Most of those men who came here in the prime of life, about the time that
father came, are gone. The country shows what they have done, but few
consider it properly. Some know what it was then and what it is now and
know also, that it has arrived at the exalted position it now occupies
through the iron will, clear brain and the steady unflinching nerve of
others. Yet they pass on in their giddy whirl and the constant excitement
of the nineteenth century, when wealth is piled at their doors, and
hardly think of their silent benefactors.
Who can think of what they have done and not feel their heart beat high
with gratitude, admiration and love to the Giver of all good, in that he
ever raised up Such glorious people as some of the Michigan pioneers
were? So enduring, so self-sacrificing, so noble--in fact, every element
necessary to make beings almost perfect seemed concentrated in them. I do
not say it would be right, for me to wish the pioneer to live forever
here, and labor and toil as is the common lot of man. He might be
surrounded by friends and loved ones and plenty of this world's goods,
and have time to look back upon his past life and see what he had been
through and accomplished.
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