The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1932-04-22

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. 4
An early American poet in paying tribute to
'NThe Mothers of the West" once flung this chal-
lenge to his fellow countrymen:
Y Their monument! where does it standf
Their epitaph!--who reads? 4.tu te
No Drawer danes had Sparta,
No nobler matrons Rome
Yet who lauds honors them,
Fen in their own green home!
The Mothers OF our Forest-Land!
They sleep in unknown graves:g5 &FN8
| And had they borne and nursed Q band
OF ingrates, or of slaves, ny IA"
Il They had not been more neglected!t la4E
But their graves shall yet be found,
Il And their monuments dot here and there q "
1.-THE Dark and Bloody Ground ,l3ef,f sE
Had this poet lived until now he would have
found his answer in many places besides the
spark and Bloody Ground" of Kentucky. He
could be taken over 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; Vandaia,
Ill. Lexington, Mo-; Council Grove, Kan; La
mar, Colo; Albuquerque, N NJ; Springerville,
Ariz., and Upland, Calif.-he could be shown
statues upon each of which is this inscription
"The Madonna of the Trail. N. S. D. A. r. Me-
mortal to the Pioneer Mothers Of the Covered
Wagon Days."
y ~ y v e I'd
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 was 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 was 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
to q pioneer mother should be erected on the
Atlantic coast, SO it is appropriate that the
latest one in 1928, should have been erected on
the Pacific coast-in Vancouver Wash.
In between, in both time and location, have
been erected statues of the pioneer mother her.
self or statuary groups of pioneer family in
Worcester, Mass. in Elmwood, H.; in Topeka,
Kan; 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 delineaton of
the pioneer mother by some of the sculptors
commissioned to execute the memorials. Dis