Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1900-05-03

gOuE uUOIS- Events so various UfldU
they might crowd and distinguish
centuries have been compressed with
in the compass of your single lives.
on have witnessed the admission Of
many sovereign states into the union:
the rolling of the vast wave Of
CHRISTIAN civilization from the
AlleghanieS through the Mississippi
Valley up and over the mountain
ridges and down the Pacific slope; the
expansion of the newspaper press: the
revolution of intercourse between men
by the application of steam and cleo
tricity. These events you witnessed
and part Of them you were.
But more than this you have wit
messed IN the Cos the Federal Union
not too strongly put together in the
hrSt instance come out of war Of
sections for the maintenance of the
supremacy of the Constitution and
incidentally for human freedom,
stronger than when it entered upon
the struggles: you see 4 panorama of
that CIVIL war upon which millions Of
freemen are cOntending for principle
and through the cOntending legiOnS
you see the majestic form OF the mar
tyred Lincoln ascending to heaven
with the Shackles of four millions of
human beings, leaving for us to love
and cherish land without master
and without slave, and you see some
thing the world never before saw,
where a million men trained in the
arts of war at the bidding of people
desert the field of carnage and return
to the walks of peace.
And about thirty-fOur years later
and as further confirmation of the
theory that blood will tell, we hear
again the hOarse summons, to arms.
War-tO abolish the sixteenth century.
To Danish the treacherous Spaniard
and his carnival Of cruelty from our
hemisphere, where he sat blinking in
our enlightened civilization like an
owl in the day light.
Then true to the principles which
gave US national birth: under the long
restrained Impotence at the distreSseS
OF a people near our shores: under the
holy impulse of a deep seated con-
viction that whatever other nations
might think the soil Of America was
too sacred to endure inhumanitieS
crying to heaven for redreSS,-yOu
have seen that same Federal Union
eSpOusing the cause of the suffering
Cuban. And in that short, sharp and
decisive struggle you saw revived the
days OF Paul Jones the irresistible,
Saucy Jack Barry, McDOnOugh of the
lakes, Lawrence the dauntless, and
Farragut the inyincible. The story
of their renOwn has been repeated
their exploits, marvellous and aStound-
ing have been matched if not eclipSed
by the heroic achievements of Dewey,
ScEley, Clark, Evans, HObSOn and the
| fleet under Sampson.
Fame has caught up their names
and placed them in the gallery Of the
immOrtalS where they will remain for
ever. You have seen things accom-
plished in that war by our gallant sea-
man. that the Spanish navy has never
dOne-Sin an American ship, and make
a Spanish man-Of-war securely float.
| Within few short weeks after the
opening of our last international con-
| tiict and late unpleaSantneSS you
| learned that ''old glory" was proudly
floating from the mast of HavanaS'
| MORO Castle, and casting it's shadows
DER the Sunken and twisted frame of
| the Maine, it was acting as a grim
reminder of the vengeance that awaits
any nation thatl lays unholy hands upon
an American citizen or violates a
sacred American right.
Such has been the social and politi-
cal progress within the past forty
years A word further as to our
industrial advancement. Remarkable
has been your progress and most STU
| pendOuS your achievements within this
| period. By your answering fidelity
your industry and perseverance the
dark forests and bleak marshes have
been transformed as if by magic into
gardens. Within your lives steam ana
electricity, those slumbering giants,
were aroused from their deep sleeps.
| The angry flash that used to terrify
the pioneer in his log hut on the
forest trail, now sheds its mild and
abundant light in his spacious home,
and along the paved streets. A mes
Senger, Swifter than thought it trans
mitS our wishes and our very whispers
along the thrObbing wire across
continents and along the oceans bed.
It's brother steam, stands ready to
turn every wheel and paddle and lift
every heavy burden off the back of
man. You have laid many miles of
railroad and strung a network of wires
| penetrating every corner OF the land,
annihilating space and time. We
have churches on every hill, dedicated
to the worship of God: school houses
in every valley for the ennobling Of
man. You have hitched the forces of
nature along this river to the car Of
progress land it goes at such rate
as to Outrun hope and defy propheSy,
as you move upward and onward to
realiZatiOnS beyond the dreams of for
| mer times: you all have felt the
general awakening throughout this
| locality and [ predict that the rays of
progress which we now discern on the
| horizon of the Wisconsin Valley will
shortly dawn an era OF prosperity far
| beyond the expectations of even the
| most Sanguine admirers of the re-
sources of this valley. For all this
| progress the younger generation per-
| hapS for whom [ speak is in very
slight measure responsible. Venerable
pioneers, God has granted you this
sight Of your cOuntry'S happiness. He
has allowed you to behold the brilliant
military achievements l have related.
and allowed you to partake the reward
| of your honest and patriotic tolls: and
| He has allowed us, your sons and
| daughters, to meet you here tonight
and in the name of this younger gen
Grafton. in the name of this common
wealth, in the name of civilization to
thank you, and record here our homage
| for the pioneers, our sympathy in their
sufferingS: our gratitude for their
| labOrS, our admiration for their virtues
and our generation for their piety.
| You ask what of the future? Who
shall conduct and carry forward to
successful completion your unfinished
labOrs? To this question those for
| rr-hn1nn I Srnnnl- l-n n A nd