"An Old Sketch-Book" and "The Old Journey," the predecessors of "The
Pioneer Trail," are now out of print, and the volume here offered to
the public in their stead is to fill a demand for the original works.
In the present book there is much additional matter to the letterpress
of the first editions and, indeed, the character of the work is
somewhat changed, the work being more an epitome of human emotion
rather than one descriptive of scenery. These statements, however,
have rather too important a sound as applied to such a short narrative
as makes up these pages. Since the issue of "The Old Journey," the
sketches from which it was illustrated have been scattered here and
there, and the vignettes from the original plates are given in their
place. An explanation seems necessary to those who may purchase the
book in its new form in anticipation of its being a duplicate of the
former works.
I lie at the side of a mountain road. The mountain is steep, the road
is edged with trees. There are the wild-cherry, evergreens, and clumps
of ancient shrub-oak. The road is now unused; few pass over it, save
it be the shepherds who take their flocks from the high pastures of
one mountain range to those of another. What once had been ruts made
by the wheels of wagons are now changed by rain and flood into
deep-cut gullies. It is a place where, in the spring time, the air is
fragrant from millions of snow-white blossoms, and where now on the
branches of the cherry, hang clusters of crimson fruit. The piece of
road is historic. At this, its steepest part, near "The Summit," and
where it is crossed by ledges of stone and littered with boulders and
shale that once tore the iron from the cattle's feet, I found an
ox-shoe. The relic had lain here long. Down this road passed the
Pioneers.
There is stillness around. Over "The Little Mountain" arches a
cloudless sky, the wide landscape is bathed in sunlight. But this
place, now so quiet and deserted, may yet become the scene of
animation. The broken road is to be a highway, preserved as a piece
of "The Pioneer Trail."