked upon it here. In
the serene hours of our sunset years we went back in memory over the
long way our feet had come. Life is easy for us now, made so by all the
splendid, simple forces of those who, in justice, honesty, and broad
human sympathy build enduring empire. Not empire gained by bomb and
liquid fire, defended by sharp entanglement and cross-trenched to shut
out enemies; but empire builded on the commerce of the land, value for
value; empire of bridged rivers, quick transportation on steel-marked
trails that girdle harvest fields and fruitful pastures; empire of homes
and schools and sacred shrines.

Our fifty golden years have seen such empire rise and grow before our
eyes, made great by thrift and business sense, swayed by the Golden
Rule. An empire rich in love and sweet romance and thrilling deeds of
courage and self-sacrifice. Glad am I to have been a vanguard of its
trails upon the Kansas prairies and the far Western plains, sure now, as
always down the years, that its old law is still a righteous one: To
that which is good--

"HOLD FAST."

THE END

BOOKS BY
SIR GILBERT PARKER

_THE WORLD FOR SALE_
_THE MONEY MASTER_
_THE JUDGMENT HOUSE_
_THE RIGHT OF WAY_
_THE LADDER OF SWORDS_
_THE WEAVERS_
_THE BATTLE OF THE STRONG_
_WHEN VALMOND CAME TO PONTIAC_
_THE LANE THAT HAD NO TURNING_
_NORTHERN LIGHTS_
_PIERRE AND HIS PEOPLE_
_AN ADVENTURER OF THE NORTH_
_A ROMANY OF THE SNOWS_
_CUMNER'S SON, AND OTHER_
_SOUTH SEA FOLK_

* * * * *

HARPER & BROTHERS

NEW YORK ESTABLISHED 1817 LONDON

BOOKS BY
MARGARET DELAND

_THE RISING TIDE. Illustrated_
_AROUND OLD CHESTER. Illustrated_
_THE COMMON WAY. 16mo_
_DR. LAVENDAR'S PEOPLE. Illustrated_
_AN ENCORE. Illustrated_
_GOOD FOR THE SOUL. Illustrated_
_THE HINDS OF ESAU. Illustrated_
_THE AWAKENING OF HELENA RICHIE. Illustrated_
_THE IRON WOMAN. Illustrated_
_OLD CHESTER TILES. Illustrated_
_PARTNERS. Illustrated_