Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1901-07-19
FAIR FAME
Of Ohio Beautifully Portrayed by Hon.
Charles W. Baker,

evidence of skill and genius. They in
vent them, and then teach mankind to
build as well as use them.
Her wood and iron working machin-
cry fills the markets of Russia and the
east. She sells her oil in India. Her
wagons trek the dusty roads of Africa,
as her plows and reapers plant and
gather the harvests of Australia.
Go into any field of industry the wide
world over. and on the simplest as we'll |
as upon the most intricate and deli
cate machinery utilized, you will find |
the stamp of Ohio.
Nature intended it should be SO. Her |
valleys are beautiful and prolific, the |
| fairest the sun e'er shone upon; redol- |
ent with the fragrance of the wild
grape and cherry that still bloom and
blossom beside cultivated orchards,
and green and yellow with wheat and
corn fields nodding in the sunshine,
keeping time to the music of the har-
vest. The Miamis, fertile and pictur-
esque, stretch away into the Scioto and
the Muskingum. and these melt again
into the Hooking, the Mahoning and
the Tuscarawas. that in turn touch the
Cuyahoga and the old black swamp,
fountain head of the Sandusky and the
Maumee.
Ohio is still among the first of all the
states in the production of wheat and
corn and other cereals, in grapes and
fruit, in tobacco, fax and hemp; in cat
tie and sheep in hogs and horses; in
every product of the soil Ohio is Area
dian. She is like some vast cornucopia
filled to the overflow with abundant
harvests.
Her hills like her valleys are prodigal
in natural resources. Not Alpine in
height, but Appennine in beauty; full
of coal and lime and iron, of building
stone and granite. They need but lab
or and the torch to start the smoking
furnaces that pour out steel and iron in
endless torrent, to pile mountain high
the diamonds that are black that put to
crucible with eager fire, drive wheels
and shafts and gearings. that crown
human industry and give light and heat
and fuel to rear aloft architrave and
column upon foundations of stately
edifices and business blocks.
We bore beneath the wheat and corn,
and oil and gas and salt bubble burst
surfaceward.
Yonder upon the eastern border is a
clay deposit that aside from tile and
brick deftly fashioned in the potter's
hands, makes famous Ohio's potteries.
In our own city Of Cincinnatit the gen
ius of a gifted Ohio woman fashioned
wares that in exquisiteness Of blended
color, fused and welded, and in fine
ness of texture and finish, make Rock
wood as famous and as artistic the
world over as wedgwood, majolica or
delft.
Ohio stands the great connecting 18TH
mian way between all the states. It
was so of old when the national pike
joined the west to the east. 1t is 50
now when the slow locomotion of wag-
on and stage coach has given way to
the iron horse speeding along on steel
rails.
I All continental lines of travel cross
> her territory. Convergng as they
4 come from eastern terminals, they ira
g verse Ohio upon closely drawn and al
y most parallel lines and then divergine
like loosened tangents they spread
n abroad from Texas to Oregon. All
States pay tribute to us. We levy taS
on traffic and gather toll from trade as
the commerce of the world crosses oul
borders. Little wonder is it that meT
- go forth from Ohio, carrying the deal
old State in their heart of hearts. Lit
tie wonder is it that in almost every
city of any size in this union, and in
many, very smaller towns, there are
Ohio societies that foster and minister
= to the love and pride they bear hel
p memory and her greatness.
But must not prolong this recital.
- New York may call herself the EN-
~ pire State; Ohio is imperial too.
Pennsylvania may style herself thu
y keystone State; Ohio is keystone ant
" arch.
Alabama's name means Here W.
Rest" but Ohio is the abiding place o
b all that stands for life. for home, foi
u hope, for happiness.
II Those of us who were born on hel
l. soil, together with her adopted sons
}, and daughters, voice that triumphant
u outcry of devotion: "Thy people shall
. be my people, and thy God, nay God
. The Lord do so to me and more il
" aught but death part thee and me-"