Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1897-11-02

pictorial magniicence the simple eie-
ments of material and substantial wealth.
- The hills may be high. the mountains
may be abrupt, the valleys may be broken
and circuitous, but over all the great
monarches of the forest rear their sturdy
tops and the finest timber known to
handicraft awaits the woodman's ak, or
else the responding soil, impervious to
wash OF gulley, abiding firmly on its ma
tive bed. brings forth in prodigal niunifi-
cence the nutritious and luxuriant grasses.
or trained to finer culture decorates the
! spring time with the rich blossoms OF the
apple and the peach.
''Hence thrifty, successful and substan-
tial, the stock and fruit farms of West
Virginia multiply year by year and stand
commercially among the foremost of the
land
But hidden deeper still was affiuence
| more abundant. and before the untiring
effort and the expanding energy of the
sons of the young State, the land known
to the old Virginian of a half century ago
as the wilderness where the panther
dwelt, and hog and houliny prevailed.
too coarse and foreign and obnoxious to
delicate tide-water taste to be encour-
aged; Klondike-like gave up its buried
secrets and behold the marvellous fieldsof
coal, and oil. and gas. and iron. and
stone, and clay, and all the bright Jewels
of the king of mines too vast to harness
under the exactitude OF figures and which
have attracted the wonder ofthe age.
with these inspiring discoveries West
Virginia leapcd forward with gigantic
strides to prominence and favor. Awak-
ened and awakening. her people found
within their grasp the richest oil fields of
the world. and coal enough for all man
kind for centuries to come; and then
growth of singular rapidity, a swift adj
vance exceptionally strong.
ITO ADLER tongues than mine leave, on
this occasion. the details of development,
To-day, with nearly million of in
habitants, as the second State in the Union
in the production of coal. with its soft and
hard woods coveted and conveyed to
every market, with newly constructed
railroads in all its sections. with developed
and developing slack water navigation.
with new oil fields appearing month by
month, it sends its representatives to your
great Exposition to describe its re-
sources and invite immigration.
Let it not be forgotten that the con-
secration of its finest resources, made in
the earliest hours of statehood. to the
sacred cause of education, has been in
every moment of its progressive life
guarded and fulfilled with scruPuious
fidelity.
Constructing and reconstructing, inn
proving and reimproving, its sons have
shaped and fashioned the free temples Of
learning through all gradations, from
primary to university, with consummate
skill and laborious attention.
in more than FIVE thousand school
houses the plastic mind of youth receives
upon its soil the rudiments of knowledge.
and finds welcoming its budding aspiTa-
ton without price and without restraint,
the open door of higher institutions.
institutions formed and framed 60
furnish the blessings of high and liberal
education. SO that as the material side
develops, so expands the intellect and
morals of its people.
In the language of an early historian.
West Virginia acknowledges rough
exterior, bat claims for her hills the
adornmeut of majestic and comely forest
growths: for her vales permeable and
fruitful soil: for her rivers wealth Of
water power for her mines heritage
i!iimitable; for her broad domains the in
sigma of strength, enduring vitality and
sturdy Independence. the proud charac-
teristics of her people.
COUGHS colds. pneumonia and fevers