The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1869-11-12

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lose who were cotemporary with cr
participated in those sceHss; and it
IS 10 be regretted that they have been
so long neglected. But the demands
OF 4 new country and its pinching
necessities for many years precluded
the possibility Of association for the
purpose Of gathering up and record
lug the fragmentary, current transae-
tions Of the times. If this assoeia
ton had been established 20 years
ago. lis aceumulations would now
have been extensive and almost in
valuable. As much however has been
lost forever from neglect and inatten-
lion. it becomes Us TO collect and
preserve what remains. 1t will not |
only constitute a nucleus Of historic
facts. but from their simplicity and
o4f-hand originality of reproduction,
they will constantly increase in in
terest and value with the lapse of
time. We must have low estimate
of our position and efforts in the
world if We can feel such Indifference
on this subject as to permit the works
Of our lifetime and indeed such
lifetime. to be lost in endless night.
l trust that such may not be our des-
tiny. Posterity in general, and our
relatives and personal friends, in par
tieular, are entitled to the benefits
of our example; and to withhold it
from them, if not. tacitly inferentia
of epicurian instincts or a willing
ness to level ourselves with the
brute, might at least have the i'm
preston of disposition, for some
cause unexplained, to conceal our
real character and conduct. The
objects of this society or assoela-
ton are especially intended to
avoid these ill-starred results by
exluming and resuscitating the mi
nor, every day incidents of pioneer
life in the county of Seneca, and to
perpetuate them in some durable
form as a stand point for future
research and usefulness as well as
individual pleasure. The manner
of developments here indicated will
be sure to carry on its face the i'm
press of truthful and artless simpli-
city, without which the utility Of
this association will be unayailing
if not wholly useless as basis for
historic reference. For history IS
no respecter of persons; and to be
reliable it must embody veritable
facts and be free from alloy and
without disfguration. Truth for
bids that its record should be mar
red, and consequently in its delin-
cations of human character and
events, it must have its lights and
its shades, whatever may be our
private inclination for eclat and
self qualification, the historical de-
velopments of Seneca County, how
ever apparently trihing or ludi-
crous, if not improper for the pub
lie ear, ought most assuredly by
each of us, to the extent of his
knowledge, and occurring within the
sphere of his own observation and
efficient operations, to be faithfully
reproduced with the unyarnished
artIessness of originality in accord
ance with veritable antecedents,
/ irrespective Of what they ought to
have been or might now be desira-
bic. In other words, these facts
ought to be carefully consulted and
events impartially narrated as:they
-transpired and are enrolled on the
page Of time. Nevertheless to err
/ is human; and it would be singular
if amidst the complicated and try
ing vicissitudes of pioneer life, We
had at all times, wholly escaped a
departure from the absolute rule of
right; but it is to be hoped and l trust
that none of us have been guilty Of
the intentional infraction of our
moral duties; nor become the will
ling victims of inordinate cupidity
1t-or arrogurrvv, or of u faithless in
constancy tending to relax our in
tellectual energy, dissipate our NOR
ais and impair if not destroy our
usefulness by unhinging the fxity
Of our manly purposes. With many
of us the roll is already made up,
containing the eventful scenes en-
acted by each of us in the drama of
life. By these only, now beyond
the power of. revision or emenda-
ton, can we be correctly estimated
by posterity; and that estim ate
must be deceptive if aught be adj
ded, withheld OF perverted for the
/ purpose of giving color to our real
conduct. To do this would be to
sin against light and conscience. If
we have abused the trust of free
agency, with which we were endow-
ed, the fault must be our own; and
however much We may now regret
( it, yet it does not become us to mur-
muir or complain at a truthful ex>
position of those events which con-
situte the formation of character,
whether good or bad, we have de-
liberately made for ourselves. Be-
ing he architects of our own hap
! piness or misery we ought not, as
rational and accountable beings, to
ask or expect others to excuse or
Justify our willful, alterations of
conduct, for truth and equity are
immortal, and need no apology,
equivocation or concealment. In
deed, exposure and publicity are
commendable and Just, either as
incentives to acts of utility, or as
partial correctives, at least, against
the perpetration of crimes and mi
nor transgressions and violations of
duty. Hence the propriety ifnot
the necessity of reproducing unre-
servedly and with impartialisy all
the essentials of our progress. By
these means, and these only, can it
be determined whether or not cur
presence and painstaking in the
world have tended to human ad-
vancement in religion, morals and
social life; whether OF not our exer-
tions have been directed to the i'm
proyement and amelioration of our
own condition in common with that
of others, or to the exclusive ratif-
cation of an inordinate love of
gain, OF indulgence in dissipation
or frivolous amusements and in
a word, whether or not we have hid
our light under a bushel or let it
shine openly before the world,