Ashland tidings. [volume] (Ashland, Or.) 1876-1919, 1914-09-21
Glowing Tribute
To the Pioneers

In an address to the pioneer re-
union at Heppner, R. A. Booth, now
republican candidate for THE United
States senate, who once rode the
ranges in eastern Oregon, paid a
glowing tribute to the men and
women who brought civilization to
the wild places. Probably the most
striking phase of the address was the
tribute he paid his parents, them
selves pioneers, and in this devotion
he glorified the early settlers of the
state. In part, Mr.. Booth said:
"To me there can be no other peo-
pie like the Oregon pioneers. To me
there can be no other land like the
one of my birth, from whose bounty
have always been fed. Over her
borders the, stars CLEAN with more
gladness; the rivers race with greater
joy; the forests sway in deeper rev.
erence and her fields yield greater
abundance.
"My knowledge of the pioneer does
not come from historians records or
the romancer's tales. | know them.
They were and are my kin. The first
thought of protection that came to
me was suggested by the tender care
of pioneer woman. The first emo
tion OF my heart was born in response
to her affection, and in the years that
have since followed there has come
to me no impulse more noble than
the one to make more restful, more
cheerful the declining years of that
woman. | cannot speak with COM
placency, for what l did seems so lit
| tie and came so late. The words
that | now speak are for the purpose
of kindling in some heart a flame
that will make some work-weary
pioneer mother more happy. Out be.
meath the sunny skies of southern
Oregon a granite shaft bears the
name of that pioneer woman. Moth
ers of Oregon, forgive me for speak
ing in manner in any sense persona
to myself. | do it because there il
no other way in which | can conve
to you the regard, the reverence
have for you, for what / have salt
of my mother can be said also OF you
And | see the old log cabin bull
by pioneer father. Its construction
seemed to me the acme of skill an,
strength It's builder, to me, was tn
master of all things. A few swing
Of his AK and the forest supplied hi
wants. He touched the earth and
yielded harvest: His toll brough
$ us bread and the wasting of his year
added to ours. He still lives to chez
us, always full of sympathy and love
More than four score years hav
passed over his head.
The need of praise l offer m
father | offer also to you. | can d
no more. What you have given you
children, your country, your race, tn
world, is beyond all words to de
scribe. Such acts can never agai
come to any people. There is no NOR
west; there are no new worlds t
subdue; there is no other prize S
voluable, no other hands able to pei
form, no other hearts so strong an
true.
with the rapidly recurring event
of century passing more rapid
than the weaver's shuttle, what tn
pioneers did will soon be but a dill
memory among the living and it wi
be left to the cold pages of histoT
to tell the story of the westwar
march and the founding of a stat,
1t is left for us of later generatio
to ennoble the work of the pioneer
by transmitting the heroic characte
and integrity of purpose that the
possessed to those who come afte
To do less is to be worthy of plaC
in the line of transmission and biz
on their memory. What they bougl
with their lives and service has bee
delivered only in small part, for ol
D of the coming years will be an ev'
increasing heritage to all whose fe
= stand upon the Oregon land al
: whose hands labor for it's develo
/ ment."
[Paid. Adv.1