The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1870-10-06

riages, worth S5OO,OOO, of which
Thompson Township claims a tenth,
and plated housings worth Sl5O,O0O,
for thousands Of horses that would
have graced the stables of Saladin.-
These afford the motive power that
whirIs Us along smooth highways. in
a style more sumphIoHs than oriental
princes, housed in sedan-chairs and
borne on the shoulders Of their menial
subjects.
Those Of us who have passed. two
score and five years, We're educated
Z in log school houses with puncheon
floors and backless seats, with fire
places capaciOus enough to receive
'eback logs'' and "fore sticks" twelve
/ feet long. Thousands who listen to
me never saw one Of those early
''seats Of learning. and few know
what a "baek log' or "fore
stick" is. Now I52 brick and
frame buildings, costing $4,000, on
hill tops and at cross roads, tender free
and advanced education toour 1869
youth Of whom 2,g3i males and ,,
4S5 females, arc in daily attendance,
receiving instruction from 136 male
and Us female tutors, who receive
S9S, 900 per year. in wages.
We annually exPend SEA, 900 in sup
port of free schools, or an average of
SI2 for each child in attendance, and
offer the free use of 300 volumes to
our youth.
The old singing master" has yield
ed to the professor of Music" and
now none sing unless they are "stars."
The drum, fife and fiddle were the
musical Instruments of our fathers;
the one lending spirit TO the dance,
and the others in kindling that mar
tial spirit, which hasso recently saved
the Republic by deeds Of hefOism, on
six hundred bloody fields.
Now music from 220 pianos, costing
500, 900 lends attractions to home, and
accomplished performers ~On braZen
instruments enliven our multitudes,
whilst stringed instruments, touched
exquisitely by artists, inspire and
direct the merry dance. r- AZ
Those who prepared for us this good
tly heritage, dwelt in cabins; and their
Kitchen, dining-room, parlOr, drawing
room and bed room being"E pluribus
unum," had no carpets to be moth
eaten, no stoves to be cracked by
careless usage, little furniture to be
scratched by needless children, and
no pantries or cupbOards to be locked
against the nocturnal intrusions OF
.'Bridgetn and her beauX.
To-day, along every highway, beau
dful fIrn houses, surrounded with
orchards, shrubbery, flowers, gardens
and evidences of cultivated taste greet
the eye. In them are spacious apart
ments filed with all that can min
lister to comfort, or render home and
family what they should be, the
"mOst beautiful and sacred retreats of
EARTH - Within the memory of many
of us our highways were mere bride
paths, and to guide our OK teams
among the stumps and trees and
drive them through the tathOmless
mud, tested the christian patience of
the most cOnsiderate, and Often called
forth expressions more emphatic than
polite.
Buggies then were "nOn estp. If
we got to mill and back without
breaking an axle or a tongue we were
/ fortunate. The usual method OF mil
| ling was to balance three bushels on
the bare back of a horse, and mount a
boy on top as super-cargO. Boys low
/ ed farming and were anxious to learn
! ,r,l,SIgf nnl,Ia x-Oa1nr Nurortnnn
would marry laboring men. Our
boys abandon the farm and workshop
for something easy and honorable, and
our daughters, in town and country,
are ambitious to become the wives of
"nice fellowsu who have smooth
white hands and a "holy horror" of
toll. Young men are rushing tn the
professions, commerce and specula-
ton, and already our lands arc neg
lected for want of tillers. The agri-
cultural population Of our county has
decreased within the past ten years.
This tendency should excite alarm,
and receive the attention of pnb-
licists. 1t is surprising as it is un-
/ fortunate! Ninety out of every hum
4 tlred merchants and traders become
/ bankrupts, and not one in ten of any
lprofession, except teaching, ever ae-
ouire either fortune or eminenceJin
/ their profession. In town and in
country, idle, aimless and neryeless
young men are wasting precious years
instead Of going to work to sustain n
manly part in the grand movements
of the age. The idle youth is not to
be respected. / care not what may be
his or her education or family con-
neetion. Let society Ordain that those
only are Of Gods true nobility who
toll in field, workshop, kitchen orr a
Legitimate business. As q rule, con-
siderable wealth to q child IL q
calamity. Not one in twenty retain
| il, or use il in the interest of society.
/ Tt rarely descends TO the third or even
| the second generation. The men OF
prominence and wealth in this eoun-
! try have achieved position 22d prop
erty by individual industry. and fru-
gaiity. None should despOAd because
they are poor. The grand possibilitiesl
oflife are open to all, and they who tOi
shall winl Not thatall e2n, or should
be statesmen, soldiers, aeets or auth
ors; but that all may sod should be
men and women, honOring the
Creator and enriching Earth, by the
/ beauty and devotion of their lives.
The palaces Ofwealth shall come in q
/ few brief years to n9w possessors, ris-
l ing from among the upright, inteili-
/ gent bows who have felt pinchings
of poverty; and the genial spirit that
shall bring new OdOr to the Kitchen
and increased accomplishments to the
| drawing room, shall be from among
the little girls who now trip to school
rudely clad and do the hOuse-wOrk
when at home. This life is full of It's
compensatiORs Itappears as an order
/ of Providence that each one IN life
shall experience the humiliatiOns OF
the manager and the struggles IN
the porch of the temple. And now,
turning ftom these reflections, let US
glance at our progress in population
and resources.
When opened for settlement, pie-
/ neers invaded our county by a score
OF dlmIy marked and winding paths,
building their cabins and campfires
along the streams, until i'm 1880 OuI
population reached 5,I4S; whilst re-
sounding axes and blazing clearings
gave token of vigorous battle waged
against grim forests, rooted deep IN
earth and towering to the clouds,
One log church and fifteen school
/ houses EN- braced all our temples for
/ moral and intellectual culture, and
not ten dwellings, outside of Villages
were framed or made of brick.
In 1910 we had increased to 1S,l2S
and the battle against the wilderness,
so heroicly began eighteen years be
fore, was pressed withincreasing vigoF
Open farms and homes of comfort
/ gemmed the county, and the Pennsyl-
Vanians in Thompson township,
had indicated the fertility Ofthe ''Bar-
rens,u whilst Big Spring, Stunned as
a "swale," now swarmed with frugal
Germans, who found freedom and
keheap bones Within our borders.
i In 1874 We cOunted q, iO4; and beau-
/ tifuI homes, on well cultivated farms,
along hundred highways, testified
to the thrift and Opulence of our peo-
pie.
In 1860 we numbered S0,S6S inhab-
itants and glorious transformation
had been wrought in farm Improve
ments and in all that gives comfort
and elegance 10 home
The census just completed gives Us
so, SO near one third of f-whoIn are iH