Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1886-06-21

l 1uDt KNEW tldS lilclG WHY SOuA0 ~
save, that there were lives to rescue,
destines to shape, and mindful OF the
Masters call, they cheerfully took up
| their cross and followed Him.
In sunshine and storm. oil horse
back. on foot, in the lumber wagon OF
/ the settler or the Indian birch canoe.
! they toiled from settlement TO settle
ment, and the day of their coming was
| hailed as an occasion of rejoicing by
| their scattered fiocks.
While attending to the spiritual
wants OF their immediate tlocks, they
did not forget to provide for the wants
of the coming generations. and their
| first care after establishing the church
was to support it by the school. Sim
sinawa Mound College was among the
| first, if not the very first, of chartered
institutions of learning in the upper
Mississippi Valley, and Santa Clara
Academy, which occupies its site to-day.
has no superior in the Union. Father
Cause, worn out by years of hardships,
was compelled to bid goodbye to the
people for whom he toiled so arduously
| and he rests IN the soil of his own
loved France.
Father Mazzuchelli remained to
strengthen the church he had labored
so hard to estabishand only ceased his
efforts when the Master called him
home. In the old cHurchyard at Benton
he is sleeping his last sleep. There's
but simple mound to tell where he is
laid, but in the hearts of the people for
whom he toiled and struggled his men,
ory is enshrined with that of his fellow
laborers forever.
On one and another of that little
group who worshipped here together
fifty years ago the chilling hand of
death has fallen. They are but few who
yet remain, and feebly now their falter-
ing footsteps totter down life's shady
afternoon. They hear the Shepherd
calling through the shadows. Soon
they will be gathered with him safe
within the Masters fold. Your honor
ed fellow-citizen Mr.. Kaltenbach, our
president here to-day, and his old neigh
Dor, Mrs. Uppena, are all who now re-
main of that first congregation. Hon
ored and respected by their friends and
neighbors, it has been their happy lot
to see with their own eyes the church's
growth, to join in these festivities.
We who enjoy the advantages of life
they earned for us, know little of the
hardships which those early pioneers
endured. 1t was their work to subiu-
gate the wilderness, and surely it has
blossomed as the rose. They paved
the path of progress. They sowed that
we might reap. If we fulfill our duties
to posterity as those pioneers have full
| filled their duties to us, we may be sure
posterity will keep our memory green.
Luxury was absent from their cabin
| homes, but sweet contentment lightened
| every care and made each labor one of
love. Safe from oppression here, they
| breathed the air of freedom and they
| hoped to leave their children when they
died, if not heritage of wealth, bet
| ter, nobler one of Liberty. They were
sturdy, Virtuous race, just, honorable
and free-hearted. The latch-string al
ways hung outside and hospitality never
was denied wanderer. They felt that
there was room enough for all, and all
who came were welcomed to their midst
as brothers. Mans honor was his pass
port and his bond, for selfish cunning,
base deceit and cold, designing knavery
were unknown. With such people it
is little wonder that these fifty years
have witnessed mighty changes, yet in
| their widest dreams those early pio-
neers could never have anticipated such
q change as time has shown.
This great valley of the Mississippi.
which was then but echoing to the tread
of rising empire, now holds popula-
ton greater than the nation then pos
sessed. Each gentle stream that muir
INJURED there from rosy morn till dewy
eve its summer carol to the daisies by
its side, makes merry music with the
noisy mill. The mighty river sporting
like a giant with the rocks upon its
shore, now bears along the fleets of
commerce. A thousand cities nestle
by our lakes and streams, like Jewels
dropped from angels hands to deck
the nation mantle of prosperity. The
railroad, an invention then scarce heard
| of, has reached across vast solitudes
and carried civilization into regions
then supposed to be but desert wastes,
where waving fields of ripening grain
stretch like billowy ocean toward the
setting sun to-day. Among the distant
mountain tops the factory's smoke is
curling and through their winding can
yons the locomotive thunders on its iron
way. The telegraph, another product
of the later day, now discounts time,
and those same pioneers who fifty years
ago depended on the numbering stage
coach and the slow canal-boat for their
news of how the world was going. now
read at breakfast the events of yester-
day in London. The product of our
factories are crowding the markets of
| the world. Our mines are now the