p you and prosper you in your splendid
work."

Will was deeply touched by these strong expressions from his friends. As
he moved to the front of the platform to respond, his appearance was the
signal for a prolonged burst of cheers. He said:

"You cannot expect me to make adequate response for the honor which
you have bestowed upon me to-day. You have overwhelmed my speaking
faculties. I cannot corral enough ideas to attempt a coherent reply in
response to the honor which you have accorded me. How little I dreamed
in the long ago that the lonely path of the scout and the pony-express
rider would lead me to the place you have assigned me to-day. Here, near
the banks of the mighty Missouri, which flows unvexed to the sea, my
thoughts revert to the early days of my manhood. I looked eastward
across this rushing tide to the Atlantic, and dreamed that in that
long-settled region all men were rich and all women happy. My friends,
that day has come and gone. I stand among you a witness that nowhere in
the broad universe are men richer in manly integrity, and women happier
in their domestic kingdom, than here in our own Nebraska.

"I have sought fortune in many lands, but wherever I have wandered, the
flag of our beloved state has been unfurled to every breeze: from the
Platte to the Danube, from the Tiber to the Clyde, the emblem of our
sovereign state has always floated over the 'Wild West.' Time goes on
and brings with it new duties and responsibilities, but we 'old men,'
we who are called old-timers, cannot forget the trials and tribulations
which we had to encounter while paving the path for civilization and
national prosperity.

"The whistle of the locomotive has drowned the howl of the coyote;
the barb-wire fence has narrowed the range of the cow-puncher; but
no material evidence of prosperity can obliterate our contribution to
Nebraska's imperial progress.

"Through your kindness to-day I have tasted the sweetest fruit that
grows on ambition's tree. If you extend your kindness and permit me to
fall back into the ranks as a high private, my cup will be full.

"In closing, let me call upon the 'Wild West, the Congress of Rough
Riders of the World,' to voice their appreciation of the kindness you
have shown them to-day."

At a given signal the "Wild West" gave three ringing cheers for Nebraska
and the Trans-Mississippi Exposition. The cowboy band followed with
the "Red, White, and Blue," and an exposition ban