The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1889-10-04
BORN AGAIN.

Nv" hundred and seventy years ago,
a little hand Of men, women and chill.
drcn landed OH the shores of Cape Cod
and blessed themselves and thanked
God that they had escaped the dangers
Of the ocean and had landed in coun.
try where they might make homes for
themselves and their children. Fiji.
teen years before, another settlement
had been made in Virginia, but by
men whose motives, though more sor.
did, were yet strong incentivesto &C.
tion. From these seed colonies thus
planted in the virgin soil Of the Amer.
lean continent has grown this great
American nation. But those settle.
mcnts founded in hardships, cold and
starvation took long years of hard Ia.
bor, energy and perseverance to estab.
lisll a growth, that should be greater
than the decrease caused by the long
Indian and internecine wars, plaques
and other drawbacks, and u century
elapsed before these struggles for ex.
istence only, ceased.
How different the growth of this
now new state. Hardly ten years of
actual growth and it stands proud,
willing to measure its strength with
its elders. aye, even when split in
halves, each fraction claims equality
in all that makes state, This rapid.
ity of settlement and development is
almost like fairy tale. TO some of
us, who have seen these broad plains
covered with herds of buffalo, to
someof us who have seen these prairies
desolate except for the cultivation
given by nature, to. us, the change
from buffalo herds to wheaJ sJacks
from the lonely wilderness toa home on
every quarter section, with the school
house and the church taking the
place of the wigwam and the teepee
this change is almost incomprehensi
BILE, while to tell it to others seems
like exaggeration. And yet tbs true
that the Dakota farmer to day stud
les the price of wheat from his daily
paper yet damp from the press, on the
spot where decade ago, only miles Of
fiat prairie without a house or wheat
stack to break the line of the horizon
could be seen.
Gathered from all parts Of the coun
try, the descendent Of the Pilgrims and
the Cavalier, the Manhattan Dutch
and the Canadian French, the natives
of Europe, some of whose best blood
has already been mixed in the prov
ince of Canada, here side, by side they
have settled down to make Their
homes, American homes, with all the
term implies, both within and without
the family circle.
What shall he our future! The
prophet of ten. twenty years ago would
have been deemed extravagant in.
deed if lie had pictured the present,
and yet the outlook for the future is
certainly much more grand. With
the foundation we have laid, with the
material on hand and flowing thither.
ward, the superstructure will indeed
be magnificent. No more healthy,
energetic, educated people exist; our
natural resources are just partially
revealed; the possibilities of such fac.
tors, in the light of our short history,
is something beyond present sober
conception.
That our new Dakota may make
good the promise of its childhood and,
as it takes its place among its fellows,
make the most of its advantages for
the best good for its citizens, morally,
mentally and financially, should be the
wish and desire of evey citizen, and
these wishes and desires supplemented
with the proper action necessary to
make them realities.