Wichita eagle., 1888-02-12

tell how hard it is to climb that steep
wherein from bright pinnacle shines afar.
Let us learn to labor and to wait.
There is betwixt our present state and
that place to which we aspire MANY a
rugged path, many steep to climb. We
must work, still work, forever work. II
we are made of the stuff that builds
cities it will come out.
Oh. how sublime is that patience
which is conceived in faith in our posi-
bilities. born in confidence. nurtured In
hope and sustained by an unfaltering
trust in that courage which is the
offspring of united, harmonious action.
Is it not fitting that in Kansas, that
state on whose soil the first blood for
freedom was shed: that state which Is
not only central in location, but which
for years was the central figure In the
national halls of legislation: that state
towards which the eyes of the world
were turned. and from which they have
never since been renewed: that state of
small beginnings. which from the valley
of despair and the slough of despond,
burst on the world vision like a comet.
and took the central place in the sky Of
liberty: that state whose early history
reads like romance, and whose young
maturity excites the emulation
and admiration of all beholders.
and whose possibilities have excited the
malice, nalevolence and mahgnity of
cities, whose walls were dry grown and
roofs washed by heaven-snows years be-
fore the sod of Wichita was pressed by
the foot of man. ask. will it not be the
irony of fate that such soil, so young in
,al, hi.
go to make grand and glorious history,
should contain within its borders city
which shall rival the subiquity of the
commerce of cities which now are trade
centers, shall surpass the seats of learn
ing in the establishment of educational
institutions; shall vie with them in the
cultivation of the arts and sciences; shall
at last engage the attention and
attract the eyes of the savants
of the literary sphere, as it now has as a
magnet, fixed the eye of the commercial
world!
Wichita, without powerful allies, with
out public patronage, legislative pen
sions, or corporate donations has fought
her way, step by step, to those proud,
supernal heights which gods, and only
men like gods, attain. Her greatest
glory is the courage of her men. She
sits. regal queen, enthroned in the af-
fections of her people, whose highest
happiness is in the prosperity of united,
harmonious action. whose fondest hope
to dethrone her rivals, punish her az
gressors, and crown her queen of the
west.
ION prairies' level, brown and bare,
(Which streached from sky to sky,
Where seas of grass ebbed and flowed
As evening zephyrs fitted by,
"Where the cottonwood leaned Ger a
sluggish stream
''WhOse mountain feed waters,
"Were kissed by scraggy willows, bend
ing low
"Now stands our hope, our pride, our all.
When the day shall come when we
shall be flushed with the pride of our
achievements, shall have reached the
zenith of our glory; when riches, pros
perity and happiness shall have crowned
our efforts-shalI have commenced to
adorn and beautify our city with parks
and costly fountains-erect temples
of art and academies for the study of
sciences, shall not then the citizens OF
| Wichita erect monument to perpetuate
the names of the founders of our city
and the men who built it, three faces OF
the pedestal of which shall be dedicated
to the names of our men, the west face
of which. in Indian dialect, shall contain
Wichita" On this pedestal snail stand
an Indian chieftain with his face to the
southwest, one hand shading his eyes
from the sun, the other reckoning the
great territory in front to come to us.
! On this day will not our citizens rem
der homage to the founders OF our city,
Shall our initials find place on that
monument or shall we be unknown, for
got and receive the curse of oblivion:
/ What shall the harvest be.