The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1905-08-25
A Glance B ackward.

ey, and have gained come infor-
nation that was quite new To- me.
The winning of the west,'' as
President Roosevelt very aptly
styles 1t, was no child's play. There
are but few of rs who are now en-
joying our comfortable homes in
peace, who ever dream Of the hard
ships, the sufferings and privations
of the white settlers who were the
first to pitch their tents On these
lands that are now the abodes of
peace and plenty. The first explor-
ers found here a vast, unbroken
wilderness, inhabited, so Tar as it
was inhabited at all, by the wild
red men, some of whom were blood
thirsty savages, raised but little
above the average denizens OF the
jungle and the prairie that shared
the. wilderness with them.
Our national histories deal almost
exclusively with matters Of public
concern, and give Us but little in
sight-in the home life Of tho COM
mon people. 1 had adrquitsa little
regarding the settlement q differ
emit parts of our country, but had
not realized the persistence and for
titude needed to win" the west
ern wilderness from its wildness,
and from the no less wild natives
who roamed over its trickless ex-
panse.
The first winners were just the
men for,.the time and place; men of
rugged as the wilderness they came
to subdue. The surroundings,
doubtless: had much 10 do - making
them what they were. q surround
ings have much to do in moulding
character at the present day; but
the majority Of them were men of
the strong unbending tpye indeed
men: of that type were shout the
only ones that could survive. The
weak and effeminate soon melted
away like the snow il springtime.
We need not wonder: il men Of that
type. situated as they were. should
sometimes seem to become almost
as unchecked by considerat.ons of
law or justice as were the red men
they had to battle with.
But taken as a whole they we're
a noble lot of men and did noble
work, and We of today ara reaping
the beuetits of that work They
have left us the heritage 81 one Of
the most desirable locations IT tho
world for the making of q home;
and not only so, they helped nv the
foundation of one of the best.gov-
ernments in the word. The west
ern states have always favored the
most liberal form of government
compatible with an orderly man
agement of affairs, and with that
due protection to life and property
which: every civilised community
claims and expects. @Fs !,
But were the men O, that day any
better men than those of todayl
I do not think they we're. They
were tho rude vanguard of civiliza-
ton preparing the way for those
who were to follow; and IN COM.
pairing the so called heroes of that
day with our leading men ofthe
present time, I do not think that;
our men of today suffer by the;noM-
parison. i. I do not find among the
worthless Of that time any finer
specimens of true manhood than
are found among our leading men
OF today from tn. president down.
Indeed, we have men all a bout us in
every walk of life who would be
classed as worthless if they stood.
alone, but they are lost sight Of in
the vast multitude and pass unnot-
iced. With all the lessons. furnish
ed by the experience f.the genera.
lions that have gone before and
with all the advantages we possess
to which they were strangers, It
surely would not be to our credit i
We were not somewhat in advance
of those who have gone before us.
It We compare the present with the
history Of the past, we can hardly
fail to geo that while the world
moves steadily on it also moves mp
ward, and the end is not yet. The
best days are yet to come.
..s "a. Ill., -. .. :. Z Robert Shore. n
1 \ p