WIST Quotations

Higley, Brewster -- “My Western Home,” Smith County Pioneer (1873-11)

Dave — Sat, 06 Sep 2025 20:31:43 +0000

Oh give me a home where the buffalo roam,
Where the deer and the antelope play,
Where seldom is heard a discouraging word
And the skies are not cloudy all day.

Brewster Higley (1823–1911) American physician, poet
“My Western Home,” Smith County Pioneer (1873-11)
(Source)

Set to music by Daniel Kelley (1843-1905), a friend of Higley's. The song was published in 1910 by John Lomax in Cowboy Songs as an anonymous cowboy tune, and revised and retitled by David Guion for a Broadway show in 1930. It became widely popular when President Franklin Roosevelt said in 1933 that it was a favorite of his.

The oldest extant published version is in the Kirwin Chief, Vol. 3, No. 1 (1876-02-26). The lyrics for this verse are the same, except the final line, which reads "And the sky is not clouded all day."

In 1847, it was made the state song of Kansas by the legislature.

More information about this song see:

Ackerman, Diane -- “In Praise of Bats,” The Moon by Whale Light (1991)

Dave — Fri, 28 Dec 2018 20:18:13 +0000

One of the things I like best about animals in the wild is that they’re always off on some errand. They have appointments to keep. It’s only we humans who wonder what we’re here for.

Diane Ackerman (b. 1948) American poet, author, naturalist
“In Praise of Bats,” The Moon by Whale Light (1991)
(Source)

Roosevelt, Theodore -- A Book-Lover’s Holidays in the Open, ch. 10 “Bird Reserves at the Mouth of the Mississippi” (1916)

Dave — Mon, 09 Mar 2015 13:33:45 +0000

Birds should be saved because of utilitarian reasons; and, moreover, they should be saved because of reasons unconnected with any return in dollars and cents. A grove of giant redwoods or sequoias should be kept just as we keep a great and beautiful cathedral. The extermination of the passenger pigeon meant that mankind was just so much poorer; exactly as in the case of the destruction of the cathedral at Rheims. And to lose the chance to see frigate-birds soaring in circles above the storm, or a file of pelicans winging their way homeward across the crimson afterglow of the sunset, or a myriad terns flashing in the bright light of midday as they hover in a shifting maze above the beach — why, the loss is like the loss of a gallery of the masterpieces of the artists of old time.

Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer, US President (1901–1909)
A Book-Lover’s Holidays in the Open, ch. 10 “Bird Reserves at the Mouth of the Mississippi” (1916)
(Source)