The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1932-04-29

lar type OF mother, who had much
to do with the building of our nation the pioneer
mother, has also come about only recently but
with great abundance as though to make up
for the former neglect by the very number of
memorials to her.
An early American poet in paying tribute to
The Mothers of the West" once flung this chaI-
lenge to his feIlow-countrymen
Their monument where does It stand?
Their epitaphI-who reads?
No Drawer DANES had Sparta
No nobler matrons Rome
Yet who lauds honors them,
Fen in their green home!
The Mothers Of our Forest-Land!
They sleep in unknown graves:
And had they borne and nursed a band
OF ingrates, or of slaves
They had been more neglected.
But their graves shall yet be found,
And their monuments dot here and there
The Dark and Bloody Ground"
Had this poet lived until now he would have
found his answer in many places besides the
Ozark and Bloody Ground" of Kentucky He
could be taken the splendid national high
way, known as the National Old Trails Road
and in twelve OF the cities on that road-Beth-
esda, Md; Washington, Pa; Wheeling w. Va;
Springfield, Ohio; Richmond, Ind; Vandalia
H.; Lexington, Mo-; Council Grove, Kan. La
mar, Colo; Albuquerque, n. NJ; Sprngerville
Ariz-, and Upland, Calf.-he could be shown
statues upon each Of which is this inscription
". y. u.
mortal to the Pioneer Mothers of the Covered
Wagon Days"
0a7
Nor would this chain of memorials which link
the Atlantic and the Pacific be the only monu-
ments, erected to perpetuate the memory of the
women who followed the star by destiny west
ward which he could be shown. For recent
years have seen an increasing number of In
dividuals and patriotic organizations giving
evidence Of a determination to pay tribute to
the pioneer mothers Of their communities or
their states in some enduring form.
The earliest of these the statue of "The
Pilgrim Mother the work of the distinguished
American sculptor, Paul W. Bartlett which was
erected in Provincetown, Mass, in connection
with the Pilgrim Tercentenary celebration In
1920. This same mother also honored in
the Pilgrim Memorial fountain at Plymouth
Mass, authorized by the National Society of
the Daughters of the American Revolution in
1920 but not actually dedicated until 1925. Just
as it was appropriate that the first memorial
70 pioneer mother should be erected on the
Atlantic coast, 1t Is appropriate that the
latest one in 1928, should have been erected on
the Pacific cossI-in Vancouver, Wash.
In between, in both time and location, have
been erected statues Of the pioneer mother her
self or statuary groups Of a pioneer family in
Worcester, Mass; in Elmwood, III; In Topeka.
Nan; In Kansas CITY, No.; near Ponca City,
Okla; in Wichita Kan; on the campus Of the
University OF Oregon at Eugene; and there are
under way projects for similar memorials in
other cities and states.
In several cases there has been some dispute
as TO the appropriateness of the delineation OF
the pioneer mother by some Of the scuptors
commissioned TO execute the memorials. Dis
agreements have arisen over details Of costume
and as TO whether or not the pioneer mother
eNo A1IJ
scythe a symbol of the era in which she
lived This was especially true when II of the
leading sculptors OF the country submitted mod
els for the statue of the pioneer woman which
E. W. Marland, the Oklahoma oil millionaire,
proposed TO erect the famous Cherokee Strip
IN Oklahoma. the last government land opened
TO homesteaders.
The Il different models were exhibited in
number Of the leading cities Of the country so
that the public would be given a chance, by
popular vote In each city, TO aid Mr.. Marland
In making bis selection When the exhibit was