The Carbon County news. [volume] (Red Lodge, Mont.) 1924-1931, 1927-10-13
COLUMBUS DAY
ADDRESS DELIVERED
BY E. P. CONWELL

- LIE IA OVAN1F AAAA
Columbus Day was observed by the
various schools of the city yesterday
and appropriate exercises were held
to commemorate the life and achieve
ments of the Great Navigator. At
torney E. P. Conwell addressed the
Carbon county high school teachers
and students in the afternoon. He told
Of Columbus lowly birth, his strug-
gle against adversity and the ignor-
ance and superstition of the age in
which he lived. He dwelt on the SEEM
ingly insurmountable obstacles CO.
lumbus was forced to overcome in
raising funds, in enlisting aid and
in being able to venture into the I'M
known to prove his theory that the
earth was a globe. Mr.. Conwell call
ed attention to the fact that Montana
is part of the heritage that resulted
from the perseverance and achieve.
ments Of the Great Navigator and in
sisted that the day could not be bet
ter observed than by following his
example of courage, hope and perse-
verence for the honor and glory Of
the Treasure State. He classed Colum-
bus as a pioneer and paid tribute to
him and to the pioneers of this STATE
in closing as follows:
Montana, glorious in her past is
strong in the present and has an
abounding faith in the future and
from the hour when the first star
appeared to shine forever in the field
of blue, it was destined that the story
of the state should be written in let
ters of living light for within her
boundaries the highest destiny of
man will be reached and the grand
drama of an imperial state will go on
in never ending interest and glory.
"They builded better than they
knew" those of her pioneer sons who
built the first rude cabins in the
shadow of her mountains or by the
clear streams that lave their granite
feet, drove the wild beast from mis-
lair and the painted savage from his
lurking place of death, hewed the
first logs for her first school house
and church and formed her first gov
ernment. By the rude hearthstone
close to nature, on the broad expanse
of the prairie or in the deep silence
Of the forest, truth, courage and self
sacrifice We're taught-the virtues a
race will go on achieving as long as
they live and perish only when they
are dead.
"Who is there so poor in love, so
bereft of sentiment as not to find in
the example set by Columbus and in
the story of the pioneers, the incen-
tive to duty? What one is there
whose pulse does not stir to quicker
beat, whose heart does not glow with
fuller pride, whose mind does not il
lumen and rise above the sordid
things of earth when he reads Mon
tana's story of primitive life and
struggle. If he has the soul of an ar
tist he can see beauty in her frown-
| ing mountains and rolling clouds, her
I green fields and winding streams, ner
towering peaks and matchless cam
yons with the golden sun sinking in
the west, like benediction on it all,
and feel the uplifting of the spirit
of God as it moves upon the scene.
If poet he can find material for all
verse in the promise of her glorious
future and in the sunshine and sha-
dows of her past and in gentle peace
and fearful storm, sound all the notes
of the human soul that tell of JOY
and sorrow, of love and life, of war
and death.
But, Montana, you must not for
get the past; you must not forget the
struggle and self-sacrifice, the hope
and ambition and perseverance that
made you possible. You must keep
forever in holiest remembrance the
pioneer men and women who first
put plow in the sod and planted the
primitive flower garden-a strip of
squaw maize-who struck the first
pan in the golden sands of Alder
Gulch or roped the first steer in
Carbon county. You must garner into
memory's purest' urn recollection of
those heroic days, those vanished
times that wrestled with the souls
of men and Christianized the hearts
of women. Then, made tender and
worthy of eternal attainment, go on
ward, Oh Montana! Onward unflinch-
ingly and unfailingly, teaching your
sons to be men for God and the
State, leading your daughters to the
portals of happy homes where they
may reign as Heavens perfect
queens"
Otis McCullon, who formerly lived
on the Clippenger ranch, moved Sat-