Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1881-03-24

Oregon, the Arcadia fOH the red man.
riclI III minerals and fertile iii soil, held
numerous population of .ab0rgines
who still fi0rulshed when The white man
VET foot within its borders. FheT dwe1t
near THE rivers and the shore 0f THE
ocean, were waTlike and primitive, float
ed their canoes upon The streams and
lived their Wild life undistnrbed. Less
than U century -bas swept them into obi
Won, leaving only few bIeaehed bones,
y few stone idols, and few implements
4of warfare and domestic use. No earth
works, nor temples, houses. nor pottery
remain. Yet tradition and The great
shell beds prove that numerically these
people were strong. Thinking of theif
sudden extinction, W. may well wonder
1T the breTity 0f human life and the effac-
ing power or time, who passes his hand
over race and 1t disappears like
figures under d sponge These people
w0rshiped, for they have left their
idols. They 5oyeds solrowed and loved
iii their rude way, and now there remains
of them only few feeble Creatures In
the lowest scale Of humanity.
Then there hre the mound builders, Of
Ohio, that curious race long departed,
who left their earthworks to puzzle
civilized people. One writer describes
the observatory mounds as forming D
chain Of signal stations 50 located as tO
coinmunicate across The c0Intry from
valley to valley They are built upon
the highest hilltops, and undoubtedly
served The people who built them as
teleg1aphs whose messages were beacon
lights Inside these mounds is on arch
of clay and stone and ma altar. These
and some flint implements are alt that
remain 0f these vanished tribes. That
they leaned toward civilization, and had
q certain form of government is theory
not unsupported by the traces they have
left. They titled The soil and cultivated
art in figures sculpttned from The hardest
stone.
Another race was c0ntempo
with the mound builders. They were
agricultural and ingenious. and they
wrote their history ton rs in curious pot
tely Earthen vessels shaped like tor
t0ises, shells, fish and birds are found In
THE pottery mounds III Missouri. They
carved stone with great skill, too. HUI
man heads of almost Grecian. beauty
ador1l many Oh their works. They, too,
Suddenly disappeared, IsaVing behind
them wonderful record Jill stone and
pottery. ALI that remains Of their pa-
tience, industry and skill are found I'm
their mounds, graves, and in The relics
scattered about the vicinity oil the habi-
tations What wind of fate swept them
out 0f existence is not vet known.
Near Joliet, Illinois, u row of human
skeletons with copper eaf ornaments be-
side them were found recently, ana sev-
eraI sections 0f Minnesota send news 0f
similar discoveries. One mound revealed
six hundred skeletons. supposed To be
tile remains of Indian braves slain in d
battle which tradition says took place
seTeNal centuries ago between the Chip
pewaS and Sioux, the former winning the
daY.
Everywhere over the earth liz buried
Tho tribes nnd Taces that A0u1ishad ba-
fore history Vas, and before civilization
began How lilnitless is THE store of
facts tlIa silent earth holds hidden in
lier bosom Ages pass and races perish
yet Sha loses not The record 6f either.
Under her fresh ana smiling facc, green
with verdtire nn1 bright with flowers ara
the t0Inbs 0f th6 centuries Wonderful
are tho forces vi nature the laws of
change. Who cnn contemplate tha-
naiMliAY evolution 0f the universe Hnd mon
lnel thA eg0tisni oE lis sotil Eiaw laSsy hnd
IA 'ar in fancy the tramp 0f the nrnv VA
X EaQa AM tAAelN nAaENh toward Oblivion