The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1897-09-02
Charlotte ObServer.)

tanned an excellent article on "The
Ontamable TenderfoOt." 1t truth
lully says that the tenderfoot now
wandering through the slush towards
the Chllkoot Pass-the ice gate be-
yond whose forbidding portals lie beds
OF golden ore under the Northern
snows-will, before long be the Alas
kan ploneer-honored by his fellow
citizens in Alaska and by the world at
large for his indomitable pluck and
his superb energy. 1t is true that our
forefathers came down to the sunny
southlands of Europe from bound
Scandinavia. Overland through Den
mark or on the stormy seas in the
craft Of the Vikings, came the hardy
Norsemen, leaving their homes among
the tlords, lingering in the lap of fer
tile Germany; building new homes, as
eagles their nests, among the crags of
Scotland; or settling in England,
mellow England, the darling islet,
| sheltered from the North wind by the
embraces of the Gulf Stream and by
Its genial influences kissed into yield
ing fruits and flowers and generous
| harveSts. Thus came the bold fierce
and venturesome Norsemen, conquer
ing and marrying among the peo-
pie IN their path, and developing, as
the centuries came and went, into
| great nations. When there were no
more new lands to be explored and
conquered they turned to art and
science They built upon the ideas Of
their ancestors. They learned and
never forgot. They unclaimed the
| Bible in the cloisters and made print
ing presses, 50 that all the people
| might have and read the Book. They
built great schools. They built great
ships and came over to the new
world in the West. They built Still
greater ships to sail the seas, and iron
draught horses that moved with the
speed OF wings. They lassoed the
lightning in the skies, and made it
their messenger. No difficulty was
too great for them; no hill to high to
scale; no water too deep to swim; no
gulf too profound to bridge over. Few
things have been impossible to the
Anglo Saxon.
Now when the countries of sunshine
and harvests begin to be crowded with
the increase of the population of the
world, why should not the defendant
of the NOrsemen turn the PROV of his
ship toward the North? The dust OF
his long buried forefathers lie in snow
covered graveyards in Norway and
Sweden. Why should he not, for fame
and fortune, seek and settle, and pros
per in, other orth-lands, hitherto IN
developed? Some of the greatest OF
the worlds heroes move and live and
have their being in the North coun
tries. They have established literatures
They have painted great pictures.
They have carved beautiful statues
from marble as pure as the snow it
rises from. Nansen and Andree are
fair types of the men that are reared
IN the North countries.
The tenderfoot now risking death
in plodding his way to the great gold
fields of Alaska will be indeed a pio-
neer. Christianity and civilization
will go with him and follow in his
wake. Indeed the Churches are al
ready sending missionaries to the klon-
dixie; and the United States and Can
adian governments have arranged to
Jointly connect those frozen regions
with our own by means of the tele-
graph. Railroad, will follow with
great snow-p plows on the engines. And
as this part of the world gets more
overcrowded, the overplus will settle
in Alaska.
Nothing can bar out the Anglo
Saxon. Headed towards the North
his motto is: "Gold in spite o
cold
Which ,XnrSl i'm lif