The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1894-02-01
THEPIONEERS ARE GOING
Railroads Have Usurped The Place Of
The Deserted Mountain Trail.
DESERTS HAVE BECOME ORCHARDS.
A Medley OF subjects OF Interest 90
the Letsureiy Keader-City Ltfe for
Girls - Inspector Byrnes' Talk
About Metropolitan Criminals.

Referring to the death Of pioneer the
other day the Oregonian thus commented
on the conditions under which the pio-
neers fought the frontier fights, trans
formed the wilds Of the west into fertile
fields and blooming orchards and other
wise Civilized" the crude and savage life
OF the mountainous west: "But there
are many hardworking men and faithful,
devoted housewives in Oregon who came
here ~, and even 90 years ago. who have
horne the burden and heat of the day for
that long time; who braved the dangers
Of an almost unknown sea, or the hard
ships and vicissitudes of almos. equal,
trackless plains. Theirs was not the
spirit Of reckless adventure, Of strife and
conquest, Of wild dreams of sudden
wealth. Perhaps il would he hard TO ana
lyze in all cases the motive which sets
the pioneer on the move, just as Il is the
impulse which drives men to war when
their country needs their aid It was
enough to know, as DR.. Hol and says,
that somebody must 60 Somebody
had to camp by these noble rivers, home
stead these garden valleys and slash the
FIR upon these foothills. Somebody had
to lay the foundation here OF civilization
that should respect law and conserve pat
riotism, build the schoolhouse at the
cross roads, wake the wilderness with
echoes OF the church bell, and rear child
rem for the defense Of the republic and the
maintenance OF it's industries and institu.
tons in their supremacy.
"But the pioneers are nassing away
The old burying-grounds along the Yam
hill and the Santiam and in the Waldo
hills are filling up; the old sign comes
down from above the door to be reprinted
with the sons or the son-in-law's name !;
the trolley sings along where once the
solitude was broken only by the busy ak
and the crashing fir. The pioneers are
passing, and what few remain see as they
look about them a generation of electric
ity and university extension, bicycles
and Sunday papers, making such haste
to live as to leave no time for thought OF
the toll and sacrifice by which these EN-
bellishments have been made possible
"Altogether, it is not an encouraging
sight which falls upon their dying eyes.
The nation, with other nations, has made
great progress in science and art and me
chanical invention. 1t Is easy to live
comfortably, and distractions from serious
things are plentiful enough. But char
acter and worthy achievements are as
hard to acquire as ever, and soberness
and self-denial are not topics that sell
well, either in the newspapers or the
book stores. We are much concerned
about the prizefght, and our neighbours
skeleton closet just opened, and the ex-
pected distribution OF the spoils OF offices,
but whether we shall transmit heritage
as good as the one delivered to us by our
fathers-really we have no time now to
consider. There is lesson for this hur-
rying people in every pioneers grave and
funeral train. Hamlet had no time for
Polonius, dwelling in the past; but he
was iervently loyal to his fathers mem
ory. So we, though tired sometimes with
the "reminiscences OF the plains and the
battles, should not forget the blessings
won for us in their heroic trials"