May was an ideal
"Leatherstockings." He might have sat for a portrait of
Cooper's famous frontier hero and Indian trailer. Over six
feet in height, angular, muscular, somewhat awkward in
repose, with cool, bright gray eyes, deep set under shaggy
eyebrows, and having immense reach of arm--his was an
imposing figure. Mr. Butler was a born Puritan; Col. May
was a born frontiersman. [7] Mr. Butler opposed slavery on
moral grounds, and because he hated injustice or wrong in
any form. Col. May hated slavery, and fought it, because
he believed the institution was detrimental to his own
race. Born in Kentucky and reared in Missouri, he had seen
the effects of slavery all about him, harming him and his,
and so he hated it.
Kansas owes both of these pioneers a debt of respect and
gratitude. The world was better that they lived in it.
Freedom found in them devoted loyalty to her cause. They
both loved Kansas, and their lives were inseparably
associated with the stirring events of the most momentous
years of her history.
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