Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1899-08-16
LIFE OF AN EARLY DAY
Again Reviewed in the "reminiscences OF
Marshall COunty's Old Settlers.

| years ma tnat nave lived q longer
time in Marshall county than in any
other place. There are two reasons for
this The first is that don't know of
any place would rather live than here,
and in the second place some commun-
tiles are not SO particular as others.
Hence / have been tolerated here for
over twenty years. I am thus, think,
| fully eligible and possess one off, he
qualifications at least of being y.m-
Der of the society of old settlers.
Life is not all sunshine and as we
advance from youth to age many things
happen which we wish might have been
otherwise. There are two things, how
ever, connected with my own life and j
believe the same thing can be said of
many who are here today, in which
take a great deal of pride. The first is
that was born in Ohio, that state
! which is SO fertile in the production Of
| so many good and great men; that
state which has given the country so
/ many wise statesmen, who have been
SO conspicuous in shaping and controll-
/ ing the destinies Of our common coun-
| try that state whose citizens have a
perpetual cinch on all the good things
the government or anybody else has to
offer. l am informed thatit is the Gus
tom In the common schools of that
! state to teach the children that the
world Is divided into two classes-those
who were born in Ohio and those who
wish they had been. The other fact of
which am proud is that I am living in
| Iowa. To have been born in Ohio is a
letter of introduction to good society
everywhere. and the fact that one is
living in Iowa is a guaranty that he is
always in good society when he is at
home and with his own people. Hence
l am glad to be here today in close as
ISOLATION with so large a number of the
good people of Marshall co,,aty and to
participate in the pleasures of this oc-
| casion.
!. Social meetings like this yield a
pleasure to everyone and add much to
the joys of living. They should be CON
tinued as long as there are any of the
early settlers of the county here to hold
a meeting and should then be perpet-
uated by their children. While these
meetings bring much pleasure to all
4 who participate in them they are not
wholly free from the feelings of sad
ness and sorrow. AT every annual
meeting you can always be sure of
meeting many old friends and can
| pleasantly recall the good ol4 times and
4 their hardships as we'll, but when the
roll is called we realize the fact that
II. care always some who have passed
to the other side.
! The first citizen to arrive within the
boundaries of what is now Marshall
Il county came here in the spring of 1S47
n but the first settlement of any consid-
cradle size was not till the summer OF
A 1S4S, but year more than half CEN
fury ago. Two years afterwards there
were sixty dwellings, in the county and
4 NEARLY 400 people. But the rich soil OF
Iowa soon attracted the attention of the
|enterprising citizens of the east anc
from that time onward there was a con.
Z tinuous stream OF migration, and toda,
the sixty dwellings have increased in
number to nearly 1000 and the 400 resi-
dents to nearly 10000. Fifty years Il
but brief period in the history of q
nation, yet since 1S4S more has been
I doneefor mankind than in any proceed
ling century or two centuries. This
county was then nothing but a vast
beautiful and most fertile stretch OF
! open prairie, waiting for the cunning
hand of industry to reclaim 1t from its
original Wild and uncultivated condi-
ton and transform it into the abode o.
a happy and contented people. Wher
We consider how short has been the
time since Iowa was the home of the
Indian and yielded nothing to the com
forts and happiness of mankind ane
compare its condition then with what il
. is today, with Its railroads, its cities
and towns, splendid homes and beauti-
Z full farms. and the immense resources
which it has to support and bless hu.
manity, we recognize almost the
hand of magic. While toiling la borious.
ly across the prairie with their teams
and household goods, enduring all kinds
of hardships and being SO far from any
settled community and seeing so vas
a virgin country before and AROUND
them. the hardy pioneer, in his wildes
limaginings, could not anticipate wha
; wonderful things would be unrolet
in the fifty years after their takint
possession of this goodly land. 1t il
difficult to forecast the future Away.
and the early settlers of Iowa had n,
peculiar powers of vision by which the,
could look into the future and see al
the wonders that would be. The faith
ers of Massachusetts bay, once decided
that population was never likely to b,
very dense west of Newton, small
suburb of Boston, and the founders O
Lynn, after exploring ten or fiftee,
miles, doubted whether the country wa
good for anything farther west tina,
that point. In their simplicity they hat
no premonition Of the future that wa
before them. They did not have tn
: imagination of the poet who wrote
; Looking westward, hear the tramp
ling pioneers of nations soon to be, tn
first low wash of waves where 500,
shall roll a human sea-
"On account OF the scarcity Of build
ing material and the difficulty and ex
pense of obtaining 1t, the building o
commodious and comfortable home
was. at that time. quite impossible, an,
:. the early settlers had but very made
quate protection against the severe cole
of the winters. apparently much colde
then than now. But you are aware tina
one Of the old settlers claim that 1t vii
only be short time until the climati,
conditions in this country will s,
change. in fact are in process OF chan
ging now, that we will be able to grow
. peaches, oranges and other tropica
fruits even here. It requires a consid
cradle stretch Of the imagination t,
grasp that idea, but we all have grea
A,f L A..