Ohio History Journal

36       Ohio. Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.   This state was the thoroughfare for all the races and all the people in their struggle to reach the west. Its foundations were laid by the very best brains of this country, when that great Amer- ican stream of settlers founded this composite Ohio. Wherever you look you will find the Ohio man; and as long as we have The Ohio Archaeological and Historical Society to per- petuate the greatness of the Ohioan, and mark the places where they have accomplished their great acts, Ohio will live long in the history of the country.     DR. NAYLOR'S POEM-"THE HARDY PIONEER."

When the century old was dying And the new was waking to birth, When the shortening days were flying Like the shadows across the earth; When the speeding months were a-shiver In the fall of the fading year, To the banks of the bonny river Came the hardy pioneer.   No castle secure and massy, No orchard or field of grain, No meadowland smooth and grassy

Found he in his vast domain; For the earth in its pristine glory Knew naught of the tiller's ban- And the solitude lisped the story Of a land unspoiled by man.   But the woods were his for the asking, And the streams at his door, and the fish - While the game on the hillsides basking Was the fruitful fact of his wish. And the nuts, in a fit of vagrance, Dropped into his waiting hand - And the fall flow'rs shed their fragrance Over all the bounteous land.

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Big Bottom and Its History.             37

 

His home was a log-built cottage,

His hearth was a bed of clay;

And a pone and a mess of pottage

Were his at the close of day.

No longer had he to stifle -

His domain was the trackless wild;

And his dogs and his flintlock rifle

Stood next to his wife and child.

 

The sun, in its midday splendor,

Lent cheer with its kindly light,

And the moon, wan-faced and tender,

Smiled down on his cot at night.

But his heart was a-dread with the vastness,

And a-chill with the Frost King's breath-

And afar in the forest fastness

Lurked the skeleton shade of Death!

 

The old year died - and was shrouded

In a mantle of spotless white,

And the pall of his bier beclouded

The moon and the stars from sight;

But the settler, safe in his shelter-

Where the flames on his hearth leaped high,

Cared naught for the fearsome skelter

Of the North Wind moaning by.

 

But is that the voice of the mourner

A-wail through the leafless trees,

That brings the gaunt hound from his corner-

And the child to his father's knees?

Ah, no! 'Tis no night wind benignant

That the poor settler knows so well;

'Tis the sound of the awful, malignant,

And devilish Indian yell!

 

Small need is there now for reciting-

Meager need for the poet to tell

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38        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

How the brave pioneer fell fighting,

How his dauntless wife fought and fell.

Let the autumn breeze whisper the story,

Till the rustling reeds quiver and wave -

Till the goldenrod showers its glory

O'er the pioneer's lowly grave.

 

As for us - when the spring flow'rs are peeping

From the frost-freed mould beneath,

And the ice-freed river is leaping

Like a flashing blade from its sheath,

Let us gather the first wild beauty

We can find on the brown earth's breast,

And place it here -as a duty -

Where the pioneer lies at rest.

 

And again - when the summer is dying,

And the year is growing old,

When the russet leaves falling and flying

Fetch a message of coming cold,

Let us deem it a noble pleasure

Once more to assemble here

And bring a late autumn treasure

To the hardy old pioneer.

 

Thus in the "falling of the year" almost one hundred and

fifteen years after the first scenes were enacted at Big Bottom,

a patriotic people assemble, and with music, speech and poetry

do honor to the noble army of pioneers, who gained for them

the land they now hold, and to the venerable man who has given

over to his fellow citizens, a perpetual memorial to the "winning

of the west" and to his own generous spirit.

The Ohio Archaeological and Historical Society willingly

accepts the guardianship of this historic site. It feels that as a

state institution, organized for the purpose of furthering interest

in our state's history, that it can do nothing better than to aid in

preserving for the coming generations, the "land marks of the

fathers."

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