USA > Missouri > Jackson County > History of Jackson County, Missouri > Part 19
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"This strange man, strange in his meek and quiet spirit, strange in the greatness and benevolence of his nature, in his heroism and disinter- ested goodness-first opened his eyes to the light of day, beyond the Blue Mountains, on the banks of the Yadkin, N. C. After a pilgrimage of over three score years, almost upon the western line of the State, and upon the, then, very verge of civilization, he closed them in death. Too gener- ous to be accumulative, too liberal to hoard up, he died shorn of property and destitute of wealth. To this association I commend the task of per- petuating in history his memory, to the Legislature of our noble State, that of erecting over his remains a monument."
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July 4, 1874, there was another Old Settlers' meeting at the fair grounds, near Independence, when it was estimated that at least 3,500 of the inhabitants of Independence, Kansas City, and other places en- joyed their Fourth.
The train from Kansas City on the Missouri Pacific leaving at 9:45 a. m. was crowded to its utmost capacity. Two extra coaches were added, each seat counted its three excursionists, the aisles and platforms were thronged, and upon the "round whirligig" of each brake was perched a happy, thoughtless picnicker, intent only upon getting to Independence, and of spending the day with one grand hurrah for the gay festivities, speeches, races and songs which were to constitute the celebration for Jackson County, 1874.
THE KANSAS CITY DELEGATION.
arriving at the place of destination found the gay throng already assem- bled, and, in an interest common to all, shook hands in friendly grasp and commenced the occasion in earnest. The grounds, though large in the extreme, were filled even to the smallest and most inconsiderable stand- ing room. In the center of the inclosure was erected a large square lunch stand, and this was crowded around the day long. The speakers' stand had been in use for many years. the steps leading to the platform were broken, and the stand itself was fast crumbling to the ground.
The amphitheater was the scene of busy life from morning till nearly midnight. The seats were filled with thousands of visitors, each with programme in hand, watching and awaiting the ceremonies.
At about 10 o'clock the attention of the multitude was called to the speakers' stand and the speeches began. The introductory address was delivered by
MR. W. H. WALLACE,
of Kansas City, who spoke in an earnest manner, claiming the attention of his hearers from the beginning to the end of his very interesting and elaborate discourse. He spoke as follows :
"Ladies and Gentlemen :- There are times when the feelings of the human soul are so intense that they find no adequate expression through the medium of ordinary language. There are occasions in the history of every struggling, aspiring young man when, suddenly becoming the re- cipient of some feeble token of the regard or esteem of his fellow men, there swells up in his bosom a tide of gratitude so deep and so high, that
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the tongue itself is drowned in its flow, and he stands perfectly mute in the presence of his benefactors. Thus stands your unworthy speaker to- day. For appearing before you as the humble receiver of the unex- pected and unsolicited confidence and esteem of the Old Settlers, the hoary headed sages of my county, whose bare recognition I have always regarded as a lasting eulogy, I am unable to return any fit thanks for the honor they have conferred upon me, but must content myself with simply assuring them that, deep down in the inmost recesses of this heart of mine, there dwells a sense of gratitude which no circumstance will ever erase, no lapse of time can ever obliterate, and which no poor words of mine could possibly describe.
"To me there is something peculiarly beautiful, as well as becoming, in those little civilities and courtesies which are generally paid by a rising to a retiring generation. Surely there is no more appropriate custom in all the code of common politeness than that which requires that the young should bow in reverence to the old. Yea, I may say, no more sacred or binding duty in all the code of Ethics than that which teaches that we, who are in the morning or meridian of life, should look up with pro- foundest respect to those at its close-confessedly the worthiest of earth to become the objects of our veneration. Rhetoricians may talk as they please of hill and dale, and mountain and river; of the roaring cataract; the belching volcano; the bespangled firmament above, or the surging ocean beneath, as objects of beauty, grandeur or sublimity, but to me the purest type of the grand or sublime to be found in all the wide domains of the handiwork of God, is simply the Creator's culminating work in its ripeness-the venerable gray-haired old man. To look upon one of these old warriors, who has withstood the rifts and shocks of time, and it may be for three score and ten years like some giant oak, bared his breast to the storms and forked lightnings of earth, now that the tempest is past and the quiet eve of life is about him, calmly leaning upon his staff, standing upon the boundaries of two worlds and looking back with com- placent memory to the one and forward with bright anticipation to the other, is certainly the sublimest spectacle that has ever greeted these eyes of mine.
"How eminently appropriate then, to set aside a great celebration day like this, that we who are in the prime of manhood and womanhood may turn aside from the din and hurly-burly of the world to commemo- rate the heroic lives of that little host of aged ones, who still honor us with their presence, to pay our grateful homage at their feet, hold up
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their noble examples once more for our imitation, and as they pass rap- idly down the rugged hill, attempt to smooth their pathway in front of them, not forgetting at the same time to cherish a hallowed memory for those who are gone and to decorate their graves with the freshest and sweetest flowers we can pluck. As I sat at my window a few evenings since, meditating upon the sacred duty of this hour, I looked out, and yonder blazing king of day, that now hangs in meridian glory, had just finished his fiery course and hidden himself behind the western hills; I looked up, and immediately there sprang forth from the blue canopy of heaven a whole generation of stars and seemingly bowed their heads in reverent awe at his glorious departure. So, thought I, should the genera- tions of men bend themselves in lowly, continual obeisance when one of our stately fathers has run his course through the brief day of life, and gone down forever in the night of death. I looked again, and the soft majestic moon rolled slowly on in her orbit, and in a few hours had buried herself beneath the horizon, and immediately another myriad of glittering orbs came silently forth, and though they shone still more brightly in the 'azure glow of night,' drew around them a deeper and heavier mourning as they sang together a melancholy requiem that the beauteous queen was no longer one of their number. So, thought I, should even children's children gather around and attune their voices to plaintive strains when one of our gentle mothers has accomplished her holy mission on earth, and, drawing about her the drapery of death, lays her down to peaceful slumbers in the tomb. If there is a single one in that vast concourse of young men which I have the privilege of represent- ing upon this occasion who does not indorse the sentiments now being expressed, but who is so lost of all nobility as to attempt (as, with shame and sorrow, I have often heard them) to cast a reproach upon the dignity and sacredness of old age, he certainly deserves to be held up as the object of the just scorn and execration of every grateful being. Let him be assured that no bright future awaits him; his way is not upward, it is groveling and downward, and his end will be bittnerness-yes,
"If such there breathe, go mark him well: For him no minstrel raptures swell; Living, he shall forfeit fair renown ; And, doubly dying, shall go down To the vile dust from whence he sprung, Unwept, unhonored and unsung."
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"If, as some have seriously feared, that accursed day shall ever arise in the history of this great Republic, when the youth of the land shall have advanced so far beyond their fathers as to cease 'to rise up before the hoary head,' and 'young Americanism' shall have gone so far as to openly scoff and jeer at the venerable Elishas in Israel, then may you bid a long farewell to all our boasted freedom; then may you wipe completely out all that this hallowed day commemorates; then may you appropriately strike up the funeral dirge of moral and social happiness, and through the black darkness of universal anarchy, sound out the death knell of American liberty.
"But I am not only reminded upon an occasion like this, of the dignity of age and the veneration which is due it, but being told that it was also a time for the interchange of practical experience, I am reminded of my own checkered but mostly delightful stay in this the county of my adop- tion. When as a mere child, something more than seventeen years ago, I exchanged village for rural life and came with my father's family to this portion of Missouri, it seemed to me that I had suddenly been ush- ered into the very Eden described by the pen of Moses. And indeed if there is anything in universal prosperity, anything in overflowing abund- ance or aught in the rapturous intercourse of a united brotherhood, it certainly came as near it as ever did a favored spot on the broad earth. Joy then seemed to loom up in every soul ; unity was the watchword upon every lip, and fraternal affection the ruling passion in every breast. Barns and storehouses were filled with plenty, and the winepresses of the land 'burst forth with new fatness.' Neighbor met neighbor in those days not as now miser meets miser, each to scan the purse of the other, but as brother meets brother with his heart in his hand. The very ani- mals and rocks and hills and glens seemed to catch the joyous spirit of the times, and to revel in the all pervading beautitude.
"When as a school boy I roamed our rolling prairies and gathered the flowers with which they were fretted, methinks now they breathed to heaven the fragrance of brotherly love; when as a barefoot I stood in the running brook, I can distinguish even now in its warbling waters the ac- cents of by-gone purity, and when I lay me down to rest on the green grass under the shade, I hear piercing the silent air the mellow cooings of the dove of peace, and all around, beneath and above are bathing in the broad sunlight of happiness and prosperity.
"But so delightful a reign was not destined to be perpetual. It is a sad truth, that the choicest blessings are shortest in their visits to unde-
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serving men. After but a few years, a black and ominous cloud was seen to protrude its terrible crest above the horizon, and ere we could prepare ourselves for the coming shock it came rolling onward and burst upon us in all the wild fury of civil war. The American Janus was thrown wide open; horrid, foreboding specters stood before me in my dreams, and the hideous 'dogs of war' went howling through the land. Ears till then only accustomed to the soft notes of peace, were suddenly affrighted with the loud alarm of battle, the rattle of musketry and the peal and roar of the wide-mouth cannon. Brother arrayed himself against brother, father against son, and son against father, and, casting aside the purest love of earth for the bitterest hatred of hell, plunged into the din and smoke of the contest and amidst expiring groans and demoniacal yells reveled ofttimes hand to hand in the bloody work of death. Where once was heard the merry prattling of the child or the sweet music of a mother's voice, the widow's cry and the orphan's wail rent the air. Our fair land, accustomed only to the light tread of the sons of peace, trem- bled beneath the heavy tramp of mustering squadrons, and its luxuriant verdure, hitherto bedecked solely with the white hoarfrost of morning or the silvery dew of evening, was dyed with the crimson tinge of human gore. Fire, Sword, Rapine, Death went on with their terrible work, until at length a poor, homeless fugitive, the last to cross the borders of my country, I cast back a long lingering look, not at a paradise but at a wide waste wilderness, where on many a silent chimney the solitary owl screeched out the shrill moan of our departed glory.
"But it has been beautifully said that 'there is no night without a morning.' After four years of scourging the hand of a beneficent Provi- dence was reached down and the blackened cloud at least partially re- moved, and as we gazed upward we beheld once more the glorious sun of liberty peeping through its crevices. But, alas, its first rays fell upon an impoverished, ruined, but thank Heaven, not a downcast or dis- spirited people. The highest type of manhood is seen, the noblest feats of heroism are performed, not in the full blaze of prosperity when all goes well, but in the deep, dark hour of adversity when the man is crushed to the very earth, but when like eternal truth he rises again, shakes off the dust of oppression and prepares to regain his fortunes and vindicate him- self in the eyes of the world. Such, without the slightest reference to either contending party, are the evidences of manhood which have por- trayed, and the deeds of heroism which have been achieved under the most trying circumstances in the noble. old county of Jackson. They are
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mentioned not in the effort to recall any unpleasant remembrance or to awake in any breast the bitter feeling of the war, but because I conceive that there is to be found in the history of those times the crowning glories of many of our Old Settlers, and because by this just comparison we can then see the hardships they have endured and the obstacles they have overcome in the progress of the last ten years. I mention it, because I know at least one young man who is proud that it was not his lot to be reared in the sickly lap of luxury, but that he was called upon to share the necessity and watch the bright examples of just such a race of heroes. No, far be it from me, to attempt to throw an apple of discord into an assembly like this, for even this morning I have beheld if possible a still grander exhibition of Christian manhood than the one just mentioned, in that, I have seen the conquered and the conqueror 'clasp hands across the bloody chasm,' and that hardest of all divine injunctions, 'forgive thine enemies,' beautifully and practically illustrated.
"Today, as we look around us, instead of beholding a howling wilder- ness, we see a land of prosperity and plenty, and can count over the teem- ing thousands of the second county in the great State of Missouri. In ten short years by a series of triumphant progress almost unprecedented in the history of nations, we have emerged from the desolation of war, and now with a population of more than 60,000 inhabitants stand out to the gaze of an admiring world a little empire within ourselves, larger and stronger than the petty republics of ancient Greece, the primitive cradle of the liberties we now enjoy. Agriculture, science and all the peaceful arts again flourish in our midst, whilst upon our western bor- der, on the banks and commanding the commerce of the valley of what is really 'the father of waters' there rises upon a thousand hills a hustling, growing metropolis that one day bids fair to bring the blush of shame to the cheek of ancient Rome, as she sat upon only seven hills, on the banks of the classic but insignificant Tiber. Whatever else may be said, har- mony is again restored, the sweets of peace are again within our fruition, the olive branch again blooms upon the grave of the past, and even though a gauzy cloud may now and then bedim our sky, let us look for- ward with hope to a bright future, and once more in the pure atmos- phere of free, open, independent thought and action, look up and thank the Giver of all Mercies that ours is indeed the citizenship of the 'land of the brave and the home of the free.'
"Although your patience has been already put to a much severer trial than was anticipated, you must be kind enough to permit me, in conclu-
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sion, to pay a passing tribute to what is doubtless far the noblest reflec- tion suggested by an occasion like this, for otherwise I should feel that I nad come infinitely short of my duty, and fallen far below the dignity of this hour. There are those nice, flippant, airy, modernized ones, who have doubtless sneeringly called this 'the meeting of the old fogies.' Old fogy! I must confess that, to me, there is something noble in the term. They possess a god-like element of character, which, to our reproach be it said, seems now to have almost gone out of date-in a lax, vacillating, degenerate age-you always know just where to find them! See you yonder mountain, firmly planted in its base? It may not be covered with a particle of moss, nor be decked with the green foliage of herbs and trees ; it may not be decorated with all the fantastic lattice-work and ginger- bread of modern civilization ; but there in its native, unadorned simplicity it stands; and all the storms and tempests of heaven may come and beat against it, but there it remains, unmoved and unshaken. Thus have I seen what you call the old fogy stand; and, though the billows of error beat against him, the machinations of men assailed him, and the whips of parties cracked around him, he stood there, and all the powers of earth and hell combined, couldn't move him. To come plainly to the point, as I here gaze down into the wrinkled faces of the sires of a former genera- tion, I am reminded of those time-honored, immutable, glorious prin- ciples of our government, handed down to us, bedewed with tears, hal- lowed by the prayers and stained in the blood of our forefathers, and of which to our shame be it confessed, we are too often the ungrateful recip- ients. I am reminded that there was a time in the history of this nation, when all the miserable sham and deceit, and wire-working and trickery of policy and party were unknown, and when men planted themselves upon eternal principle ; a time when there were 'giants in the land' who had but one heart, one purpose, one country, one God; a time when rulers ruled not for sordid pelf alone; when patriots struggled not for ambi- tion, but for the good of their race, and when we stood out not a 'bye- word and hissing' to the nations, but the wonder and admiration of the world. How, if I had time, could I dwell upon so delightful a theme! How could I wish for my country a return of those happy days! Oh, how I could pray heaven for the gift to my own lax times of a few such im- mortal men ; men who would dare to stand at the post of honor, men who lived not for themselves, but for others; men who cared not for majori- ties ; men, who, in the midst of threats, and scorns, and ridicule, would not be afraid to do their duty ; men who stand like mighty invincible rocks,
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and roll back the tide of error and iniquity that now engulf the land. Would to God that I had an archangel's voice, for louder than ten thun- ders, would I sound it out through the length and breadth of this fair land, calling the young men to action, calling them away from the giddy whirl of modern life, to a just appreciation of the sacred trusts committed to their care. My fellow comrades, ye who hear me now, gather around, and here behold in the person of our fathers, the embodiment of that which is really substantial and sublime. Here contemplate types of grander proportions and more unfading beauty than ever yet the painter drew upon the glowing canvass, or the 'Grecian chisel awoke from out the sleeping marble.' Here let us come to emulate their example, and, like so many solar stars, place them high in the northern sky, and while the way is still lighted up, by the aurora borealis of their own effulgent lives, press onward to the attainment of their virtues. Yes, as valiant soldiers, let us come and take our places in the ranks of war, with the few battle- scarred veterans who still remain with us as our standard-bearers; and when amid the roar and smoke of the mighty contest, the tattered ensigns shall drop from their trembling hands, let us catch them as they fall, and bear them on to victory or to death.
"I am happy that my poor effort on this occasion is now to receive a response from just the kind of a man I have attempted to describe-the living portrayer of those independent traits and graces which we are all bound to love and admire-a man who always reminds me of an inexor- able old Roman soldier at his post; a man who would not turn aside from the path of duty were all the execrable shapes of the infernal world to impede his progress; a man, who, in America's second but darkest hour of affliction, like the immortal Lafayette, threw aside his own self-inter- est, overcame the power of prejudice and maganimously and defiantly bared his breast to the tyrant's bolt, in the cause of the oppressed. Let me assure you, sir, you have your reward. So long as there breathes a disinterested patriot's soul on Missouri soil; so long as the undying artist may perpetuate his genius on the painted canvas; so long as there lives a tongue to lisp the name of the true and brave; just so long shall you dwell in the fond memory of thousands ; just so long shall your unfading produc- tions embellish the walls of our habitations, and just so long shall the voices of an admiring people dwell with delightful rapture on the name of George C. Bingham."
At the conclusion of W. H. Wallace's remarks the next speaker was Gen. George C. Bingham. His response was as follows:
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"In responding to the kind, considerate and eloquent address, which as a representative of the young men of this portion of the State, you have delivered to your gray-haired seniors of the same section, who in accordance with their annual custom, are here assembled, I state but the truth in affirming, that I feel myself but poorly qualified to meet the just demands of the occasion.
"The reminiscences growing out of the trials and struggles of the past-its successes, reverses, triumphs and defeats-constitute the history with which they are associated. This, so far as it relates to them, must soon reach its last chapter and last page, thence forward to be laid on the shelf, to form a portion of those annals which give to each succeeding generation the experience and garnered thought of its predecessors; tending thus to make the sons wiser than the fathers, and by so doing, force onward and upward that march of human progress, the measured step of which, we have reason to believe, will continue with accelerated pace when our mortality shall put on immortality, and the temporary sleep of the grave give place to the ceaseless activity of an endless life.
"On the other hand those whom you represent have but recently entered upon the stage of active life. Your history is yet to be made. How its fair and uninscribed pages are to be filled up, whether they shall exhibit a record of manly and patriotic deeds, of ill-directed and abor- tive efforts, or worse still, be blurred with transactions such as disfigure the sad and dark portion of the history of our tempted and erring race, are matters which yet belong to the unknown, and which the future only can reveal.
"Men who have supposed themselves drowning, and thus perishing without disease in the vigor of manhood, have testified, that all the trans- actions of their lives, both good and bad, passed in review before them in that brief and terrible moment.
"It is well known that very aged men, in the act of throwing off the wornout habiliments of this life, have frequently imagined that they were school boys again, conning over their lessons, or sporting on the lawn with the associates of their childhood. It seems indeed to be a law of our nature that impels us, as we approach the end of our earthly pil- grimage, to look back and survey the route over which we have traveled, recount the adventures and dangers, the mishaps and successes which have marked our journey, and by the blessed faculty of memory, with which we are so highly endowed, walk amidst the scenes, and enjoy anew the society of long-buried companions of our early life.
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"Those of us who have chalked down our three score years, and our still more advanced and more venerable associates, have but little more to anticipate in our earthly future. The hopes which gave energy and elasticity to our movements in our younger days, can impel our sluggish blood no longer. They have either perished beneath the relentless tread of a harsh experience, or been realized by a reasonable fruition. They have nothing further to promise us in the brief space that intervenes between us and the terminus to which we are ticketed, and which marks the finale of all sublunary desires and expectation.
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