The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1904-02-25

AhS PhNfNASN - NAN bOhIsb lnGl
In the battles Of life that's so real;
Whether writer or statesman or tiiler of soil
Who place in the ranks have to fill,
At the call of the nation each one is found
loyal
And is ready to move with Will.
And now, as our minds wander back to the
In this history of unwritten page,
There are scenes in our memory that ever
will last
And only grow brighter with age;
Perchanee It's mansion of brick or of stone
Or more likely tits one built, a frame
Or one hewed nom the trees of the forests
alone,
Which to many was home just the same.
OF the ninety-two counties making up thy
domain,
Whether Marion, Putnam Or Clay,
There is none to my mind that viii stand out
the same
AS the beautiful county of jay
And SO each OF us loves best the place Of our
birth,
From state down to township and school;
And though we adore other places of earth
The first love is best as rule.
Miss Ida NJ. Wright read her paper,
as follows:
THE HoosIER BoY--THE OREGON MAN.
Blessings on thee, little man,
Barefoot boy, with cheek of tan;
With thy turned-up pantaloons
And thy merry whistled tunes
With thy red lips, redder stili,
Kissed by Strawberries en- the hill.
Let the million-dollared ride,
Barefoot, trudging by his side:
Thou hast more than he can buy
In the reach Of ear and eye
Outward supshiue, inward Joy,
Blessings on the barefoot boy.'
What fond recollections are brought
to our minds by this simple piece of
Whittier's! What person before me to-
night but recalls with pleasure to those
happy, early days-those days so care
free and happy, never to be forgotten?
We have come to live in Oregon, but
just for tonight, dear friends, let's live
again in Indiana and review with pride
once more the memories of our little
state we love so well. For "Iittle"
state II is, SO far as simply the boun-
Diary lines are compared to Oregon.
Yet, alas! the state of Oregon can never
have the history or the interest at
tached TO its area and mountains that
the modest little state of Indiana has.
The Indians have established some his
tory. We read the bridge of the
Gods" with great interest. We are
thrilled with delight as we view these
mountains so fraught with romance
and legend all about us. But these
things can never interest us, or, indeed,
the world at large, or warm our hearts
with such glow as is left by the tales
of our own forefathers' fates and for
tunes in the old pioneer days of In
diana.
Who, if not having experienced it
himself, has not heard his grandpa
rents tell of those old days-the days of
the "Hoosier Schoolmaster" and the
Hoosier School Days"-when they,
little youngsters, went trudging along
through the woods, dressed in the
warm, homespun clothes (made, too,
in style that's never been copied, to
the little log school houses, there to
'learn their letters" sitting on the long,
hard puncheon benches? Those, too,
were the days of the grand old open
re'places, and many are the stories
handed down to us from their embers.
| have heard my father tell of popping
corn when he was a boy-how they
would put the corn in an iron kettle
pile the red Goals on it, then cover ii
and heap the Goals then on the cover,
and run off to play while the corn
popped. Also, vivid picture of their
crude wonder over the first stove, the
first lamp, the first sewing machine
brought into the home, down on
through war times, when Indiana
stood breast to breast with all the va
ient soldiers in the front; down on
through all these years until now Mem
ory mocks us in reality, and we shade
our eyes at the scenes of those by-gone
days In land that is far away.
Now, too, of sudden, flashes into
our minds another picture. Many of
these dear primitive folk have left us
and we see clear outlined against the
sky little country church
yard with its white stones standing
here and there, silently and solemnly
pointing out to us each Just where our
loved ones are. And SO, dear friends, Il
think tonight-though we may boast
of Oregon's scenery and of Oregon's
climate and of Oregon's history-that
we'll bow our heads in reverence at
this one thought and admit after all
that it's only all Gods out-0f-doors,
with but few state boundary lines to
limit us.
Now let us review few of this "lit-
tle'' states productions. Inthe literary
world of course il will always be prom
lnent. Everywhere is James Whitcomb
Riley known as the "HOosier poet,n
and as we, hear it we are reminded of
his early home in Wabash, where even
yet-or until very short time ago, at
least-hangs a sign painted by young
Riley when he followed sign painting
for living. l know of one at least
here tonight who was fellow student
with j, G. Ridpath, the eminent his
t0rian, as he was in school at old AS
bury-no DePauw - University al
lew Wallace is ENJOYING
his old age in his beautiful home in
Public life at Washington has been
well punctuated with the career of Hoo !
sier statesmen. The one president,
Harrison, Thomas A. Hendricks and
two or three other vice presidents; Nor
ton, Voorhees,, and today Fairbanks
and Beveridge are two of the most !
noted ana eloquent senators; Hem |
enway, too, In the lower house, having
been appointed to one of the !
most important pOsitions-ehairman of |
the appropriations committee - his |
whole life up to the beginning of his
political career having been spent at
Boonville, Indiana, and number of
others represent in some degree "what |
of men we've come FROM"
Scarcely any other state in the Union |
Its size or resources can
present any greater diversity of man.
lfactures than Indiana. In the south !
arn part of the state are found cotton |
mills, woolen mills, paper mills. AT
South Bend is located the largest wagon
works in the world. Here, years ago,
the six Studebaker brothers, each ap- !
plying himself to a different part of the /
work, started 10 make wagons in a lit !
tie building. They first branehed out
by manufacturing wagons to be used