The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1935-05-03

Tor high aims and spiritual values the joy Of
freedom the strength which comes from bear
ing one another's burdens the friendship that
Is born of mutual suffering and rejoicing and
there was the gladness of success won by united
effort as the years passed by and the colony
grew and prospered.
Through such times and conditions the worn-
en- ordered their households in women,s way,
and quietly, cheerfuIly, bravely prayerfuIly,
faced the daily task and-founded nation
They laid their full half of the foundations of
this country. They set the pace and blazed the
trail which have followed ever since and.
please God we still viii follow it as long as
the nation shall endure
"Liberry-loying and God-fearing, bringing up
their families in sturdy virtue character-build-
ers and home-makers these women are our ex-
ample and our inspiration to higher things
While their spirit endures in our homes and
our churches and our schools this nation can
never perish from the earth. We honor ourselves
In honoring them today. Here let US dedicate
ourselves anew TO the preservation of their
memory and the fostering of their spirit and
their faith. May the soul which they gave TO
America endure through all the ages and lead
ali mankind to the blessings of liberty and the
victory of the spirit in which they lived and
moved and had their being, trusting God and
loving righteousness better than great riches
and material power. God grant that we, too,
may hold fast TO that living faith in God with
out which nations perish"
Worthy successors Of these first pioneer moth
ers in America were the women of the later
frontiers. They, too, have been honored with en-
during monuments and the D. A. r has been
prominent in setting up these memorials 1t was
this organization which sponsored the marking
of the National Old Trails road from the Attain
tic to the Pacific with heroic statues of the
women who followed that trail across the con-
unent The result was that II Of these statues
designed by A Leimbach, a St Louis sculptor
and known as The Madonna of the Trail" now
stand in u of the cities on that road-Beth-
seda, Nd; Washington, Pa; Wheeling. W. Va;
Springfield, Ohio; Richmond, Ind Vandalia, III;
Lexington. Mo-: Council Grove, Kan; Lamar
Colo; Albuquerque, n. NJ; Springerville, Ariz;
and Upland, Calf
Besides these, statues of pioneer mothers also
stand in Kansas City, No., Topeka Kan, and
Vancouver, Wash, and there is another famous
one near Ponca City, Okla, the gift of the
present governor of Oklahoma E W. Marland
On the campus of the University of Oregon at
Eugene stands still another which is unique
For The Pioneer Mother statue here is very
different from those of similar name mentioned
above. They are action figures carrying their
babies or leading their children westward The
Oregon mother is Whistler's famous painting
translated into stone
She sits in her chair In contemplative repose,
shawl draped lightly about her shoulders one
foot resting a hassock one hand holding an
open book-The Book On the front of the
stone base Of the statue, just below the title
The Pioneer Mother is engraved the single
word Pax and In fulfllment of that word
there appears on the back Of the base this
inscription:
Others have perpetuated her struggles
want to perpetuate the peace which followed
her struggles Others have perpetuated her adj
venture. / want TO perpetuate the spirit which
made the adventure possible and the joy which
crowned her declining years as she looked upon
the fruits of her labor and caught but a faint
glimpse Of what ii win mean for posferity. 1
want TO recall her as recall my mother, Elvira
Brown Barker. pioneer Of 1S47, in the sunset
of her life after the hardships and the battles
and the sorrows Of pioneering were past and
she sat In the afterglow Of her twilight DAYS
resting from her labors. All her hardships and