While listening to the speeches that have been made the lines of a Poet came to my mind,

            "Yet while we linger we may all

            A backward glance still throw

            To the days when we were pioneers

            Seventy years ago."

 

But I cannot say 'seventy years ago,' I can only say 'thirty-nine years ago.' But in the thirty-nine years that I have been a resident of this County I have seen a great and woundrous change. Then, thirty-nine years ago, this region was new, thinly settled and and these prairies were almost wholly uncultivated.

 

I remember that at Kent Station, as it was called then, where I located and have resided ever since, that all-around, on every Side save one, as far as the eye could reach, there was scarcely anything in sight, except the broad expanse of prairie. Then this was indeed a fenceless a treeless and trackless Country. Many of you know that for several years after the western Country beyond us and the distant counties around us had become settle up to a considerable extent, this region, composed of a few adjoining / counties remained in nearly its original wild condition. For some reason the tide of immigration seemed to have passed it by and the thousands in search of homes, farms and wealth stopped not here, but kept on their westward way. But there were a few brave, hardy, energetic level headed men, who did not pass this region by—men who believed in these prairies—men who had confidence that these lands could be chained and tilled, and would soon bring forth abundant harvests. To these men—these old pioneers we owe much, and to them we today accord all praise and honor. And today I recall to mind the condition of this County a little less than forty years ago when / I first saw it. I well remember the sights and the sounds and experiences of those days. There were the prairie fires that often went like the wind over the prairie, and in the night made darkness light all around us. And how the cold wintry wind used to sweep over the prairie without a shrub or a tree or a hedge or a grove to break its force, and how the howling and yelping of wolves made the night hideous / of bullfrogs and the screaching of the waterfowl. In other words places that were once called 'swamplands' and 'marshes' have become under the hand of cultivation gardens of beauty and fruitfulness. And it is natural for us at this time to enquire who has done this great work?, who has wrought this great work change? Certainly it would not be fair to award to any one industry all the praise, but there is no question but that we are indebted to the great profession or business of Agriculture, much more than to any other business or profession, for not only the progress and improvement in this region, but also for the development and building up of the our whole country. And let me say one word here in regard / to Agriculture. What a profession or business it is. So extensive, so important so profound. It has been called a combination of sciences. It takes hold upon the solid earth at our feet. It utilizes all the elements, even the atmosphere we breathe, water, light, heat electricity, and the soil is its laboratory, where it forms these elements into trees, grass, grain, plants, fruits and flowers. Yes, to Agriculture we ascribe the most praise, but we know that the merchant, the banker and others who facilitates exchanges, the men who build, equip and run our railroads, the carpenter, the mason, the man who beautifies and adorns our homes, the miner, the quarryman, the day laborer and many others have contributed, / each in his own way towards this grand result.                      And now friends, more than all this, we can congratulate ourselves that this great work that has made such a change in this region will continue, it will not die when we die, but will go on in the future, not only in this region but in our whole country.^X It is said that not many years ago, comparatively speaking, that great statesman Henry Clay, standing on the Crest of the Allegheny Mountains and looking westward, exclaimed 'I hear the tramp of the oncoming millions generations'. Since that time millions of people like a mighty tide have poured into this country between the Allegheny Mountains and the Pacific Ocean, and they have taken possession of it. Since that /

 

[verso, possibly intended to follow the ^X above]

One reason for this is that the whole world is deeply interested in the progress and prosperity of this republic. Our people, the American people are derived from or composed of to a great extent of the best elements of the other nations. Byard Taylor in a poem many years ago, gave his idea of our population. He said

Here (in America) Germany dwells & time the haunts of the Indian have become civilized, these prairies have become peopled and cultivated and cities, towns, hamlets, farms and homes cover what was once considered almost a desert. And we can well believe that this onward march of American Civilization and American genius and industry will continue as the years roll by. This region, in fact our whole county is capable of a growth and a development far beyond its that its present condition. There are countless numbers of Churches, schoolhouses and other institutions of learning to be built in this Country. There are vast mines and coal-fields that are awaiting mans good time to give up their treasures. Our Country is may some time support a dense population. The increase of / our population has been estimated at a million and a half each year, more than four thousand each day, between one-hundred and fifty and two hundred each fleeting hour. Yes, there are millions of people yet to come, we can almost hear the tramp of the oncoming generations, and some time a continent will not hold them, and then we will want more room for our millions. Then the islands of the sea will be ours. And let me say to you in conclusion, that it was American endurance and American courage that in 1811, under Governor Harrison, that at Tippecanoe at Fort Wayne and at Fort Harrison drove back the savages and won these prairies of Indiana to American civilization And it was ^X American civilization and it was American /

 

[verso, possibly intended to follow the ^X above]

And the same American endurance and and American courage will win are winning the islands of the sea for American civilization, and American emigration and American genious and industry will that in time will make more islands blossom like the rose.

 

emigration and American genious and industry that settled and cultivated these prairies and made them gardens of beauty and fruitfulness bring forth the bountiful harvest. And I say to you the same American endurance and American courage, and the same American civilization, and American immegration, genious and industry will win the islands of the sea for American civilization and make them blossom like the rose.

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