Mexico weekly ledger., 1893-06-01
lie Talks of the Duties OF Citizenship,
of Religious Duties and Stands
Up For Missouri and Au.
drain County and
Her Towns.

remarks were practical and to the
point and should prove of lasting
benefit to his listeners. After a
brilliant introduction he referred
to the various duties and obliga-
tons of citizenship. His talk to the
parents was closely listened to and
appreciated by all. His reference
to religion and religious duties was
most appropriate to the occasion,
The peroration of the address, I'm
perial Missouri" was as follows
IMPERIAL MISSOURI.
Stay at home. If you are endow'
ed with the brains, courage, energy
and intelligence to succeed else
where, you can succeed right here
in the splendid county of Audrain,
in the grand state of Missouri-and
when you have succeeded here, you
have succeeded indeed. If you
can't succeed here, you can't sue
coed elsewhere. If you are a failure
in Mexico, you'd fail in Maine or Cal
ifornia, in Texas or Montana. Com
petition grows continually fiercer
wherever the white man struggles for
the mastery. Only the fittest sur
yive in new countries Or in old.
Eternal vigilance is the price OF
success as we'll as of liberty. Be
not beguiled into the fatal faith that
in some distant state or territory
your pathway will be strewn with
flowers. Stay at Unconstitutional
new desires may arise, new goals
may glitter Just ahead, new ambi-
tons may lure you on. We are the
most restless, rowing nation on the
globe. There still boils in our veins
the wild blood of the old Norsemen,
who hundreds of years before
Christopher Columbus set sail from
PaIos, cast their anchors off the
coast of Labrador. Having possess.
ed ourselves of a contine mt and de.
spoiled the aborigines oftheir ancient
Inheritance, we have fixed our GOV.
etous and greedy eyes upon the
islands of the ocean and with hearts
full of the unconquerable Anglo
Saxon lust for land, are Matching
stupendous schemes of universal
empire. Like Don Quixote we are
always ready to 60 forth in quest o
ventures. The song of the sirens i:
forever in our ears. There's a new
Ell Dorado Just over the divide
There's another garden of Eden {
little further on. There's mirage
in the desert and ignes fatui every.
where. "Take up thy bed anc
walk seems to be the command
which most largely dominates The
American people. They are :
nervous, ambitious, Unsuitable race
My friend Judge Bassford once tolC
me that strange as it might seem
if all the people who had lived il
Mexico in % years had remained
here, this city would contain mor'
population than Kansas City nov
has. Suppose nobody had eve:
left Audrain county? She woulc
have had at least 200 900 inhabi
tants. Mexico and Vandalia wouIt
be great cities if the energy of al
Audrain people had been devoted
to their upbuilding instead of be
ing expended elsewhere. If all Mis-
| s~ourians had stayed at home in
stead of acting as the advance guart
| of civilization in the farther west
this would not only be the Empir
State of the Mississippi Valley, whicl
| she is, but Of the whole Union, which
Almighty God intended her to be
[ once tried an interesting expert.
ment at Denver. A stranger in
strange city, addressing an audienc'
drawn from all over the Transmits
sissippi country, l spoke of Mis-
souri, in general and Pike county il
particular. By accident | strucI
the rock of the human heart and tn
waters gushed forth in copiou
streams. Every time | mentione'
the State a thousand Threats re
sponded with rapturous applaus
and so often as | uttered the nam
OF Pike county, | had to suspend
my remarks until they wers througI
cheering. When | concluded
nearly half hal vast audience cam
where | was sitting to shake hand
with the Missourian. 1t was be
wildering to me. | hadn't sal
anything extraordinary Or smart
The secret was that a majority G
the delegates from all the states AM
territories were x-MissourIans and
had touched the vibrant chords O
memory stretching from every nool
Of the western country to Missouri
where they were born, when the.
were Graded, where they had play
ed in childhood, and where thei
mothers and fathers still lived in oil,
age, or slept the sleep of the just
By those hardy adventures Twas glo
rified as the prophet of the land tina
gave them birth. 1t reminded m
of the fact that the French King
were wont to forbid their band