Muzzle Loader

Above my hearth rests a muzzle loader I know not how old. Ah, could it speak, what adventurous tales to be told! Oft I've caressed it and pondered time and again, About where it was made and who its owners might have been! Lewis and Clark may have used it in their daring odyssey, To carry out Jefferson's dream and quest for Manifest Destiny! Could it have been shouldered by Dan'l Boone, that hardy pioneer, In his exploration of Kentucky to expand the western frontier? Could it have reposed above the hearth of a humble cabin abode, Ever ready to keep at bay whatever peril may have bode? I'm sure it was used by a father with all his skill and ardor, To provide provender for his family's ever scanty larder! Perhaps it was fired by a Yank or Reb clashing upon the field of strife, Brother against brother, bent on sending the other to eternal life! Mayhaps a grizzled mountain man of the Rocky Mountain west, Toted it in his quest for beaver fur of which he was obsessed! Maybe it was aboard a Conestoga wagon pulled by plodding teams, And carried by a man heading west to fulfill his family's dreams! I suppose I could attach to it any fanciful tale I might choose, But about its ancient and mysterious past I much prefer to muse! Robert L. Hinshaw, CMSgt, USAF, Retired © All Rights Reserved