Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1900-05-03
OLD SETTLER ORATORY.
The Message and Greeting of the Younger
Generation TO the Old.

TLEMEN: When, not many hours ago,
your committee called upon me re-
questiDg me to fill place on this
program, | assure you it was with
considerable heSitancy that | accepted
the privilege, for felt that there were
others within your ranks who could
fill such position in a manner far
more acceptable: but when they Sug-
geSted that our time would be limited
to ten or fifteen minutes and that |
might treat the subject of the Mes
sage OF the younger generation to the
Old' [ consented to address few
remarks to you on this occasion. and |
wish especially to address myself only
in general way, to the early develop
ment and progress of the state of our
adoption with its hardShipS, privatiOns
and its pleasures and to offer a word of
encouragement on behalf of the
younger generation. for its future.
Within the narrow compass of these
remarks [ dare hope to do nothing
more than to point out some of the
distinguishing features of the remark
able progress achieved within the last
thirty-five or forty years, without
special reference to this immediate
vicinity. 1t is suggested that we
initiate the skillful mariner who at
suitable periods takes his latitude,
and longitude to calculate his progress
and correct his course.
And if | might indulge the delusive
hope of being able to portray historical
events and make them pass before
your eyes like faithful panorama. you
would say to me, perhaps as AneaS
said to Queen Dido when she showed
him in her palace some costly tapes
tries representing scenes of the Trojan
war in which he had just participa ted.
''All these things [ saw-much of it |
was" and if it should happen that as
one Of the younger element of this
association, any word of mine may be
Of good cheer and encouragement to
you, then regard me as one of the
nappiest of your number.
1t is altogether lifting that at this
the last meeting of this association
within the present century, that we
Of the younger generation testify our
appreciation of the heritage you leave
US, and offer you our best assurance
that when you throw off life'S burdens
your mantelS may fall on worthy
shoulders.
In the early days of Wisconsin the
numbering industry dominated every
other, but it was a business which
demanded Of it's managers the best
qualities Of manhood, requiring extern
sive knowledge both of the deep and
distant forests above, with their
available waters and of the markets
of the world below: requiring intelli-
gent and shreWd Judgment to forSee
conditions and conduct operations
with skill, and manly qualities to
govern to profitable advantage the
irregular and somewhat wild human
elements by which affairs must be
carried on. The character of our
earliest inhabitants was that of the
frank, rugged resolute western pioneer
They loved the new land into which
| they came in its early history: their
minds were as broad as the bOundleSS
forest in which their lives were spent:
their will as reSiStleSS as the winter
storm: and their spirit as genial as
the summer breeze. They possessed a
SturdineSS and directneSS of character,
hospitality and warmth of heart; they
were never batfied by difficulties, never
discouraged by disappointment never
diSheartened by defeat.
The frOntierSman is about to diSaD-
pear from the American stage; but
his independence and self reliance. his
hOSpitable and generous nature, his
sympathy in distress and anxiety and
readiness to relieve it even to the
division of his last meal, are traits
which we ardently hope may in a
gOOdly measure ever characterize his
successors and descendants.
Not the least among the hardShips
and dangers with which the early
settler was obliged to contend was the
treacherOuS red man: at that time
when the WhOOp Of the savage and the
howl of the wild beasts made night
hideOuS to the occupant of the lonely
cabin, and whose stubborn resistance
is described by Edward Everett in
these words of the Indian chief to the
settler White man there is eternal
enmity between me and thee. | quit
not the land of my fathers but with
my life. In these woods where [ bent
my youthful bow, will still hunt the
deer. Over yOnder waters / will still
glide unrestrained, in my bark canoe.
BY those dashing waterfalls [ will
still lay UP my winters food supply.
On these fertile meadows | will still
plant my corn. Stranger the land is
mine, | understand not these paper
rights. Thou hast taught me thy
| arts of destruction. For that alone |
thank thee. And now take heed to
| thy steps: the red man is thy foe. When
thou gOeth forth by day my bullet
shall whistle by thee: when thou Hest
down at night, my knife shall be at
| thy throat. The monday sun shall
not discover thy enemy and the dark
ness of night shall not protect thy
rest. Thou shalt plant in terror, and
| will reap in blood; thou shalt SOW
| the earth with corn: and | will Strew
| it with ashes: thou shalt 60 forth with
| the sickle and / will follow after with
| my scalping knife: thou shalt build
and ] will burn, till the white man or
| the Indian shall cease from the land.
| Go thy way for this time, in safety but
| remember stranger there is eternal
| war between me and thee"
| 1t has been we'll said that to be as
good as our fore fathers we must be
| better. The glory Of men is often not
what they actually produce, so much
as what they enable others to do.
Fathers and pioneers of this dis
| trict, what your eyes have seen within
the past forty years is not often given
to mortal vision. Yours upon enter
ing was no passing view. You have
entered into and possessed the land
| You have witnessed and been inStru-
mental in the building Of the temples
of religion and learning that has
attended the foundation and growth
of every hamlet in this commonwealth,
and have taken up the abode of your
declining years in editices which have
long since supplanted the log cabin OF
the pioneer. | can scarcely refrain