The Red Cloud chief., 1876-07-13

across his way. a. the backwoods man
shoulders bis X and rife and returns
to the house. The dusk Of evening
gathers over the scene and the weari-
ed limbs lie down to rest. Suddenly,
Q bright light CLEANS in at the window,
and the terrific whoop Of the Indian
rouses the sleeping household. The
rife and the axe are grasped. The
terrified children are held close to the
mothers breast Cautiously the door
is opened. The blaze Of burning
dwellings Eliminates the blsckne.s OF
night with its awful radiance. DU-ky
shadows fit to and fro among the
trees. The sharp twang Of the bow
string and the whis,ling fight Of the
arrow tell Of the presence Of the tom
ahawk and scalping knife. But the
piooesr knows no fear. The rife Of
old Revolutionary times stands him
good service now. Farther than ar
rows fight, suyer than arrow wound
wherever . moving object appears, its
muzzle points, and the crack OF its
discharge is blended with the cream
Of the stricken savage. All night long
from tree and bush the arrow flies.
All night long the bullet speeds on its
death errand. Returning twilight
brings the disappearance OF ;he foe.
The coming day reveals q neighboH
killed and rcalped, a few smouldering
heaps where once friend. dwelt. With
rifles 10 their hands the little commu
nifty perform the last sad rites for the
fallen and pursue again the labors OF
the day. Tree after tree falls before
the sturdy blow OF tie axe The clear.
ing extends wider and further on every
side. Slowly aud with exceeding diff
Guilty the forests are removed to make
room for farms.
There was grim determination in
those OHIO settlers. There was On
energy Of purpose there, an uncon-
querable spirit, born of revolutionary
struggles, defeats and triumphs, which
might be opposed by whatever odds,
which might be confronted with what.
ever obstacles, but could not be con.
quered, could not be withstood.
The true American energy and cour-
age was embodied in that resolute
frontier man, and that spirit was as
fierce, as invincible and obstinate IN
the forests Of Ohio, as when. a few
years previous, he stood shoulder to
shoulder with his fellows on the
heights of Bunker Hill. To-day look
ing over the past aud paying our trib-
ute of gratitude to those who have
suffered and died, and yet conquered,
for u sake, side by side with the
revolutionary soldiers, the minute
men of Massachusetts,, the Green
Mountain boys that fought with Stark
and Allen, the rifemen that followed
where Marion and Sumpter dared to
lead, let us remember and honor the
backwcods- man Of Ohio. Ignorant
and unlersered he may have been,
poor he undoubtedly was. But the
strength Of his arm was eaualled only
by the 6rmness of his will, and with a
purpose true and steadfast, a %resolu-
ton undaunted and undismayed, and
q heroism thas never faltered, he toll
ed on, laboring against the obstacles
nature had planted in his way by day,
contending against the savage treach-
cries of the Indians by night. His
labor was not in vain. Some Of this
audience will remember The hard cider
aud log cabin campaign of 1910. Ohio
had become a state, wealthy and pop
ulous. and che elected Wm. II. Har-
rison, the backuoods-man, the Indian
fighter, grim-visaged, hard listed old
Tppecanoe, President of the United
States. the first president elected by
northern votes since the days Of
Adams. And in the can paign just
opened, the hopes of three million re-
publicans center on another of Ohio's
SONS, reared in more suspicious and
prosperous times, eminent for his
culture, refinement, purity and mod
esty, the essential qualities of the best
type Of our American citizens, and
possessing, We hope. all the daring
courage, oil tho inuincible resolution,
all the undying energy of the old Ohio
Frontiers-man.