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| A ”praire-schooner” is a covered wagon. Above are children playing with their version, a rocking horse and tent make a great imaginary toy! |
The Prairie-Schooner
Picture and Verse by Charles S. Chapman
I was an Indian Chieftain,
Head of a warlike band;
She drove a prairie-schooner
Out on the desert land.
I was the first to sight her,
And lead the wild attack;
I carried her off to the mountains,
Far from the beaten track.
There in my tent, a captive,
Bound hand and foot she lay
Till she promised me my squaw she’d be
In the far-off time, “Some Day.”
Now, as I look from my window,
Our children’s children play
In the same old prairie-schooner,
In the same old tireless way.
Though the drivers may be many,
And each of them fair and tall,
I know that the first fair driver
Was lovelier than them all.
And I wonder, as I watch them
Playing the new-old game,
Beginning in jest, as we once began,
Will the ending be the same?