the gift of General
Miles. He was accompanied by a large party of officials and Nebraska
pioneers, who dismounted to seat themselves on the grand-stand.
Prominent among these were the governor of the state, Senator Thurston,
and Will's old friend and first employer, Mr. Alexander Majors. As
Will ascended the platform he was met by General Manager Clarkson,
who welcomed him in the name of the president of the exposition, whose
official duties precluded his presence. Governor Holcomb was then
introduced, and his speech was a brief review of the evolution of
Nebraska from a wilderness of a generation ago to the great state which
produced this marvelous exposition. Manager Clarkson remarked, as
he introduced Mr. Majors: "Here is the father of them all, Alexander
Majors, a man connected with the very earliest history of Nebraska, and
the business father of Colonel Cody."

This old pioneer was accorded a reception only a shade less enthusiastic
than that which greeted the hero of the day. He said:

"_Gentlemen, and My Boy, Colonel Cody_: [Laughter.] Can I say a few
words of welcome? Friend Creighton and I came down here together to-day,
and he thought I was not equal to the occasion. Gentlemen, I do not know
whether I am equal to the occasion at this time, but I am going to do
the best for you that I can. Give me your hand, Colonel. Gentlemen,
forty-three years ago this day, this fine-looking physical specimen
of manhood was brought to me by his mother--a little boy nine years
old--and little did I think at that time that the boy that was standing
before me, asking for employment of some kind by which I could afford to
pay his mother a little money for his services, was going to be a boy of
such destiny as he has turned out to be. In this country we have great
men, we have great men in Washington, we have men who are famous as
politicians in this country; we have great statesmen, we have had
Jackson and Grant, and we had Lincoln; we have men great in agriculture
and in stock-growing, and in the manufacturing business men who have
made great names for themselves, who have stood high in the nation.
Next, and even greater, we have a Cody. He, gentlemen, stands before you
now, known the wide world over as the last of the great scouts. When the
boy Cody came to me, standing straight as an arrow, and looked me in the
face, I said to my partner, Mr. Russell, who was standing by my side,
'We will take this little boy, and we will p