Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1845-1854, 1853-10-19
ANIMAL ADDRESS
Society, on Wednesday, October 5th, 1858, by
Forrest Shepherd, Professor Of Agricultural
Chemistry, at Western Reserve College.


raj jubilee I look around me and see so many
happy countenances beaming with delight and
inward satisfaction smiling and wondering
infancy sportive childhood, vigorous youth
glowing in beauty and loveliness, sturdy and
ripened manhood, and even old age renewing
its youth; when I feast mine eyes upon the
rich embroidery and patieut handiwork wrought
by the delicate female hand; when view the
excellent specimens of manufacture, together
with many improvements in machinery and
farming implements for the rapid advancement
of society and the perfection of husbandry;
while am greeted with the music of fthe extra
ordinary focks and herds in unison with that
Of the unsurpassed specimens of poultry-see
before me the rich products of dairy, gardens
and corn-felds-the remarkable profusion and
excellence of fruits and flowers, so tastefully
arranged, cannot but spontaneously lift my
heart in thankfulness to the Great Giver of all
good that he has thus smiled on the efforts of
the farmer, and mercifully granted the rain
and sunshine of heaven for the consummation
of this joyful harvest.
The little grove that encircles us, the yet
green foliage, and the presence of our Red
Brethren* from the north of Wisconsin, forci-
bly, remind us of the time when this whole
land was wilderness; when the bold and dar-
ing BENJAMIN TAPPAN had the first yoke of
oxen that ever trod up this SOIL driven from
Connecticut river through the forest to this
now beautiful town, Ravenna. With these OK
en- he drew from Cuyahoga the first farming
implements to this spot and landed them
among the thick trees, only ffty-four years
ago. And nova contrast most astonishing!
instead of a dark, dense forest, find myself
in the midst of great agricultural army. The
area of eight acres is literally one mass of hu-
man beings gathered from Portage county,
and all come up to the grand annual jubilee.
Without are horses and carriages, almost with
out number, filing the fields and grounds
In the month of J une, only fifty-four years
ago, when Mr.. TAPPAN went back to the Guy
ahoga for his second load, he found his camp
had been plundered by the Indians One of
his oxen dropped dead from excessive heat,
and he was left with only dollar in his pock-
ct to commence the settlement of Ravenna.-
At that time there was only one log house at
Buffalo, one at Cleveland a small fort at Erie,
and a block house at Youngstown.
Had Mr.. TAPPAN at that time been not on
ly the rightful owner of the township of Ra-
veuna, but the whole area comprising this
Western Reserve how much of the territory
would he have found it necessary to part with
in order to purchase suit of clothes or a loaf
ofbread? Would one acre have been sufi-
cient, one hundred acres, one thousand, or
even the whole Reserve? Probably not.
But how was it-dd not the same atmos-
phere spread its ife-giving influences over this
beautiful but hitherto neglected land? Did
not the same glorious sun shine upon it? Did
not the like soft showers and the dews of hea-
ven refresh it? Did not the same streams me-
ander through its valleys, and the same silver
lake wash its northern limit? Did not the
same fishes swim in it's waters and the same
feathered tribes sing among the branches? In
short, were not all the gifts of Nature then
equally gratuitous, and, in some respects, more
abundant than at the present time? We can
not refrain from giving an answer in the afir-
native ....-
What an astonishing amount of food and
clothing would all the land comprising the
township of Ravenna and all the Reserve now
purchase! Here, then, upon this very soil, in
a little more than half a century, has been the
creation of an amount Of substantial wealth
unparalleled in the history of mankind
What now has produced this wonderful
change? A change filing all nations with as
tonishment What has been the secret charm
or talisman that has in this short period chang
ed the wilderness into the fruitful field lifted
man far above the savage covered the earth,
not only with hamlets but mansions, granaries
smiling villages and cities, freighted the waters
with heavy laden boats and vessels, and, in
short, given abundance comfort, and even ele-
gance, instead of poverty, misery and barba-
rsm.
This change has not resulted from the supe-
rior fertility of the SOIL the favorable nature of
the soil, the favorable nature Of the climate,
or the exercise of extraordinary intellectual
powers separate from more essential and inn
portant causes. For the finest soil, the most
favorable climate, and most brilliant intellec-
tual powers can prevent no people from be-
coming barbarous, poor and miserable, should
the Government under which they live neglect
to guard aoith care the right Of property
Some of the fairest and most fruitful portions
of the earth, once the seat of renowned en-
pires, the arts and civilization for the want of
such security, now present a most deplorable
feature of human wretchedness and misery.
Although the blessing of a good soil, eli
mate, and an enlightened age may have exert
ed a very powerful influence, still, after strict
analysis, we shall find that economical labor.
unfettered by Government, has effected this
mighty change in Northern Ohio.
It is the iudicious appropriation of labor,