He was not alone in the art for Wyatt Heard, Will Ashford, and others, could rattle the clogs. Down the valley there was an old lady named Mrs. Mclntyre who could dance like a devotee of the footlights. I would like to have the old crowd back again, to celebrate the Fourth in Wright's Gap, as we did in 1887; or to dance at Abbott's, or Wright's, or Livingston's, or Ashford or on Pleasant Hill.

The new generation have, however, many of the old delights of rural life, and some of the newer enjoyments. Then we did not know of automobile -- ■ our best modes of conveyance being horses and a buggy, or the saddle. The children of Banner county have none of the old homesickness of their fathers and mothers, and have grown into maturity in the environment of the prairie, and western sky, and western stars. Around them are the Arcadian delights of Nature's own magnificence -- life, beauty, and delightful dreams.

DAWES COUNTY

THE EARLIEST YEARS

Dawes county is one of the most historic as well as prosperous counties in the state. Erom its well known citizens we have collaborated a story that cannot fail to be of i iterest. We will begin with the reminiscences aud philosophy of F. B. Carley, who was the first county clerk.

Prior to 1878 the territory now known as Dawes county really had no white settlers. However, it is known that a few trappers had plied their vocation within its borders for short periods in earlier years, probably as early as 1873. A few Frenchmen had been adopted into the Sioux tribes, had married Indian women and were accustomed to camp on the various streams in summer and were units of the community camps established by the Indians in winter at various sites where fuel was available, for a number of years before 1878, but they were wanderers with no fixed abode.