Scouting With Kit Carson

Perhaps it is unnecessary to explain that the purpose of the author primarily has been to write a story, not a biography. And yet behind the story stands the romantic character of the great trapper, scout, guide, messenger, and soldier—Kit Carson. In every way the aim has been to portray him in a manner that should be true to his unique personality and his adventurous life. There is a basis of truth for the incidents incorporated in the tale. Although exact chronology has been impossible, still an attempt has been made in a general way, to present in order, various phases of Kit Carson’s stirring life. The courage and truthfulness of the famous scout, his modesty and determination, as well as his fidelity and his friendliness are qualities of life never more in demand than to-day. Where can our boys and girls learn of their value better than in becoming familiar with a life which, whatever its limitations may have been, surely possessed these valuable qualities. Is it not high time, too, for young Americans to be taught that in the romance and adventure of the early days of our own country there are heroes as deserving of recognition as the semi-fabulous characters in the early life of nations across the sea? Whatever may be taught of the latter, surely American boys and girls ought not to be ignorant of the early heroes of their own land.