Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1863-11-14

growth has been worthy Of the time it has
taken; and now, like the grand old forests
our fathers found on these shores, it shades
and shelters us from heat and storm, in fuI
defiance Of oil danger. -
We vaunt the glorious character Of Old
Puritanism as it stepped upon Plymouth
Rock, to walk over the American cont.
nent--and well we may. 1t was the great
representative of that idea of the indepen.
dence of labor commanding its reward, and
gathering strength for higher purposes and
greater good as it fed upon that sure re-
ward. 1t was the realization of the dream
of be poet, when
"--the joyful son
Shall finish what his short-lived sire bogun
Their vines shadow to their race shall Weld,
And the same hand that sowed shall reap the
field"
Such was the condition of agricultural
labor in New England, when the fathers
OF that generation marked out this localiy Y
for the home OF their children. 1t was
then bowling wilderness, in literal truth,
and 10 the farhtest extreme of contrast wit
what it is at the present day. Well did
the poet CAMPBELL select it as q secene in
his "Apostrophe to the Spirit of Improve.
mgnt":
" The handmade arts shall every wild explore,
Trace every wave and culture every shore
On Erie's banks, where tigers steal along,
And the dread Indian chants a dismal song !;
Where humon fiends on midnight errands walk
And bathe in blood the murderous tomahawk; /;
There shall the flocks on thriving pastures stray,
And shepherds dance at Summers opening day;
Each wandering genius Of the lonely glen,
Shall start to view the glittering haunts of men ;
And silent watch, on woodland heights around,
The village curfew as it tolls profound"
They came to this wilderness in the
strong hope of improvement, and q conf
dence that the free labor they were pre-.
pared TO exercise was sure of its reward
They blanched not at the bdeous aspect of
denEe forest to be subdued at months
travel from the source of supplies. With
sturdy arms, and hearts strong in the pan.
oply of just intent and noble purpose,
they encountered all the hardShips before
them and entered upon what was no child's
play. Before their earnest work the forests
sank, ard the old log cabins rose; fields
bioomed, and the grain ripened apacc; the
hum of the spindle mingled its music with
the whistle o! the wind over the cabin roof,
and the shuttle flew obedient to fair hands
and as bright eyes as ever shown in ban
quet hall. Fathers and mothers, sons and
daughters united 10 happy and delightful
labor, and laid the foundation of the en-.
during prosperity 10 which we now dwell.
They were poor in money, but rich in mod
crate desires, temperate habits, and indus.
try competent to secure all they needed.
Each man was o man among his fellows,
and each recognized in the other his equal,
and admitted all his rights. No man
lorded it over another, God was their
ruler, and their country-their free country
was the care of their untainted patriot
ism. They cleared up the country, built
themselves meeting houses and school.
houses, brought up their children in the
fear of God, aud taught them to respect
honest poverty and thrifty worth
They loved their country, studied its
laws and institutions, voted faithfully at
elections, as they saw the right; and when
the storm Of war broke upon their infant
settlement, they turned out to man, and
there aOas not a single symyathiser aoih the
enemy found among them all. But to say
that traitors and sympathizers with the
enemy were unknown to them, is not to
impeach your patriotism. The roll of your
volunteers and the record Of all your efforts
for the comforts of our brave boys, the
donation of sanitary stores. and the untir-
ing devotion TO their interests-moral and
physcal-is the evidence of your loyalty
to the cherished institutions of your fathers.
You have shown, as few communities have
shown-that you do not forget your coun
try; nor do you forget the brave who rally
to her defense.
In after years. the young men and women
who fought their way to and through the
wilderness, were bowed with age; and the
infants who grew up in the midst OF pioneer
struggles, came to take their places 10 the
battle Of life. The dear old log-cabins were
supplanted by the fayorite white frames, of
the New England style. The fathers have
now gone, and the grand children are tax
ing their places, while age is creeping over
men and matrons, who look back upon the
times, and the trials, and the prov oVocations
in which their youthful hands took part,
through the haze of tears that start at the
sweet recollections of the beloved past
They wrought out the full prophecy of the
poet have quoted. But the progress has
passed beyond the ken of poets or prophets.
More than the brightest vision or the fancy
could conceive then, is fact now. Since
that day the majestic steamer has ploughed
the lakes, defyiug tide and wind, aud had
its day, and has given place to the swifter
locomotive, whose hourly whistle greets-
but no longer startles-the enterprising
dwellers in the beautiful little city in our
midst. The telegraph speaks to us from
the shores of the Pacific in advance of our
time itself, and the communications that
took our fathers days to make with their
distant friends, we make 10 minutes. Quick
as thought we speak and hear, and act by
means that were denied to the very hope Of
the past
For all this progress Agriculture has
yielded the means, and intelligent labor
~ n -. ~ l.