Conservative. V.n
" "
"THE DEATH-SONG OF THE HEMLOCK.
Ye say I am old I am old and ye threaten to
how me down ,
-Lest the roof of your puny dwelling should be
crushed by my heavy crown ;
Te measure my spreading branches , ye mock
me with idle fears
Ye pygmies that creep at my footstool , what
know ye of age or years ?
I reckon ye all an shadows I Yo are but as clouds
that pass
Over the face of the mountains andover the
meadow grass ;
Your generations are phantoms ; like wraiths
they come and go ,
Leaving no trace behind them in the paths they
used to know 1
But 11 For six hundred rolling years 1 have
stood like a watchtower , I ?
I have counted the slow procession of Centuries
circling by I
I have looked at the sun unblnnching , I have
numbered the midnight stars ,
Nor quailed when the flery serpent leaped from
its cloudy bars 1
Or ever ye were a nation , or your Common
wealth was born ,
I stood on this breezy hill-top , fronting the
hills of morn ;
In the strength of my prime uplifting my head
above meaner things ,
Till only the strong winds reached it , or the
wild bird's sweeping wings !
It was mine to know when the white man
ventured the unknown seas ,
And silence fled before him , and the forest
mysteries ;
I rose , his towers and steeples that pierced the
unfathomed sky ,
And his proud domes darkened the Heavens
but above them all soared II
He builded his towns and cities , and his man
sions fine and fair ,
And slowly his fertile meadows grew wide in
the tranquil air ;
He stretched his iron pathways from the
mountains to the sea ,
But little cared I for his handiworkl 'Twas
the One Great God made me !
The Earth and the Sun and the mighty Winds
and the Great God over all ,
These bade me stand like a sentinel on the hill
top grand and tall.
Enow ye that a hundred years ago men called
me old and worn t
Yet here I tower above their graves , and laugh
them all to scorn I
For what are threescore years and ten , ye
creatures of a day ?
Ye are to mo like the flying motes that in the
sunshine play 1
Shall I tremble because ye threaten , and whis
per that I am old I
I will die of my own free , lordly will , ere the
year has shed its gold I
But till then , as I stood or ever the land of your
love was born ,
I will stand erect on my hill-top , fronting the
hills of morn ;
In the pride of mine age uplifting my head
above meaner things ,
Till only the strong winds reach it , or the wild
birds' sweeping wings I
Julia 0. R. Dorr , in Bazar.
POLITICAL INDEPENDENCE.
Mr. Louis R. Ehrich , of Colorado
Springs , who is well-known to the read
ers of THE CoNSErvATiVE , will , in the
near future , contribute an article on
"Political Independence. "
PIPESTONE.
In the interesting historical article by
Mr. Blackmail iu No. 81 of THE CON
SERVATIVE , mention is made of a frag
ment of red pipestone , which the writer
says must have come from the Minnesota
quarry , ' 'as it is found in no other place. ' '
It does not interfere with Mr. Black-
man's argument to point out that the
Indians had other sources of this com
modity besides the one mentioned , so
long as these were in the same general
direction from the point where the
object in question was found.
Alexander Mackenzie , who produced a
book on the fur trade of the northwest
in 1801 , speaks of a bay of Rainy Lake ,
or Lac de la Pluie , as he calls it , which
hefsaye "is remarkable for furnishing
the natives with a kind of soft , red
stone , of which they make their pipes. "
Rainy Lake is 011 the northeastern boun
dary of Minnesota , while the famous
pipestone quarry is near the southwest
ern corner of the state.
In the singular work , some thirty
years old , called "The White Chief , " to
which the name of George P. Belden is
attached , the statement is made that the
red soapstone. used by t the Indians for
making their pipes is found in nearly
every part of the American continent.
The author speaks particularly of a de
posit 011 the Iowa bank of the Missouri ,
which , he says , "makes beautiful pipes. "
Mr. Blackmail's impression that the
quarry in Pipestoue county , Minnesota ,
was the only place where this material
was obtained , is , however , that which
generally prevails. Dealers in Indian
curiosities with whom I have talked ,
and who usually have a few specimens
of this ware in their stock , obtaining it
from the manufacturers in Sioux Falls ,
all seem to believe that there was no
other source for it. Catlin , the painter ,
who went to the famous quarry some
time in the 80's , is very positive also.
"No tribe of Indians that I have yet
visited , " he says , "have ever apprized
me of any other source than this. ' ' And
again , "I challenge the world to.produce
anything like it , except it be from the
same locality. " '
And yet Mackenzie's evidence seems
conclusive , whatever may be thought of
Belden's ; for Mackenzie was a great
and notable explorer , and the first man
to reach either the Arctic or the Pacific
ocean by land. A. T. R.
The 12th bieu-
KANSAS. nial report of the
Kansas State
Board of Agriculture is useful and in
structive literature from the facile pen
of F. D. Coburn who' is a cogent and
interesting writer. He is' the master of
facts and figures and he makes them
slaves to tell the wondrous crops of
cereals , cattle , hogs , and sheep that the
farms of Kansas are putting on the mar
kets.
, Congressman
ALWAYS "NEXT. " Lentz of Ohio , in
troducing the .per
petual populist presidential candidate at
a recent banquet , said :
"The last time I had the" pleasure of
introducing Mr. Bryan to you I intro
duced him as the next president' the
United States. I again introduce him
to yon as ! did then. ' '
It is not often that THE CONSERVATIVE
is able to commend , without violence to
its conscience , the oral deliverances of
populist orators. The speech of Mr.
Lentz is however an exception. A large
majority of the citizens of this republic
will join THE CONSERVATIVE in indorsing
the sentiment of this introduction and
will joyously and generously accord to
the "peerless" in perpetuity the posi
tion of next president. - -
PIONEER REMINISCENCES.
*
With increasing years we are disposed
to be more interested in reminiscences
and I assure you I have read those in
THE CONSERVATIVE with much pleasure
for I was one of the pioneers of the
Missouri valley myself. In November ,
1855,1 canie from Cedar Rapids , Iowa ,
to Fort Dodge , Iowa , by stage. , Froin
there to "Fort" Des Monies and Council
Bluffs ( about 250 miles ) , also by stage.
I arrived in Council Bluffs in December ,
1855 , being 21 years old that month , and
was there about ten days , visiting
Omaha , etc. Of course you know what
both towns were then and also remem
ber the deep snow and cold weather of
that season. Again I took stage for
Sioux City and after a ride of two days
reached my destination bii December
26 , 1855 , and found a town of. eight log
cabins. I need not remind you that
that winter and the following ones of
1856 and 1857 were terribly severe. But
we were all young and didn't get cold or
mind the privations. ]
GEO. WEARE.
Sioux City , la. , Feb. 8 , 1901.
THF PRUDENTIAL INSURANCE CO. "
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Prudential Life Insurance company and
its splendid management , but inspires ,
confidence in the great life insuring
- - - - - * - * * -
public at large.
