Buchanan County, Missouri - Reunion, 1881

Reunion

OF OLD SETTLERS OF THE PLATTE PURCHASE, AT ST. JOSEPH, MO.. SEPTEMBER, 1874, AND SEPTEMBER, 1875 - BISHOP MARVIN^S 'LETTER - ADDRESSES - NAMES OF OLD SETTLERS.

Having already noticed at considerable length the earliest settlements, and the pioneers who first made these settlements, we shall now speak of the old settlers' reunions which took place at St. Joseph, September, 1874-S, under the auspices of the Industrial and Art Exposition. That was an occasion redolent of pleasant memories and sacred recollections to the gray-haired sires who were then present. Many of these old veterans have since passed to the land of shadows :

A few stiH linger upon the shores of time, as the oldest landmarks of those early days, when the Platte country had just passed from the dominion of the non-progressive red men into the hands of the whites. Brave-hearted old pioneers ! Golden be the evening twilight of their lives. We have for them a peculiar reverence, and upon our hearts abide their memories imperishable.

The following letter, sent by Bishop Marvin to James N. Burnes, the president of the old settlers' m2eting of 1874, will be read with interest :

Dear Sir and Brother - I have just returned from a tour, and find yours of August 27th, inviting me to participate in the reunion of the " old settlers " of the Platte Purchase. I regret that I did not know of the reunion a month earlier. In that case I could have arranged my appointments so as to enable me to be present. As it is, I have an engagement in Dent County, which for special reasons it is necessary to meet. You may assure your board that no circumstances of a trivial character would prevent my acceptance of their invitation.

The early years of my ministry were spent in that part of the state. In 1842, I passed the present site of St. Joseph, on my way to a field of labor quite on the frontier. It embraced all the country west of Nodaway River. You will remember at that time there was no St. Joseph. In subsequent years, I labored in Clay, Platte and Buchanan Counties. I shall never forget the uncalculating, unboundedTiospitality of the "old settlers." Many of them were in their first rude cabins, but those cabins had the rarest capacity for entertaining both friend and stranger of any houses of their size I ever saw. I often saw them crowded, but to the best of my recollection I never saw one of them full :, there was always room for a fresh comer. I recollect once in the Platte Purchase, I was wedging myself into a bed already occupied by five children, when one of them waked sufficiently to exclaim "Mamma, Mamma, he's a scrougin' me!"

You will yourself remember that I was more than once a guest at the house of your honored father. Bear with me while I say I can never forget the model Christian mother, mistress and hostess, who presided over the domestic scene there.

At that time I knew many men who did not know me, for I was a mere youth. I knew they were great as compared with other men I knew, but I had a fancy that the great men were in the east. But after many years of extended observation I have come to the conclusion that I heard as fine a specimen of political speaking in Liberty, in 1844, by Colonel Doniphan, as I have ever heard since, and that the country would be happy if the balances were everywhere held by hands as intelligent and firm as those of the pioneer jurist, David R. Atchison.

Among my own class there was the laborious Redman, the scholarly Tutt, the impetuous and saintly Roberts, and many others, now dead. Nor can I omit the name of the incorruptible and courageous Roberson. Some are still living: Holmes, Perry, Ruble, Jordan, Rush, Spencer, Barker and others.

There was a man, a minister of Christ, a large portion of whose public career belongs to the Platte Purchase, of whom I must say, he was in some respects the most remarkable man I ever saw. I refer to W. G. Caples. He was another "Agamemnon, King of Men.' He was a firstclass wit, a man of the finest social feeling, having positive ideas, and a a great end to accomplish. That end was the extension of the Kingdom of Christ and the salvation of men. In his view, a high standard of popular education would contribute to this. He did much for Northwest Missouri in establishing schools under christian auspices, and although they did not survive the war, they did much to elevate public sentiment, and have left an influence behind them that must be permanent.

Now I proceed to say that the old citizens of Platte have heard as great preaching as any other people on the American continent, and from the lips of the man, Caples. I have heard more scholarly men, men whose sermons evinced higher cultivation and a better classical finish ; but for power of argumentation, for philosophical breadth and sweep, for grandeur of conception, for greatness of imagination, for force and pungency of popular appeal, for originality, variety and opulence of

I make no doubt that the ministry and church have done more to quicken thought and create a thirst for knowledge in the west, than is generally understood. Ministers of the Gospel in the new communities, being above the average of people in culture, and dealing in truths of a character to elevate the mind, and provoke inquiry, have, as an incident of their calling, toned up the popular mind, encouraged a taste for reading and created a demand for schools. Such a man as Caples cannot mingle with people without elevating them.

But pardon me. I had no thought of becoming so garrulous. I am getting to be almost an old man, and thoughts of the old times have awakened the talking mood in me, until it seems a real hardship and self-denial not to be with you at the reunion. It is thirty years since I heard Doniphan. How I would like to listen to his utterances on this occasion, when old memories will mellow his voice, and since, as I doubt not, Christian sentiments will exalt and irradiate his conception.

Will you have the goodness to present to the "old settlers" m,y profound regard, and express to them my deep regret that I cannot greet them on this pleasant occasion, for there are many whom I shall never see again.

Old Settlers' Meeting, September, 1 874

The Old Settlers' meeting was the most interesting feature of the day. At least one hundred of the old gray-haired sires and mothers, who were among the early settlers of the Platte Purchase, were gathered on the reserved seats in front of the grand stand. At half past twelve o'clock this meeting was called to order by Col. James N. Burnes, who spoke as follows :

" Ladies and Gentlemen - You will not expect of me an extended speech. I am too full to express what I feel. You will allow me to nominate for chairman of this meeting the Hon. David R. Atchison. His name is the balance of my speech."

Hon. D. R. Atchison then* took the floor, and thanked the audience for the honor conferred upon him. He had once presided over the United States Senate, but this was a prouder position than he had ever occupied before. He referred in feeling terms to the early settlers of the Platte Purchase, the trials and hardships of the people, and their courage and endurance under difficulties.

Hon. George Smith was elected first vice president. Mr. Smith returned his thanks for the distinction. He had no speech, but would 011 a proper occasion address the people of the Platte Purchase.

Col. J. H. R. Cundiff was appointed secretary of the meeting. I Gen. Craig then introduced Gen. A. W. Doniphan. Gen. Doniphan then came forward and said the sight of the Old Settlers exhilarated him like laughing gas. He said that old people like to talk, but he had to excuse himself with returning his thanks to the managers of the Exposition for granting the opportunity to the Old Settlers to have a re-union. One of the privileges of an old man was to contrast the present state of the country with what it was when the first settlement was made. He referred to the railroads, cities, colleges and other evidences of civilization that had sprung up in this country, that was an unknown wilderness in the old times. The Missouri of 1874 was an entirely different Missouri from that of 1830. He referred in feeling terms to those who had died since the settlement of the country.

' He referred to the free and easy hospitalities of the early days. Men did not stop to part their hair in the middle, but just gave it a toss, back and went about their business. The unbounded hospitality was such as the world had never seen before. The ladies were the picture -of health, and had strength as well as beauty, and there wasn't a strong minded one among them. They had eyes like the doe, and a step like the gazelle, and were self-reliant and natural. He referred to the old type of men, that some thought had become extinct, but assured the audience they still lived.

His speech was well interspersed with anecdotes, and he kept the audience laughing and roaring for full fifteen minutes. He referred to the old Missouri settlers who had made homes in Colorado and California, and said still they kept up the good old customs. He spoke of the progress of the last quarter of a century. Twenty-five years ago there was not more than a thousand miles of railroad in America. St. Joseph . and Kansas City were the ultimathule of civilization. Now they were great railroad centres, teeming with the commerce of half a dozen states and territories. The iron horse had passed our borders and gone careering on his conquering course across numerous territories to the golden . gates of the Pacific. It was impossible to conceive what the next hun- -dred years had in store for this great country.

Ladies and Gentlemen of Northwest Missouri: - For many years I have attended meetings of the people in different towns, cities and counties of the state, and, indeed, in many of the states of the Union, but I can say with the utmost sincerity that I have never before taken part in any assemblage of the people which gave me so much true and heartfelt pleasure as this one does. When your invitation, sent to me by your committee, was received, I was on the eve of disposing of my time in a different way from that of being present here to-day, but the reading of it at once decided me to forego all other engagements. I have come, my friends, to exchange with you greetings of friendship, and to talk of the past, and of the men who, a few years ago, were with us working and shaping the destiny of our state and devoting their time, and energies to its material development. Most of them after wellspent lives, have passed from among us, leaving behind them, honored names - to be cherished and respected by their descendants. I take it that, with few exceptions, I am addressing the children of the old settlers. Judging from my own recollections, there are but few left of the old set. Thornton and Thompson, and Laidlbw. and Rich and Dbugherty, with whom I was personally acquainted, have paid the great debt of nature, and lie now beneath the green sod of the section first made tocontribute its share to the support of the civilized man.. Other names could be mentioned by persons better acquainted with the individuals of this section than I am; but these few are a type of the old settlers,. Who does not remember the name of each of these men without a profound emotion of respect and veneration .'' They were not only intelli- ' gent and influential, but in these respective persons was embodied thetrue character of American citizenship.

You, my friends, who are their descendants, should not only respect their memories, but be proud of their private and public virtues. A nation of such men would be the wonder of the world. So much for the past. I meet here to-day a few of the old settlers who have been spared' . as the connecting link between us and the past. Atchison and Doniphan, Morin and Wood and Birch, and a few others are here yet. TwO' of these have national reputations, and would of themselves be sufficient to make a nation illustrious. Atchison was for a long time the presiding officer of the Senate of the United States, when in that body were Calhoun and Clay and Webster and Benton and Crittenden and Man<- gum and Cass and Houston, and a host of other illustrious charactersi. He then acquired a reputation co-extensive with the nation. The name of Doniphan will live in history forever. His campaign in and through an enemy's country, under the most difficult circumstances, has never been surpassed by anything in ancient or modern times. Alexander obtained the name of Great because he went from Greece to the Indus, and for ages a halo of glory has surrounded his name, not surpassed by that of Hannibal or Napoleon ; yet when all the attending circumstances, are duly considered, the march headed by your own Doniphan required more true courage and bravery, and power of endurance, and patience,, and perseverance, and skill and military genius than the expedition headed by Alexander the Great. Atchison and Doniphan are yet with you - and with the true simplicity of Cincinnatus and the dignity of Cato, move in your midst, sharing in your joys and sympathizing with your sorrows. May they be spared for many years to come. I am not here to-day, my friends, to deliver an eulogy upon the men who first settled this section. I have mentioned a few as a type, so as to let their descendants know what sort of men they came from, and so that they may entertain a feeling of great pride in their ancestors.

were French, yet they did not come here from France. In the latter part of the seventeenth and early part of the eighteenth century, the fur trade of the valley of the Mississippi became an object of commercial importance, and the Canadians were the first persons who came here, and did so as fur traders. Canada was then a colony of France, and remained so till the treaty of Paris of 1763. The early Canadian pioneer is, therefore, the original settler of this country. They remained, however, on the east side of the Mississippi, and settled the towns of Cahokia, Prairie du Pont, Prairie du Rocher, Kaskaskia and Fort Chartiers,. and crossed the river only towards the latter part of the eighteenth century.

After the treaty of 1763, by which the east side of the river was ceded to England, they came over the river in larger numbers, believing that it yet belonged to France, although the same treaty had ceded it to Spain. I will not detain you with the details, and only mention them to explain the different character of emigrants who first settled our state, At the time Louisiana was organized, in 1803, by Mr. Jefferson, the population of this country was, I may say, entirely French. Soon after the acquisition a large emigration came from Virginia, the great old mother of states, and from Kentucky, the first daughter of the glorious old mother, and from the old North State of Carolina, and from Tennessee, and settled in the counties of New Madrid, Cape Girardeau, Ste. Genevieve, St. Louis and St. Charles. This emigration continued, not very rapidly, till the admission of Missouri as a state, when our population was only 56,000. I well remember the excitement about the Boone's Lick country, when I was a boy in my native town. Wagons filled with women and children, followed by cattle, horses and hogs, were passing through the town every day. Many of the little boys in the wagons became, in after times, leading men in our state, and no doubt many of the innocent little girls became the mothers of other men who also became distinguished and played their parts in the drama of life. Boone's Lick was settled by a noble lot of men and women. Old Daniel Boone himself came to our state and settled here. Boone, Callaway, Howard, and Clinton Counties were settled at this period. A few years afterwards the tide moved towards the northwest and settled the counties of Clay, Ray, Carroll, etc.

In 1836 a most remarkable, and, under the political condition of the country, a most singular event took place. The section of country known as the Platte country, being the triangle lying west of the western line of our state and the Missouri River, was by acL of Congress added to our state. I well remember the newspaper controversy which took place at the time in relation to it. Benton and Linn were in the Senate - both being Senators of commanding influence - Benton being then considered the Ajax of the administration, and Linn, personally, the most popular man in the Senate, for he was as lovely as a woman, yet possessing the true characteristics of one of the knights of old. Ashbury was in the House - a man of high character and large wealth, which he expended with princely liberality. Benton and Linn claimed a measure of credit for the passage of this law-^which Ashley denied. On the other hand he claimed that which they denied. The truth is, that but one was entitled to great credit for the passage ot the measure. It required the combination of talent and personal popularity and personal influence which they

Thissection of country now embraces the counties of Holt, Atchison, Nodaway^ Andrew, Platte and Buchanan, and this beautiful and growing city of St. Joseph its metropolis, was founded by an old friend of my boyhood - Joseph Robidoux - who was really the first pioneer of the Platte country.

Up to the passage of this law, this was an Indian country, and by treaty had beeft set apart forever to the Sioux and Fox tribes of Indians. As soon as this most bountiful and rich country was acquired, as already mentioned, and opened to settlement, a wave of emigrants immediately poured into it, and soon this country, which but a short time before had been the home of the Indian and wild beast, was transformed into magnificent farms, and the home of as fine and noble a race of men as any country can boast of In many respects the latter emigrants had the advantage of the first, settlers, and certainly greatly the advantage of the early Canadians. They left the old country after they or their fathers had had time and opportunity to acquire property, and also to obtain educations, which was an impossibility with the early settlers. Many of them, indeed, were men of wealth and the owners of many stores, and also possessing liberal education. Many of the women were highly educated and accomplished. I visited the section when a young man, and I never shall forget the favorable impression made on me at the time, not only by the robust and intelligent men I met, but by as charming, handsome and accomplished ladies, young and old, as I ever met elsewhere.

Each generation has, no doubt, its alloted duties; ours is to transmit to those who are to come after us as the rich legacy we inherited from our forefathers^ - and this is not only in the political order, but in the social and moral order - and as your fathers left you honored names, you should do nothing to tarnish them; nay, you must not, no matter at what personal cost, permit any one else to place a blot on the fair fame the brave men and women from whom you have sprung. And, as you inherited high social positions, transmit the same to your children. Do this and you, like your fathers, will have discharged the duties of your day and generation, to them, to your sons, and to those who are to come after you.

Ladies and gentlemen : Permit me in conclusion to say a few words of a personal nature. The people of my state have honored me with the highest office in their gift. A seat in the Senate of the United States is truly one of the most distinguished and elevated positions which man can hold in this or any other country. When elected to this high position I felt the measure of my ambition was full, and the dreams of a long life realized. Yet I felt as but few can feel, a sense of gratitude to the generation of the present day for selecting in my humble person a descendant of the old hunters and settlers of this portion of the New World. In the name of my early forefathers, the old hunters of this Western World, and with the recollections of their primitive and humble virtues fresh in my heart and soul, I return thanks to my generation for this, its great act of generosity to one of their descendants.

General Craig then introduced General B. F. Stringfellow, who spoke briefly and to the point. He referred to the fact that he was a citizen of Kansas ; he said there was no act in his life of which he was so proud as the fact that he was once a member of the firm of Atchison, Stringfellow & Go. He here saw the Co. around him in the faces of the old settlers. He referred to the brilliant career of Colonel Doniphan, and the acquisition of Texas, New Mexico and California, to the early settlements of Kansas and the men who were then called border ruffians. They were rightly described by a young lady as the last remains of chivalry. He had- only to say he was sorry they were whipped. He accepted the situation brought about by the new order of things.

He did not propose to shed any useless tears over the past, but to accept the new order of things and make the best of it and the most of it. He referred to the prejudice formerly existing against Northern men, .and was glad that the old prejudices were worn out, and that the people of the Missouri Valley were a homogenous people. His speech abounded in anecdotes, and was frequently applauded by the immense audience in attendance.

Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen and Old Settlers of Missouri - I decline making anything like a speech on this occasion, but I propose relating a few incidents in my life which, doubtless, will be personally recollected by not a few old settlers before me.

I came to Missouri from Indiana in 1844, the memorable year of the flood. I started with nothing and arrived here with less, with my family .-sick into the bargain. Sonie time before leaving Indiana, on examining the map of the Platte country, I placed my finger on the spot, in the bend of the Missouri, where St. Joseph was marked down, and where she now stands, and said, "That shall be my home."

I started for the new land of my hopes and arrived at last in Clinton 'County. There I became sick from the fatigue and labors of the journey and could proceed no further. I was without money and almost entirely An early settler of that country, many of you know him, Mr. Bagley, took me and my family into his house, giving us the best quarters he possessed, and took care of us while I was sick, his wife waiting upon . me as tenderly as my own mother could have done. It was there, while lying sick, before having reached my journey's end, that I first saw the face of my friend. Judge James H. Birch, now before you. Dr. Essig had come to wait on me. I told him that I had no money, and did not know when, if ever, I could pay him for his professional services, and that he felt able to give his services to me without certainty of ever igetting any pay, he had bfetter not spend his time with me. He said he -would do the best for me he could. The next morning who should come to my bedside but Judge Birch. I was in a very dilapidated condition, which he could not help observing as he looked at me, and he said to me : "' You are a stranger here, and in straightened circumstances, which I

I finally got into a cabin with my family ; I could throw a dog through the cracks of the door. One of my children was sick, and one morning a blue-coated boy of the rreighborhood who had become acquainted with her, came to see her. That boy now is the Horr. Willard P; Hall. In a few days the Hon. James B., Garden-hire called to- see me and I formed his acquaintance.

After a while the time for court to sit came round. I wanted to go,, but had no money. I owed a girl, a servant in the house, fifty cents, and she wanted to leave, and I was determined not to let her go unpaid. One day old Bob Duncan came to me and asked me if I was going to court ; I told him no, that my family were sick and I didn't want to leave them. I wanted to go, but I had no money ; but I didn't want to tell him any more. He suspected the real trouble and said: "Now,.Vories, don't you need a little money.' Take this and go to court," and he handed me several good sized coins. I did gO' tO' court.,

The first fee I got was a horse, which I sold for $40. The next day I took the money and went to Plattsburg to-pay my friend Birch. I met Bela Hughes and told him, my mission. He said, "don't look so downhearted." My hat was old and very dilapidated, for a member of the legal profession, and Hughes noticed it and said, "Hold your head Up, there are good people here, and the man- who rides forty miles to pay a debt will succeed."

Here I met many of these old men and got acquainted with them. Afterward I was for a brief moment captivated with the stories about California, and made a visit there. But I could not stay. On my return I met the question on all sides, " what makes you come back," and I said to them, "the men I meet here, when I speak to them, stood about six inches closer to me than they do out there;" I said to my partner, in California, before leaving there, that if I knew that I could live only two years longer, and it would take me eighteen months to get back to Missouri, I would spend that eighteen months in getting home just to live the other six months among the people of Missouri. And now, all I ask is, that when it is all over,, my grave may be made among, the graves of my old benefactors.

Gen. Craig then saidc that they had kept the best of the wine to the last of the feast, and then, introduced, Judge James H.. Birch, Sr., who spoke as follows :

He commenced by an. illusion tothe kindly reference which.had beea made to him by Judge Vories, in respect to a circumstance, occurring some thirty years ago, in which he had been so befriended by the speaker as to satisfy him that he had come to the right country to find jnen, and which had actuated him ever since. The Judge had regarded, it. simply as the duty of a lawyer and citizen, who happened tO' have a few dollars at the time, toward another lawyer (and a sick one) who was in a strange country and was out of money, to divide with- him. Biit as demonstrat.- ing exactly the man that Vories was, whether with or without money, the Judge went on to say that, when it afterward came to the ear of Vories tthat he was strapped for spending money in one of his races for , Congress, Vories had opened his pocket book to him, although he had been a member of the convention that had nominated another candidate- Nor was this all - ^for when he was so chronically bedfast, two or three years ago, as to render it probable that he would never again get away from home, Vories had sent to him a basket of his " Virginia Seedling," and was preparing to send him another of Catawba, when he learned that Birch had anticipated him by ordering it from his agent. The whole of it was, that whatever risk the speaker had incurred in leaving all the money he had (and that borrowed money) with a sick brother lawyer and his family, it turned out to be the most encouraging instance he had ever met with of "casting his bread upon the waters" - for the poor, high-headed creature had never got done with reciprocating it, and -never would. Such was Henry M. Vories, now an honored ifustice of the Supreme Court - ^then a sick and downcast lawyer, without comforts for "his family - and such is but an average type of the "old settlers" of the Purchase," by whom he found himself surrounded to-day.

Yes, gentlemen, (continued the speaker,) all the loose talk in the world cannot keep it out of history, that the "old settlers" who have passed the gate to-day on the " complimentary " of the self-possessed and far-seeing president of this great exposition, are of the type, or -class of men who, in a'll ages, from the conquest of Julius Caesar, to the settlement of California and Colorado, have been the founders of society, of counties and of states - and we ask no higher recognition than that we did not ingloriously " die out " amongst those we were born with, but that we took our chances to build up an equal, if not an improved, society amongst those of equal self-reliance with ourselves.

And here, if anywhere, it is appropriate to remark that -amongst those whom you have so encouraged with your good will that their names are recorded as successful lawyers and judges and legislators, in both houses, (both state and national) there is not one of us who has a black mark against another one, whether we remember each other as professional or political associates, or rivals. No, gentlemen, (sa-id the distinguished speaker, turning to the ten or dozen who were occupying with him the speaking stand) no ! and more than that, there is not a man amongst you who was not naturally "born and. bred" in the full appreciation and recognition of General Jackson's sententious measure of unquestioned mediocrity, namely, the desire to detract from the reputation of your rivals, in the ignoble and mistaken assumption that to concede their "cleverness" was much subtracted from their own. In this sense, at least, we were all Jackson men, whether agreeing or disagreeing in other respects, and in that sense we look into the faces .of each other to-day, as I saw Harrison and Johnson look into the faces of each other, when meeting for the first time during the quarter of a century which had elapsed since the battle of the Thames. Each had discharged his djity, according to his theory of it ; and the respectful, yet stately look of each made an absolute end of the misjudged calumnies which the unreflecting friends of each had heaped upon the other during the political canvass of 1840.

Having no time before the horse race, of which he had heard the sound of the bugle, to speak of the other noble attributes of the representative men who surrounded him, as he would not scruple to do, even in their presence, did time permit him, the speaker took up and amplified the allusion which had been made by General Atchison to General Hughes, as the inaugurator of the Platte County addition to the State of Missouri, by referring to what it had happened to him to know upon the subject. Producing from his portmanteau a copy of the Western Monitor and Boone's Lick Correspondent, a small newspaper which he established and edited at Fayette six and forty years ago, (and which was then the westernmost newspaper office in the United States,) he modestly referred to his connection with it as having given him his first political influence, and that it was therefore that the late General Andrew S. Hughes, then the agent of the Indian tribes who had had the Platte country assigned to them as their reservation or territory, had addressed him a letter on the subject of having it annexed to the State of Missouri,, That letter was accompanied by a rude diagram of the country, drawn up by the late General Cornelius Gilliam, from his hunting recollections of it, and was enclosed to Colonel Benton (our then senior senator) with such an additional letter from the speaker as he hoped might help along the project ; and in due course of mail he had the satisfaction to receive from our then distinguished and subsequently illustrious Senator, a reply, which he published in his paper, to the effect that both the President and the Secretary of War were in favor of adding the then Indian' reservation to the State of Missouri, for military considerations connected with the peace of our original frontier boundary.

'Such having been the simple and unadorned inauguration of a project which added a Congressional slave district to the State of Missouri, it is but justice to add that the measure was finally carried through both houses of Congress on the unanimous report of the .House Committee on Indian affiairs, of which that life-long emancipationist, Horace Everett, of Vermont, was the chairman. May it not be added without, offense', that in this case, as in previous and subsequent ones, the great Democratic reliance upon the ultimate sense of "Justice and Right" of a majority of our countrymen is at least the safest panacea for " the ills we feel," instead of "flying to others we know not of.'" and that our recent unhappy experience of the opposite theory, where the sections as repr sented in congress were too mutually deaf to these appeals of fraternity and of reason to avert the ultimate arbitrament of the sword, should be referred to in no other spirit, and for no other purpose, than as an admonition for the future.

^ God grant that we may live forever, not only as one people (as we must live), but as the fraternal, prosperous and free people we ought to be.

The renewed notes of the race come, and a whisper from the highly courteous executive of the day's programme, that but three minutes remain of the time allotted to these ceremonies, will but necessarily condense even the condensed remarks to which I had restricted myself

I have spoken of the " Old Settlers '' and their descendants, who, with all others, have so courteously listened to my gleanings - for I have but essayed to tread where others left me room - of the men I have spoken of as the class who founded society on the basis of right, and who so lived to be ready to " lay down the mace," in good conscience and peace, at the summons of the Great Maker. So lived Andrew Jackson, the frontier " settler " of Tennessee, to whose destiny it fell to so improve the opportunities of his time as to reach the most exalted position of the Republic. The bell rings again, and I must again condense. If his character in life was a grand one, his character in death was still grander - as it may be the fortune of each of us to be - each in the sphere to which providence has allotted him.

For more than a year before he obeyed the final summons, he was on guard," (so to speak,) in view of the last enemy he had to vanquish, and the reflections it suggested were so accepted and acted upon as to turn aside the terrors of the destroyer, or to so improve them as but to gild his entrance upon " the life eternal." His last words were :

" I have finished my destiny upon earth, and it is time this worn out body should go to rest, and my spirit to its abode with Christ, my Redeemer."

I will but reverentially repeat a paraphrase of this, as a parting benediction to those who have so often and so variously honored me with their ear - and to whom, and to their posterity and mine, I thus give over, in common with all others, the future of a common country :

At the close of Judge Birch's speech. Col. Burnes announced that the Old Settlers' Meeting was adjourned until the next St. Joseph Exposition. The band then played Dixie and Yankee Doodle, which were received with tremendous applause by the large crowd in attendance.

This was a shaking of hands across the bloody chasm, that was eminentlyappropriate to the occasion, and the manner in which this meeting <;losed shows that the people of the Missouri Valley are a homogeneous people ; one in sympathy, and one in purpose ; united and inseparable. The occasion will long be remembered by the old settlers in attendance AS one of the happiest reunions in their lives. '

The Veterans

The following is a list of the veterans who reported to the secretary, at the meeting of September, 1874, and the dates of their settlement in the Platte Purchase :

One cf the most interesting features in connection with the Old Settlers meeting was the presentation, by Col. James N. Burnes, of the first reunion badge issued by the association, to the widow of the late honored Solomon L. Leonard. This badge is of the most elegant white silk, and the presentation was accompanied by a few appropriate and affecting remarks. The elegant testimonial was gracefully received and pinned upon the bosom of Mrs. Leonard.

Old Settlers Meeting, September, 1875

Yesterday was a grand and proud one for the old settlers of the North-west, and a day that will long be remembered. From early morning until the noon hour they came pouring into the city from all parts of the territory of the Platte purchase, and many came from a long distance to once more mix and mingle with the friends of their youth and to grasp the hand and exchange salutations with those who with them had borne the hardships and privations of pioneer life, subduing the forests, - battling with wild beasts and wild men, and above all enduring the privations and exposure of hunger and the elements, until they wrought out of the wilderness the blessings of the civilization their posterity now enjoys.

As they mixed and mingled upon the Exposition grounds, therp was many an old eye dimmed with tears, many an aged hand that trembled with emotion as the palms of those long separated again crossed in friendly greeting in the roll call of memory, unearthed the name and merits of those who had fallen by the wayside and passed into the tomb. Even we younger ones whose years had not yet passed the three-score mark, feel a pain upon our hearts as we cast the backward glance and note the multitude of those who began the struggle of life with us but are now numbered with the dead.

How thick are the monuments that rise above their graves; mile stones in our journey telling us that of all who begin life two-thirds depart before they reach the forties, and nine-tenths fail to reach the seventies ; and as the last tenth of these old folks meet and read the book of life from the finish to the preface, how sad and yet how entrancing must have been the record ; how full of sadness and yet of joy must their hearts have been and how truly must they have realized that in life at best the laugh lies close to the fountain of tears, that the brighter the rainbow the denser the mist through which the warm sun shines.

But the old people met. The sun came down upon the unshaded seats of the main stand as remorseless as hunger and thirst upon a vagrant> and, as the oW fathers and mothers assembled in their places, it was evident that they were scarcely prepared for this last trial, which did not fall upon their old heads exactly in the shape of a blessing, and before the speaking was over there were scores of them who would have been ready to register an oath that this identical heated term was the worst they ever saw, and that the grand stand had been erected exactly in the spot where the sun would shine the hottest and longest in a direct focus. At last it was announced that the exercises would begin and Colonel Burnes stated that owing to sickness in his family, it would be impossible for Colonel Doniphan to meet with the old people and address them according to programme. In his place General David R. Atchison was called upon to make the opening address, and replying to the call he stepped forward and made one of his characteristic addresses inter- spersed with anecdotes and adventures that always gladden the hearts of the old and give pleasure and instruction to the young. He spoke of those pioneer days, the old people were all so familiar with, and of the hardships connected with them, which now appear like a chasm and a lure to the young. After the conclusion of General Atchison's remarks. Governor George Smith, of Clinton, was announced and said that as General Atchison had in his remarks related some incidents connected with the early settlements of the western part of the state, which he said would show the condition of civilization of the west, he would in a few words relate some of his experiences and observations as an old settler, which would illustrate in one particular the progress made by and growing out of the bold enterprise of these old pioneers. He said that it had been his good fortune to have passed the most of his early days on the frontier, subjecting him in early days to carrying the product of his toil as a farmer by flat-boats to New Orleans for a market. On his return from his second flat-boat expedition, he came to St. Louis on the 4th of March, 1832, the city then having a population of about seven hundred persons, thence on horseback, with two boating companions; he traveled into the western part of the state ; but an incident of said trip would be all he would call in review to illustrate the great progress made in the material interest of our great state. Arriving at Arrowrock, where we desired crossing, we found a Terry-boat consisting of a platform on two canoes upon which, by assuring the ferryman that we were boatmen, he agreed to risk ourselves and three horses, and we arrived safe about dark in the town, consisting of one double log cabin, where a religious meeting was being held. We expressed some hesitation as to remaining over night, but it being eighteen miles to the nearest house on the western trail, we accepted the kind hospitality of the proprietor and remained over, there being ample room for the entertainment and the weary traveler, as understood by those kind, hospitable pioneers. Now, old settlers and friends, let us turn our attention to the picture presenting itself to our view of the seven magnificent bridges spanning the waters of this magnificent, boisterous river, besides innumerable other facilities for crossing its turbid waters. He remarked : Nor is it a matter of wonder that such evidences of rapid progress are to be seen when we consider the great natural resources of our state. All persons who have travelled over the state would bear evidence to the fact that by drawing a line from the northeast corner diagonally to the southwest corner and taking the country north and west of said line, it would nearly all be considered of excellent quality for agricultural products, and St. Joseph is in the very heart of the same, whilst much of the land east and south of said line was good for farm products, it would be admitted on all hands it was unsurpassed in mineral wealth and only waiting for labor and capital for development. These were attractions that could not escape our intelligent American citizens, consequently we may reasonably suppose the young people of the present time may have the pleasure to inform the next generation of the great and useful changes that have taken place in their day.

Senator Cockrill followed Governor Smith, whose remarks had been listened to with pleasure by all present. He congratulated himself upon being a native of the state, although of that portion lying south of the river. He rejoiced in its growth, its advancement, its wealth and its prosperity ; and he felt that he had an especial right to feel proud of standing before these old people. He had been by their aid and the aid of their posterity, elevated to a position of worth and trust, where he could stand as a pleader for their cause and a defender of their rights and liberties.

Colonel Wm. F. Switzler, editor of the Missouri Statesman, at Columbia, was then introduced. He had not expected to make a speech. A matter of business, having no connection with the Exposition, or with the reunion of the old settlers, called him to St. Joseph, and he made it convenient to come at this time, but with no expectation of occupying a place on the programme of speakers. Although not an old settler of Northwestern Missouri, he nevertheless could claim to be an old settler of the state, understanding from personal observation and experience much of its early history and the privations and trials of the pioneers of our present civilization. He could not boast, like Senator Cockrill, that he was a native of Missouri, but nevertheless was not ashamed, even in the presence of those who were to the manor born, of announcing with pride that he was a son of the mother of Missouri, the grand old Commonwealth of Kentucky. (Applause.) As early as 1826, he came from Kentucky to Howard County, Missouri, where he was raised and located, and where as a lad, he first met a distinguished gentleman, who now occupies a seat on the platform - Judge Birch. Missouri was then in the sixth year of its history as a state, and did not perhaps contain more than fifteen or twenty thousand voters, and the region now embracing the happy homes of a vast majority of those present was under the almost undisputed dominion of the Indian and buffalo. Since this early period in the annals of the state what a wonderful history we have made as a member of the Federal Union, as a Nation, as a People. What achievements we have made in the arts and sciences, in agriculture and commerce, in education and means of inter-communication, in all the agencies and industries which distinguished the civilization of our age. Very befitting reference had been made by speakers who had preceded him to this progress and prosperity. Let it not be forgotten that to the noble and self-sacrificing efforts, singular perils and consummate wisdom of the heroic men and peerless women now present, and to their associates, living and dead, are we indebted for laying broad and deep the foundation of our cherished civilization and great prosperity. The men and women of a state, especially the pioneers, who lead the vanguard of the world's march against ignorance and barbarism, are the state, are of more value than all our fields of coal and mines of gold and silver, than all our railroads and bridges and halls of sciences and learning. Men constitute the state, and those before us to-day form the connecting link between our own eventful times and the ignorance of bondage in the bulwark of prosperity at home and respectability abroad. (Applause.)

Ladies : I must, much as I love the old settlers, name you first, ladies, old settlers and friends. I feel that I owe the high compliment of an invitation to address you, to the too partial -preference of my friends. General Craig and Colonel Burnes ; and yet the swelling pulsations of my heart tell me this is one of the proudest moments of my life, and I should feel recreant to my own spirit if I did not embrace the opportunity thus offered.

While the locks of my head are yet undamaged by the snows of forty winters, you may wonder what I may know that will prove of interest to thousands of old settlers here assembled, and while I feel doubtful of the honored appellation of old settler, I can only say that if I had worn my blue coat and brass buttons I should have felt as if I could have divided the honors in that line with my venerable old friend. Judge Birch. Permit me to say that Judge Birch, in callingup his struggles for Congress, suggests' to my mind that about the earliest political struggle that I can remember was in those old Democratic days when the only road to political honor was through the Democratic ranks, when two of our old and memorable friends, Judge Birch and Judge King, undertook to pluck the Democratic goose that laid the Congressional egg in this district, at the same time, and beneath their joint efforts the proud old bird was so jaded and wearied that not a Roland but an Oliver stole in and captured the coveted prize, and proved to my distinguished friends anew the truth of the old adage, that "in union there is strength." I well remember the first time I saw our honored president. General Atchison. It was in March, 1855. I, with a number of Rayites, were camped at Platte City Bridge, on the west side of the river, when General Atchison rode up at a full gallop, and with a Satanic rather than a God-like earnestness, proceeded to give us his views of our mission as border ruffians, and our diity towards our benighted Yankee brethren, sent out by Gospel societies of New England under the protection of Sharpe's rifles, to subdue the virgin soil of our sister State of Kansas, and, to echo the sentiment of the general, then and there was born and begun our late internecinal wan. Although not born on Missouri soil, yet the first sentiment of thought I had was of Missouri scenes and actors. My parents emigrated to this section in 1837 ; and, reared in our sister county of Ray, my memory is flooded with a series of recollections from say 1845, when only ten years old, up to 1850. How well I remember the old school house of my childhood, built by the hardy pioneers without the use of nail or window glass, the product alone of his own right arm, 'with sturdy axe and broad-axe, a puncheon floor and log chimneys daubed with mud. Now view the landscape o'er of our North Missouri ; every village, town and hamlet vie with each other in rearing palatial structures, structures that compare with those of the older and more favored sister states.

Who, too, does not remember the hospitality, characteristic of our well-to-do settlers. The latch-string was ever out, and their gen-, uine and sometimes burdensome hospitality puts to shame the article of modern times. Old settlers of Ray, Clay, Clinton, Platte and Caldwell, do you not remember our old-time camp-meetings, where every wellto-do farmer had his log hut or tent, and entertained both man and beast of all who would accept .' Those rich and rare old scenes in the open square of the camp-ground are gone, alas ! I fear, never to return. Do you remember old Father Patten, who would talk so loud that he placed his thumbs in each ear to prevent his own voice from deafening himself.'' Do you remember the store coats ; how few they were and how great a curiosity the appearance of each one and its owner excited ? Do you remember the stirring times incident to the mustering in of the companies furnished by each county as its quota for the Mexican war, the heartrending partings, in many instances, and the joy manifested at - their return, and the rich and generous barbecue given to them.

Do you remember the Mexican saddles brought back by them, and the rage of the young men for them, especially for those with the silver mountings ; and that of each young lady to possess, as her own individual property, with bumble bees, or some other kind, nicely stitched upon the seat in golden colors, in an age when our only mode of travel was upon horseback ? And now how varied and different the scene. Railroads checker North Missouri like a chess board, and in our travels, as the darkey said, " we are there before we start," for truly is distance annihilated and time overcome.

I remember well in the late summer of 1852, when only a strippling grown, of returning from the East, where I had been at school for nearly three years, of being on the road for three weeks, and now it is readily done in as many days. Then the Pennsylvania Railroad, probably now the most wealthy railroad corporation in the world, was not then completed from Philadelphia to Pittsburg, but was supplemented by the slow-going canal.

But time passes and I am warned I must close. How magical the changes wrought in our midst. Even far more so than those of the Genii of the magic lamp possessed by Aladdin. Northwest Missouri, yea, even your own proud city of St. Joseph, have no ancestry to boast of They are alike the product of the energy and genius of her own sons and the hon^ ored and venerated pioneers who are all around me. Twenty-five years ago that man would have been declared insane who prognosticated the simple truth of to-day, and the most boundless and vivid imagination could not nor did not fortell the half of to-day. Your own proud, but turbid and restless river, on my right, has been subdued. Seven bridges, monumental of man's power and energy, span its rapid current, and I, young as I am, have seen the celebrations over those erected at your own city, Kansas City and St. Louis. What shall I say, in conclusion, of St. Joseph, proud and Queen City of the Northwest. I have declared she had no ancestry to boast of No ; .she has sprung into existence full fledged, armed at all points, and equipped for the battle of life, resting upon the strong arms of her own sons to carry her on to still greater victories than any yet' achieved in the past. Her proud career and commanding station in our state, furnishing as she has. Governors, Supreme Judges and other high state officials, and the home of such men as a Burnes, a Hall, a Woodson, a Craig and a Vories, reminds me of an anecdote of Gen. Jackson's administration. Shawnee was a great Indian warrior, the measure of whose fame filled his own nation and was the envy of surrounding tribes. He visited the great father, at Washington, and while there was asked by Mrs. Jackson, who did not know how sensitive every Indian warrior was upon the subject of his ancestry, who his father was. His face darkened with a cloud, but quickly recovering he said, years ago, the Great Spirit, in his wrath was angry at his red children, and in his fury, in the midst of storm and thunderings and lightnings, the Great Spirit smote the oldest and proudest oak of the forest, and rent it from top to bottom, and as it fell prone upon the earth, from out of its heart stepped Shawnee, a full-grown Indian warrior brave. So it is with St. Joseph, she sprang into existence full-grown, and her commanding position, as the gateway of the Northwest, will enable her to maintain her vantage ground.

Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen : - As there can be no motive to impugn the sincerity of the declaration that none of you can be more disappointed than I have been by the non-attendance of the distinguished citizen you came to listen to, who, as the orator of the day, would have so generally swept the field, I will waste no time in excusing myself for that want of preparation to properly supply his place which will soon enough become apparent to you all. I will proceed, therefore, at once to the duty which been assigned me, and shall hope to discharge it in such a manner as may be at least excusable as the results of the reflections of an hour or so instead of a week, or a month, as it would have been my dutj'^ and my pleasure to have expended upon a task so complimentary and so honorable had it been assigned me in time. As the chronologies and other items of precise information which should have entered so largely into an address of this character will have to be recalled from memory instead of the. more reliable sources with which I might have refreshed and better assured myself at home, I can but promise to-do the very best I can, and as no man has ever heard me premise a speech by excuse of any nature before to-day, it is felt that I may the more confidently rely even upon the indulgence of criticism, than I could have done had I been set to the task you have assigned me and in many respects failed to redeem your reasonable expectation. What I deem it appropriate to suggest in advance of anything that I may be prompted to bring up before this vast assembly, is to submit to the old settlers who thus so candidly and encouragingly honor us with their ear, the reverential recognition of an overruling Providence who has so loiig guijded and sustained us, and who has in like manner encouraged and sustained those who subsequently followed us to a country which is here so grandly represented in the all-embracing Exposition of the industries, the enterprise, and, in short, the progress and civilization which have grown up and gladden the eye and ear almost to the verge -of intoxication. All honor to the man and men of St. Joseph who pre- sided and have carried to consummation the magnificent Exposition which is before us and around us, and who have inaugurated this re-union of the old settlers who yet linger around and amdng them.

And what has brought us all to this pass since the distinguished President of this re-union and myself, with the hundred who are before us, were men of middle age .'' Those of us who are called " old settlers," and who are known accordingly in the programme, and in the badges of the day, are of course content that it be written of us as it has been, that we so blazed the way to what we see before us and around us as to encourage others to follow us up as they have done, and it may perhaps be added, without immodesty, that we have been strengthened and accredited to have so borne ourselves in the conflict to which our circumstances have committed us, each in his sphere, as to have at least not repelled such proper associations and enterprises as have since clustered around us, and as are typified before us to day. This little conceded, we as unreservedly concede the rest to others, each again in his sphere, and point again and again to this wondrous Exposition as the result of a progressiv^e and common civilization, the outcome, if we niay say, of the germs, which, however rudely planted, had nevertheless to be planted before there could be realized the fruition and fruits of to-day. May such and similar fruitage be progressive in the heritage of our children, and our children's children, who may remain to enjoy them ; or if in the untowardness of events, some of them shall feel constrained to go in , quest of new associations, and to embark upon newer fields of usefulness or of enterprise as their fathers once did, may they carry with them at least the sturdy manhood of their fathers, and continue to adorn and to benefit society, instead of inflicting a blemish upon it or staining it with a wrong.

What more shall I say in recognition of the distinction which puts me in the place of such a man as Alexander W. Doniphan, upon such an occasion as the present one ? Firstly, that I shall not be presumptious enough to expect to speak as he would have spoken, even by trying to say it in a different manner to what he would have said it, but simply to substitute as best I may such incidents or experiences as it may occur to me will be most indulgently received by the rows and tiers of benches, pit, box and gallery full, whi.ch so rise up and stretch out before me, as for the first time in fifty years to render me distrustful as to whether my voice can compass the audience which thus honors me with its ear. I briefly allude, therefore, to what I have witnessed, and the humbler part in which I was permitted to act during a period of many years in our state. It may be permissible to premise that when I first looked upon the City of St. Louis from the deck of a steamer which was about to land me there, during the winter of 1826-27, there was something in what seemed to the stately grandeur and the unerring prestige of the location which made me feel that the good old uncle, who had long resided there as a bachelor surveyor of the public lands, and who had invited and inticed me (young as I was) to come to him, buy the office of a newspaper establishment, which had been presided over by Thomas H. Benton, up to the period of his election to the Senate, and afterwards by Gen. Duff. Green, until his transfer to Washington, as the organ of what was then known as " the Jackson Party," at least intended great things for me, whether I could be brought up to them or not. I soon came to believe, however, that although the population of the city at that tihie was only about 6,000, it was too large a place for " one of my age," months afterward I transferred myself to a village of the interior with a small newspaper, then the extreme newspaper west.

And as I see before me some of these old settlers of Howard County whose acquaintance I made when they were commencing life, as I may say, at Fayette, it will at least be unpardonable should I not occupy the remainder of my time with what they and I then knew and have since come to know of the state and the people, of whom we form a part. The state was divided into four judicial circuits, the one over which the Fayette lawyer traveled extending from Montgomery and Gasconade Counties, and all westward on both sides of the river, to the state line inclusive. By and by a new circuit was organized in this end of the state, and as one of the Governor's military confidants was appointed to be Judge of it, but served as his aid-de-camp, the commander-in-chief, was courteously and confidently conferred upon me, which is the way I came to be Colonel about forty-five years ago. Then we had one member of Congress. Now we have thirteen - but even yet there are not half as many who can get to go to Congress as are willing to make the sacrifice. Then we had a mail once a week from St. Louis to Fayette in a stage, which the passengers had frequently to pry out of the mud and otherwise help along at the steep places. And from Fayette to Liberty, which was the county-seat of Western civilization of the United States, the mail was sent on horseback once a week.

What next ? By a treaty with the Indians, whose wigwams covered the country, perhaps the very spot from which I am thus permitted to address this vast assembly, it was agreed that they would be removed, by their consent, to the other side of the river, and that that should be thereafter the boundary between ourselves, and the red men. The state consenting, and Congress consenting, it was not long before the country was organized into counties and with representation in the Legislature, and with David R. Atchison, the President of this reunion, as Judge of this new Judicial Circuit. I wish it were so, sir, said the speaker, (turning to General Atchison), that we could more fully let you loose again from the more rigid conventionalities which but properly attach to an occasion of this nature - you and the lawyers who went around with you at your courts for the first year or so - ^just to hear you tell a few more stories as to the more primitive ways of an old horseback life, in contrast with the step by step advances which have brought us up not only to our palatial houses in our sojournments, but to our palace cars in carrying us there. But I must pause.

Our politics in those early times were at least none the worse for having in them a little more heart than they have since grown to have. But let that pass. Other parties had worked into the new names of National Republicans under such leaders as Clay and Webster, and Democrats under such leaders as Jackson and Van Buren, and later still, when the National .Republicans took the name of Whigs, as being more appropriate, to include all the outs against all the ins - there was war in the great earnestness of nothing - a Presidential election which left the country distrustful and embittered as it has come to be.

unless it was felt that he could in some respect do better, and when the Whigs won a big race (which was only about often enough to bring back the Democracy to a recollection that even the most powerful party could not brook the popular credulity or retribution as has since been done,) - when a presidential or state contest was their greatest thought, with it was felt that the country was nevertheless just about as safe as if it had gone the other way ; and we all (or nearly all) shook hands and drank each others health accordingly. As to those Pullman or palace cars to which I return, my friend Governor Hall, who is present, remembers how I was thrown down and made to go foot in our party- almost a quarter of a century ago for advocating that system of internal improvement, out of which they have since grown. I don't think Williard was ever any better Democrat than I was (and yet am) but he was a better party disciplinarian ; and to that, as well as to the patriotic furore which opportunely sent him (and a Doniphan) to Mexico, with musket at his shoulder, instead of longer continuing to oppose the road to India, as I then phrazed the road which carried our children and grand-children to California a few days ago, I believe he himself ascribes his election to Congress. Of course I would not thus publicly allude, in his absence, to my Congressional campaign with the Governor, when we were both much younger men than we now are, were it' not that I feel free to declare thatj as a political antagonist, he was as fair as he was unyielding, and that in the subsequent history of the railroad which he had opposed as a Congressional candidate,, he made it all up and more, too, as our Congressman elect. Although I am probably a trespasser beyond the line of a proper and considerate courtesy, I venture to add a few parting sentences in the reliance per chance that they may be worth remembering by the younger portion of this patient and listening assembly.

I see before me old men and old women of all creeds, and what are called no creeds, of whom I ask no more, nor they of me, than as Jehu asked of Jehonadab, is thine heart right .'' This much conceded, as under the old dispensation, the forbid him not of Christ, has sufficiently sufficed us for this present dispensation, and it is believed, I incur no risk in assuming, that the older we grow and the more we reflect, the more and more we have of reciprocal charity - the less and less of reciprocal bigotry. It but naturally follows such premises as these that "repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ" is all we require of each other on the score of Christian fellowship.

In respect to the neighborhood, a social requirement of these old settlers, such men (turning to Colonel Switzler) as the old Sachems who were looked up to in the early settlement of our old county of Howard - if a man was brave to always tell the truth and stand well up to it in a fight, his children could marry with the children of neighborliood aristocracies - and so it is with the present day. But as Keitt sai4 of the cock of South Carolina, who was loud in a crow but bashful in a fight, even the pullets had too much consideration for themselves and their po.sterity to run with them. Farewell, old settlers, and if forever farewell, we have the consciences to feel in parting (perhaps for the last time) that we have not only been faithful and true to each other, whether as friends or adversaries, but that in the public employment which has fallen to us, we have faithfully served our country; that we have never wronged her, and that in that respect we will be ready to meet the final inquiries of the Judge of all the earth. Farewell, old settlers, farewell.