The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1882-05-26

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continent 70 choose from; loving adven-
ture for its excitement, property FOR its
immediate use only, and liberty for its
own sake.
Such was the race that France and
christianity planted in the valley Of the
Mississippi, and il has ever since, in
large measure, retained its original char
acteristics, whatever it's surroundings.
AS yet the work it accomplished has
received but scanty recognition. Until
the scions Of more wealthy homes had in
recent years beer educated in the home
country, the great mass still retained in
its purity the language Of the 10th GEN.
tury, with no greater change than the
incorporation of some Of the more express
sive phrases of Indian dialects borrowed
from tribes they had come in contact
with.
Mercurial, overfowing with native hui
NOR and fun, generous to a fault, honest
from nature and impulse, fraternal, above
the meanness of mere avarice and rapac-
ity, loving and lig~ht-hearted, h~ospitable
to impoverishment, brave to q fault, viva
cious, contented and hence happy-these
were the pioneers of this valley, with
traits as marked to-day as a century ago.
They brought with them, or were pre-
coded by, the Catholic missionary, who
established a religious system Of won
drous adaptation to every state and con-
dition of life as much at home in the
wigwam as in the palace, in court as in
desert place. It's symbols of the cross
marked many a prominent feature of our
state before the Puritans settled in New
England. II heralded a faith attested by
works, and we see all about us that it is
still as fresh and vigorous as at the close
of exploration. If this people has Gre
ated but scanty literature it has made the
material Of history. If its learning is
cal; the ripe fruit of experience and ne
cessity. Surrounding and adverse con-
ditions inevitably leave their impress up
on nationalities of whatever race. The
Canadian settler is a true type and repre-
sentative of his ancestry, less changed
probably than any other race that has
been Americanized.
~ flONEhh
With what words of commentator can
i depict the pioneer adventures who led
the advance in opening up the wealth Of
the country2 They were men of hope,
faith and iron wills, who saw, as in a
vision, the future unfolding. There was
Jean Brunette, so we'll known to most @f
you. now gone to his reward; a grand
and worthy representative OF a noble
race--by nature a leader, and fitted to
lead. Then came our venerable and emf
nently esteemed friend, Hon. H.. s. Allen,
whose enterprise first broke the wilder
ness solitude, and put in motion those
forces whose fruits are so conspicuously
witnessed this day-the mill wheel and
the mill, the logger and his logs, the lum-
herman and his lumber, etc.-the begin
ner and harbinger OF all that pioneering
that has climbed the streams and opened
to enterprise this mighty domain. With
him, or soon following, came others,
whom all honor. AS in all business af-
fairs, some, after long and vain battling
with the accidents Of frontier effort, failed
wholly or in part. Some achieved wealth,
to lose it in greater projects. But it was
such a field that even individual failure
was public success. The units Of society
are the aggregate Of a nation, and losses
of pioneers are often gains to the body
polite. The test of merit in great affairs
is not necessarily success, but courage to
have fought the battle. And where shall
we find this quality in grander display
than in those who were first made the
cast Of life, property and fortune, in
breaking down barriers which nature.
had erected against the intrusion Of civil
lied p~ursuitsf
In the days of early pioneer settlement,
families located u hundred miles apart
regarded zach other as neighbors. It
seems almost incredible to the present to
hear the Beaubiens, Of Chicago, the
Chateau's, of st. Louis, Brunette, Rolette,
the Gothys. Dousman and others, either
at Prairie du Chen, or other isolated sta
tions, spoken of "a living in the same
neighborhood. And yet, practically, they
were, for brotherhood was then as broad
as the continent, and every cabin gave
hearty welcome to the wayfarer and
wanderer.
It is a tradition, il not historical fact,
that JEFF Davis essayed driving the first
raft down the Chippewa river, about
1928, and that disregarding the old voy-
ageur, acting as pilot, he got sucked IN at
Beef Slough, and landed his craft some
miles in the interior of q swamp.
REFLECTIONS.
The settler on any Of our western prai-
ries, and the axemen who enter upon the
primeval forests where no mark or sign
of mans destructive force or r%edeeming
power is seer or felt, is frequently the
subject of strange reflections as he follows
the pillow, turning up the virgin soil that
through all ages has remained undis-
turbed, or hews down the stately pine
that for a thousand years has flourished
and grown, unnoticed and uncared for by
the hand of man. He wonders how it oc-
ours that he Of all people that have lived,
and still live, on the face Of the earth,
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