yesthat was itwith the pioneers into the sun , the sun that grew the grasses that were feeding the springing antelope and bison of the fields , fields of grains and grasses , crossed and crisscrossed by bird wheeling freely in the skies , under the clear blue skies of the great western plains , near the rocky mountains , beside the cool streams and the sod houses , the westerners , leaving behind the eastern things , in their lengthy wagon trains , powered by teams of oxen , teams of men , teams of women , clanging pans under the wagons , often followed in the case of your mothers family by a protecting indian friend , tracks still there across the plains , the wheels crunching the soil , the grass , digging into the prairie , those wagons stopping below the star studded skies , many fires burning , all friends together , the young folks romping and not knowing their own strength , not knowing each other , then knowing each other , in the biblical sense , forget that i said that , all enduring together the pounding rain , the biting winds , the sleet and hail , across mighty rivers , fording the fierce waters , plunging down the banks of steep ravines , oh , save the pioneers ! , across gullies , through rivulets of icy water , trudged the oxen , step by step , falls the cold rain , feeding the grasses , wetting the covered wagons which pass like sails across the prairie , boxes on wheels , turning spokes , whips cracking to drive them breathing in dust , insects buzzing everywhere , all kinds of insects , whirling , buzzing , chirping from the ground , trees , bushes , and shafts of grass , grass everywhere , and the wagon goers , the friend of the native and the cowboy , passing over these grains , grains of bounty and hopefulness for the future of man , feeding our nation the bread of plenty every morning and evening , of cowboy and cowgirl , crossing the plains in the wagons , the hoops of white bobbing with the measured tread of the great white oxen , oxen in teams , teams across the teeming frontier , and thats ... thats the way it was moving west !