The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1885-05-20
yEesl YIrrInIa Forly Years

j y
For The Register.
All around US are the evidences
ofneyer ceasing change The sur
face structure Of our globe is but
one continued example Of il; tlow.
ing waters, BY the process Of ero
sion, cuts and bears away the mat.
ter which by aggregation forms
islands and deltas, thus changing
the valleys through which they
flow. Winds and moisture, BY
their disintegrating action, grinds
and wears away the more elevated
portions, while frost above and
volcanic action beneath, with their
dynamic force, bursts asunder the
granite foundation Of the earth's
crust. But these mighty changes
occurring in the physical world
are not more marked than those
taking place in the moral, social
and intellectual worlds aud no.
where, perhaps, in all this broad
land, are the latter Of greater i'm
port than in the territory now
comprising the State Of West yir.
ginia.
Forty years ago it composed the
wilderness barrier between the
great slave common wealths Of yir.
ginia aud Kentucky on the one
hand, and the powerful free States
Of Ohio and Pennsylvania on the
other. The inhabitants Of the
former we're as near the free State
line as they cared to be, and those
Of the latter never dreamed Of pass.
ing the slave border in quest Of a
home. Emigration thus retarded,
the country from the Alleghanies
to the Ohio vas but thinly settled,
Over it, indeed, as the transmoun.
tain region Of the Old Dominion,
extended the institution of slavery,
as evidenced on the plantations
along the southern bank of the
Ohio, in the Great Kana@ha Val.
LEY, on the table lands Of Green
bfier and Monroe, and in other
sections.
Forty years ago no such thing
as a public school existed in all
this region, and those receiving
even the rudiments Of an educa
lion were taught in the old feld
schools by teachers, many Of whom
had discovered late in life that they
were unfit for anything else, anC
who by their articles Of agreement
bound themselves TO teach "readen
written and 'rithmotick" to al
whose intellectual development
was entrusted to their care.
Forty years ago itinerant minis
ters expounded the Scriptures il
the home Of the mountaineer, il
the waysids cabin, or in Gods frs
temples-the groves.
Forty years ago the counties o
Putnam, Gilmer, Calhoun, Writ
Grant, Summers, Wyoming, Wayne
and Lincoln had no existence and
the territory now comprised with
in several Of them was almost aE
unbroken wilderness.
Forty years ago representative
from the counties west Of th,
mountains went on horseback o
by stage to Richmond to, attenC
the sessions Of the General Assem-
bly,, at the close Of which, after al
abortiye effort to secure a small ap
preparation to aid in the construc
tion Of q few miles Of mud pike
they returned to their constituents
bitterly denouncing the oppress
ion practiced by East Virginia ii
the disbursement Of the publ
/. revenue. Thus they so shape
public opinion that at the first or
portunity State line was create
on the summit Of the Alleghauie
and a new commonwealth brough
into existence.
Forty years ago The masses ha
no voice in the election of count,
officers, their choice devolylng VI
on the Justices Of the Peace or aI
, pointment Of the Governor,
Forty years ago there were not
dozen newspapers published with
in The present limits Of the State.
Forty years ago there was no
what could be termed q breeder &
fine stock in all this region.
,, Forty years ago, outside Of whee
: ling and the Kanawha saline'
manufacturing of all Kinds was a
most entirely unknown.
Forty years ago a large numbe
Of The Court houses were hewed.lO
structures.
Forty years ago criminals wer
conveyed to Richmond to be place.
in the State prison.