USA > Iowa > Report of the organization and first reunion of the Tri-State Old Settlers' Association of Illinois, Missouri and Iowa, 1884 > Part 19
USA > Illinois > Report of the organization and first reunion of the Tri-State Old Settlers' Association of Illinois, Missouri and Iowa, 1884 > Part 19
USA > Missouri > Report of the organization and first reunion of the Tri-State Old Settlers' Association of Illinois, Missouri and Iowa, 1884 > Part 19
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29
Not as the conqueror comes, They the true-hearted came ; Not with the sound of the stirring drum And the trumpet that sings of fame;
Not as the flying come, In silence and in fear- They shook the depths of the desert's gloom With their hymns of lofty cheer.
Amidst the storm they sang, And the stars heard and the sen ; And the sounding aisles of the dim-wood rang 10 the anthem of the free.
Mr. Adams: I am sorry to say that the Hon. John Hogan, in consequence of illness, is not with us here to-day. He is only here in spirit as an old settler, but we have an excellent substitute for him, and I have the honor of introducing Judge Lewis, of Peakesville.
34
JUDGE LEWIS.
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN : I must tell you the truth. I came here unprepared to make a set speech. I saw Judge Wright was to speak for Iowa, and another gentleman for Illinois and Hogan for Missouri. Usually at our former meetings gentlemen have held up the grandeur of their respective states. But I have come with no statistics to speak of Missouri. I don't know that she needs any. She is there, a grand empire, and I am proud that my lot has fallen to live among the men with whom I am associated. We are living among the grandest men that ever did live. No generation has ever seen the mighty progress, the display of energy and of progress that we have seen since we came into existence. We have seen an empire grow up, and I am proud of our institutions. We are here representing Illinois, Iowa and Missouri. Three grand states-which will be the greater, time alone can tell, but they are all great in power, in wealth, in resources-perhaps beyond those of any other three states, and it has been onr privilege to contribute to this great result, and if there ever was a people which could lay down its existence contentedly it is this people. This people have accomplished in forty years what before took the world centuries, fifteen centuries to accomplish. These states are marching on to greatness, and Missouri is unsurpassed by either of the others. She has a greater educational fund, perhaps, than either of the other states. Thus she is offering a liberal education to all her sons and daughters, and she is becoming a mighty state. In that late unpleasantness of upward of twenty years ago, Missouri was divided, and yet she furnished more than her quota of union soldiers, and on the other side -- for some of them thought they had the right to secede -- so she was well represented in the confederacy, and that left her a state of soldiers. She had more soldiers during the war and I shall expect her to go higher than either Illinois or Iowa. I am proud to meet with these Ilinoians and lowans, though we are all mixed up here. I like to see the great farmers and stock raisers of Illinois and the great farmer- and stock raisers of Iowa, and Missouri. But we are all together, and I suppose we are all great men. Thank you for your attention.
35
Mr. Adams: Ladies and gentlemen: It affords me great pleasure to have this opportunity of introducing to you a gentle- man whose name is as well known as any other in the state of Iowa, if not better. A man who has served the people in a number of the highest and most elevated positions in the land, and a man who has discharged the trusts that he has had faitli- fully to the state and in a manner creditable and honorable to himself. Gentlemen, I have the pleasure of introducing to you Judge Wright, who will respond to the words of welcome for the State of Iowa. Judge Wright, ladies and gentlemen :
+
Judge Wright: If it was not an old story I would tell it. (A voice; go on.) While our most excellent president was talk- ing just now, I remembered the story of how that once upon a time the celebrated Ben Hardin, of Kentucky, was a candi- date for congress. Ben was unlike most everybody else, he was accustomed to praise all the babies wherever he went. One day he stopped where there was a baby remarkable all over that part of the country for its homeliness. He called to the boy and said: "Come here, my boy, you are a smart boy, a fine looking boy;" and the boy went to his father and whispered in his ear, and Hardin asked, "What does the boy say?" and the father ans- wered, "Ile says: 'Ask the man to say that again; I like it.'" (Applause. Uproarions laughter.)
ADDRESS ON THE PART OF IOWA BY HON. GEORGE G. W.RIGHT.
MR. PRESIDENT, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN :- Happy am I that this is not a Tri-State, (I suppose in obedience to modern methods I ought to say Tre-State. I however consulted with that highest classical anthority of this city, Colonel Shelly, this morning, and he, a graduate of the "Old North State," and I of the "Hoosier" university, determined that we did not very cheer- fully take to tre-color, tre-angle, tre-pod and the like, and that hence I should insist upon saying Tri-State); and so, I repeat, happy am I that this is not a Tri-State oratorical contest. Fortu- uate is it too, that lowa, of the three, is not dependent upon any poor words of mine for her relative or comparative posi- tion. For, if so, I fear, in view of the better words we have heard, that her flag would be for the first time lowered, and the
36
youngest of the trio compelled to take subordinate rank. Iowa, however, needs no words of eulogy. The first free child of the Missouri compromise she stands peerless in the sisterhood, not of the three alone, but of all the thirty-nine. Rich in domain; unexcelled in products; climate invigorating and life-giving; "a school house on every hill top" and (theoretically at least, and soon it is hoped to be practically so) "no saloons in the valleys;" a school system which, thanks to the wisdom of its founders and due appreciation thereof by the people, gives us a lower rate of illiteracy than any State in the union; substantially out of debt; wise and just in legislation, in her almost half century of history scarcely more than a breath of suspicion that any State official had been false to his oath or the obligations resting upon him; increasing almost beyond parallel in wealth and popu- lation, without large cities, but strong in an intelligent, active, law-abiding, rural population; with medium sized towns and cities, where good government is the highest aim of their citizens, and the general welfare the strongest and dearest hope of their people; a land of proud men and noble and fair women; favored as few others in the high character of its hardy and · adventurous pioneers, those who, from year to year, without doubt or fear, are turning over the grand work by them so auspiciously commenced to a new generation, schooled in their virtues, educated by their examples, and impressed by lessons never to be forgotten; a people "whose affections, like the rivers of her borders, flow to an inseperable union"-such is Iowa- lowa as a State, not yet forty years old; and as such she needs, I repeat, no words of praise from me, or others. Her history, though comparatively brief, is her own best eulogy. The past, at least, is secure. Her future will be what we and those who follow us shall make it. To show upon what and how we have built, however, may I be permitted a word by way of confirma- tion. And first, of its soil and product.veness, and this, by way of incidents.
Some thirty-five years since, the late Dr. John D. D. Elbert, of Van Buren county, known to many of you as a grand and noble specimen of southern and western manhood, was spend- ing a few days with a friend on his large plantation in Virginia, not far from Washington City. This friend, cach morning
37
before going with him to the Capital, would drive over his lands and was constant in his praise of their locality, beauty and advantage. The Doctor, an owner of more than a section of Iowa soil, was not slow-he never was-in maintaining its wonder- ful productiveness, and, indeed, of all Iowa's acres. Finally, his friend said, "well, Doctor, if your farm is as rich as you say, and was as near the National Capital as mine, and you could - command the prices here readily paid for our products, how much do you think it would be worth an acre?". "An acre, sir," said the Doctor, "Why, bless your good soul, I would not sell it by the acre at all but peddle it out by the cart-load to enrich the balance of your State."
Once more in the same line. At the Centennial Exposi- tion a Jerseyman called on Captain Fulton, I think it was, at the Iowa Agricultural headquarters, and was abont to impress upon him the advantages of a fertilizing agent of which he had the exclusive proprietorship. "Well," said the Captain, "before talking further look at these," pointing to the fifteen or twenty, eight feet high columns, which many of you doubtless remem- ber, standing near, filled with dirt. "What are those?" said the agent. "They represent," said the Captain, "eight feet of earth taken from the top downward in as many different places in Iowa." "Why," said the agent, "you do not pretend to say that your soil is as deep and as rich as that." "Yes," said Ful- ton, "there is one I took from my own farm in Jefferson county except that when I had gone down four feet, I struck three fect of solid manure, which I threw out, fearing that some one would doubt the showing." "How much is that land worth?" said the agent. The answer was: "that as good as this, unimproved, could be bought for one dollar and a quarter an acre, and fairly improved farms for ten and fifteen." The man of Camden & Amboy said, "I paid one hundred and sixty dollars .an acre for sixty acres in my state last week, and I must spend five to ten dollars an acre each year in fertilizing, and I guess you do not need my fertilizer in Iowa," in which the Captain concurred and they dropped the subject.
Once more: Humorously, some rhyme maker has told more and covered with apt words the whole subject. What I shall read is not new to me-nor to you, perhaps-but, as editors do,
38
I "scissored" it, and, though the lines fall far short of the truth, are remarkable for the absence of everything like extravagance. I beg to read what a modest. Iowa poet, and very moderate ad- mirer of our State, its people, and their advantages has to say :
I was born myself in the Hoosier State, And she aint no slouch, you bet ; Nor she, nor I, so far as I know, The circumstance regret.
And I'll state right here in language plain, In my usual modest way ; If I had my cholce to be born again, I'd chance it in lowa,
For of all the States of the thirty-nine, North, South and East and West; She has more soil to the acre and mile And the richest and the best.
She cun get more fat on her cattle's ribs In the shortest possible time ; And her corn makes hogs so fat and big, They're lard on foot, A prime !
And the wool on the sheep's so close and thick No need of its fiber to spin. They shear off coats and vests and pants, All ready to crawl therein !
And cows-why! the milk's so rich and strong, That drive as siow as you please, The miik can't stand more'n an hour or two Till it turns to butter and cheese.
And oats and corn-why! a man must own Not farın alone, but two, Or he'll have no place to store them all ; And it's facts l'in giving to you.
You may talk to me of your hilly lands, And of crops, you boast with pride ; Our Iowa man gets a crop on top, And one on the under side !
Its coal I mean ; and it timber's scarce, The sunflower grows so tail, That a few of them and corn stalks big Make fuel enough for all !
* *
Our rivers are chuck so full of fish, If of bridges we have a look, You chuck in a handful of bran or meal ; On their backs you can wade across !
And when it comes to churches and schools. We've got 'em on every hill. And we've swopped the saloon for a lot of 'em more. And nin't done building still.
There is more learning packed nway In the avernge Iowa hend, Than you could crowd in the skulls of another State. If inside and outside yon'd sprend.
We're a shining light on the prairies broad, Growing brighter yenr by year ;
39
The Millenium dawn will soon shine out, And we'll all go up, I fear !
And her women-it aint no use to talk ! Her prose and rhyme are weak ;
I've had one myself these twenty years, And know whereof I speak !
At home, abroad, in the church, the law, For the Right they lead alway,
God bless them, our mothers, daughters and wives, The women of Iowa.
As I previous said, in the Hoosier State I was born, and I don't forget,
I reverence her, and am proud of her, And I love her still, you bet !
But I state right bere in language plain, In my usual modest way: If I had my choice to be born again, I'd chance it in Iowa !
But of confirmation in this direction I will not add more, however abundant the proof. And this the more readily, since rich acres alone do not constitute a State. As I have said, the past, at least, for Iowa is secure and the future what it shall be made.
Reasoning from the past-what we have done -- the foun- dations upon which our building rests and who made them, it requires no prophetic vision to tell of the future. The great- ness of a State, as I have suggested, is not found by any means in its rich acres, natural advantages, or wealth of its people. All these it may have and yet be poor indeed. Poor, because true greatness is based upon something higher, nobler and truer than mere material prosperity. Wealth may be sadly abused and the highest natural advantages perverted to uses most base instead of elements of greatness. They may be but instruments of oppression and wrong in the hands of incapable and unwise stewards. The church, the school-house, good laws, benevolent institutions for the unfortunate of all classes, an upright and fearless judiciary, intelligent, moral and honest citizens, obedience to law, the full protection of every man in all his rights, natural or acquired-in a word, good govern- ment; these are the evidences of greatness in a State; and where found, life, liberty and happiness are secure, peace will be within her borders and prosperity in her homes. State com- petition -- that ambition which struggles for the success of a commonwealth and its supremacy over others, finds its fruition not in material victories and success, but rather in the asser-
40
tion, contention for and triumph of those principles which insure man's advancement, and the better security of the citizen in those rights which governments were instituted to insure and protect. Broad acres, rich cities, herds upon a thousand hills, millions invested in private corporations, many, ever so many miles of railroad, the most elegant State structures, do not either, nor all combined, give the diploma certifying true greatness and success. What do the people of a State believe -what do they do -- what do they practice -- what are the prin- ciples upon which they build; these, if in the right direction, are what speak of and insure pre-eminence. All vital contests or struggles-whether of individuals, nations or States-are not of men, but of ideas. The true and real life of a State is ev- idenced in its ideas, and it builds well or ill, not upon the num- ber of its people or its wealth, but as its ideas flow out in the right or wrong direction. The gathered hosts of Germany or Russia may overcome those of France or England, but the triumph of men is of no value to civilization, save as the true ideas of good government are thereby promoted. The few in the field may not triumph over the many, but if the right is thereby overthrown, there is moral defeat to the victors; the cause of humanity is just that much retarded, and then comes moral death. The recent great struggle in this country was not a contest of men, but of ideas. The nation lived or died in the opinions or ideas entertained by each individual. Each man being the eustodian of power in this free Republic, gave life or death to the national heart as his thoughts ran out in the right or wrong direction. Though a hero here or there was struck by death in the field, hospital or march from the more than thirty million roll, the nation did not die in them nor live in their survivors so much as in the triumph or overthrow of the principles or ideas for which they were contending-the ideas or principles dominant or otherwise in the hearts of the people. If these were right and were a part of the national conscience, then presidents, cabinets, armies, all departments of government were its subjeets-this omnipotent power spoke and they obeyed. So it is in all conflicts between nations and men -- of all governments, in their legislation or otherwise for their own interests and those of the people. Beceher, in his "Norwood,"
41
says that at Gettysburg two battles were fought in one: while men were battling on the ground, principles were contending in the air, and when on the night of that fourth of July the one army sullenly withdrew from the fair fields of Pennsylva- nia and retired to the south, it was not alone a triumph of the national arms, but an overthrow of those principles which had inspired and given moral significance to the rebellion. So, I repeat, it is of all contests and all the transactions of society and governments for the upbuilding and protection of the people. Upon these foundations alone is it that greatness comes to a State.
Has Iowa built upon principle ? Have the ideas of its people gone out in the right direction? Have those in control, whether in the education of her people, the fashioning of our institutions, or the making of our laws, kept in view those ideas of government and the social compact which tend to advance- ment, growth, and present and future greatness? When I look around me, think of the past and reflect upon what we have done, and the grand and true men, living and dead, who made our laws, framed our constitutions and filled our offices, while I admit there may have been grave mistakes-though I make no claim to perfection -- I still feel justified in saying that, as a rule, we have builded well and been actuated by true and cor- reet principles. Where in my State will you find men controlled by higher notions of duty, truer to those principles which ennoble society and give strength and security to a common- wealth than Lucas and Dodge, Grimes, Lowe, Hempstead, Baldwin, Hall, Isbell, Curtis, Stockton, Carleton, Howell, Knapp, Mason, Williams; Revs. Clark, Summers, Bell, Cowles, Post, Arrington, Hare, Ripley, Turner, Gaylord, Lee, Jameson, Woods, Hazgardt, Shinn, Barton, and the Longworthys, Day, Shields, Dibble, Price, Leighton, Hamilton, Hubbard, Emerson, Greene, Faville, Coolbangh, the Hedricks and Cooks, Reid, Kilbourne, Fisher, Stewart (HI. G.), Foster, Weed, (I speak only of the departed, omitting the living), and many, very many, others, who worked with such fidelity and unwavering faith and trust in giving us a State and institutions of which all are so justly proud?
42
Pioneer lawyers, farmers, merchants, ministers, men of business from New England, the Middle States and the South, the land of the Wabash and Ohio, the Illinois and Missouri, the Kentucky and Miami, the Lakes and the Gulf; these men and their compeers made our laws, framed our constitutions, represented us in the national assemblies, filled our State offices, opened our farms, educated us to a higher rank in the great field of agriculture, organized our school system, carried the gospel of " peace and good will" into the cabins, groves and primitive churches of the long ago-in a word, organized society, the Territory, the State; and what we are is largely due to them, and to them we owe a debt of gratitude which grows with the years without possibility of liquidation. With such men as builders we know the completeness of the edifice, the strength of its foundations, the beauty of its proportions. how inviting its every apartment, that it may, indeed, be an "Always Home" -- a home the brightest and cheeriest to all now or to come within its walls. Yes, they built well, and those follow- ing and to follow will be untrue to the highest obligations ever resting upon any people if they abuse a trust so sacred and so high. But think not that I would exalt the State for which I have the affection of a child, the devotion of a worshiper and the admiration of an enthusiast, above others, and especially those here so happily and ably represented. True, I might complain a little of our Missouri friends in that they, about fifty years since, so fell in love with fowa that they sought to add a few miles of her southern border to their many thousand rich acres. And so I might refer to that bloodless contest between the patriotic hosts in the County of Clark. That was when Lucas was Governor and Boggs was in the chair of State. I was not here at the time, and hence did not aid in making that history. Nor do I know much about it. John Fairman, that prince of jokers, was postmaster at Keosanqua when I settled there in 1840. (And, by the way. I always had a profound respect for John; and this because, among other things, he let me have my letters, twenty five cents unpaid post age each, on credit; a very great favor, for I was without money, and was anxious to hear from the boys and girls, too-I left behind). Now, Fairman was accustomed to tell that at the
43
time of the contest there was snow on the ground; that the Iowa boys had shoes, but the Missourians were without; that we also had the most whisky, and that hence the enemy deserted to our camp and surrendered at discretion. I never quite be- lieved the story, though always disposed to have the greatest faith in the good postmaster and his wonderful stories.
And as for our Illinois friends, I feel a little sore because they once had a prophet (at Nauvoo) and were thus ahead of us. And because, too, their goodly land was in the pathway to ours, and many true and desirable families were induced to stop there, not knowing that paradise was just beyond.
But since we preserved our territory intact and Missouri is a good commonwealth anyhow, and since thousands of good people got across the "Sucker" State and found the promised land, I forgive all these things and forget, and can say in the full exhuberance of joy: Illinois, Missouri and Iowa, the grand trio of this great valley. Did God's bright sun ever shine upon a territory richer and more beautiful than is found in these one hundred and eighty thousand square miles? Rivers the largest, soil the most productive, cities and towns full of enterprise, many thousand miles of railroad, universities, colleges, academies, schools, churches, benevolent institutions, a people educated, a land where the humble laborer can come "with the firm step and erect brow of the free American citizen, from his field, which is his freehold to his cottage which is his castle;" homes on prairie and woodland, on mountain side and in valley, homes where wife, mother, children, all are happy, free, under wise and just laws, a land where peace reigns, order is enthroned, where THE flag is honored, where THE Union, one Union, and one Nation is enshrined in the hearts of all -- a land where we find eight million people struggling for their own well-being and that of their respective States, devoted to the unity, supremacy and perpetuity of that government which was enfranchised by Washington, fashioned by the brain and pa- triotic efforts of Adams, Jefferson, Hamilton and Heury, and made doubly sacred by that blood which has made us for a l time one nation -- one, and forever indivisible-from the Rio Grande to the Lakes, and' from the "rock-loand coast of the stormy Atlantic to the golden shores of the peacef il sea on the
44
west." One people, one country, one hope, one ambition, one aim, one destiny. Illinois of 1818, Missouri of 1821, Iowa of 1846, who shall set bounds to our progress? who estimate our influence upon the nation's advancement? who tell what a cent- ury may develop in this grand empire? who dare suggest that here in these States, with this people, shall not be found the men, the principles and the influences which shall lead all just political reform and conserve the national welfare? the people who shall be its truest defenders against all enemies, whether at home or abroad? . Yes, we in the " Hawkeye " land love Iowa; you of Illinois and Missouri most justly love your own States better than others; and well you may, for you, too, indeed, have grand records and grander possibilities. The nation and the west have also been enriched by the splendid services of your able men in field and council. While we point with pride to our grand men, you can do the same with possibly even greater satisfaction while you refer to Benton and Douglas, F. D. Baker and Bates, Young and Lynn, Atchison and Brerse, Gayer and Cyrus Walker, Davis and Leonard, Edwards and Polk, Blair and Reynolds, Duncan and Gamble, Browning, Lovejoy and Rollins, and to these two, nobler than all, Lincoln and Grant, limited in fame to neither State, nation, continents or hemispheres ---- who, though of Illinois, will live not there nor in Iowa nor Missouri alone, but throughout the habitable globe, while liberty has a friend, civilization an advocate, and the cause of free government a voice for its advancement and defense on the earth.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.