Ohio History Journal

OHIO DAY AT THE JAMESTOWN EXPOSITION.

 

[For much of the material in the following account of "Ohio Day,"

at the celebration of which the Editor was present, indebtedness is due

to the official report of the Ohio Commissioners made by Mr. Stuart R.

Bolin, Circleville, Ohio, to the Governor of the state. Mr. Bolin was

Executive Commissioner to the Ohio Jamestown Commission, and resided

in the Ohio Building during the continuation of the Exposition. The

General Assembly of Ohio appropriated the sum of $75,000.00 for Ohio's

exhibit and building at the Exposition; of this sum $2,500.00 was allotted

the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society for its exhibit in

the History Building. The particulars of the Society's display are given

elsewhere in this Quarterly.-Editor.]

 

THE SONG OF OHIO.

When the God of our fathers looked over this land,

To choose out a country most worthy possessing,

Where the rivers and plains are beauteous and grand,

Might so constantly smile on the light of His blessing,

From Erie's broad waves to the river below,

The Scioto's sparkle and the Muskingum's flow,

And the graceful Miamis together rejoice,

And bless the All-Father with silver-toned voice.

 

'Twas here the good angel encamped with his host

To cheer the brave woodman, 'mid his toil and privation,

Whose sturdy ax fell, never grudging the cost,

To rear up such a State, as the gem of the nation;

Then join all your voices in grateful acclaim,

'Tis the triumph of toil in Jehovah's great name.

Our sons and our daughters together may sing,

The Might is the Right, and the Farmer is King.

 

Ohio Day was observed at the Jamestown Ter-Centennial

Exposition on Wednesday, September 11, 1907. The day proved

to be most propitious in weather conditions and attendance at

the exercises in the Auditorium    was the largest of any of the

state celebrations up to that time. The state of Ohio was largely

represented by visiting Buckeyes. A detachment of the 12th

(173)

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174      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications. United States cavalry escorted Governor Harris and party, ac- companied by his military staff, from the Ohio Building to the Auditorium, where the speaking began at eleven o'clock. On entering the Auditorium, Governor Harris was greeted by a burst of applause from the large audience, which received him standing, and by patriotic airs rendered by the National Band of Mexico, which organization furnished the musical program as a special compliment to Ohio by the government of Mexico. The Auditorium  stage was decorated with the national and Virginia and Ohio state flags and banners and the conspicuous feature was the noble bust of President McKinley, which had

at all times stood in the main recep- tion room of the Ohio Building. Up- on the stage were seated the Ohio Commission for the Jamestown Ex- position, consisting of Messrs. Brax- ton W. Campbell, Hamilton county; John P. Given, Putnam county; Clive C. Hanby, Fulton county; George W. Knight, Franklin county, and Ernest R. Root, Medina county. The cere- monies were initiated by Mr. Camp- bell, who in a few well chosen sen- tences announced the reasons for the present assemblage and lauded the plan and scheme of the Jamestown Ex-

position and deplored the unfavorable and unjust press criticism, which, he declared, had contributed largely to the financial failure of the exposition project, which however in the estimation of the speaker was so far counterbalanced by the sentimental and his-- toric associations of the exposition as to make it a very grand success and of lasting worth to the commonwealth and the nation. President Campbell then introduced Lieutenant Governor J. Tay- lor Ellyson of the exposition company, who extended a welcome to Ohio and her citizens and guests in the name of the exposition. After a musical selection, the president introduced Governor Claude A. Swanson of Virginia, who in the name of his state and its people welcomed the Buckeyes in that hospitable and en-

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Ohio Day at the Jamestown Exposition.    175   thusiastic way which ever distinguishes Southern hosts in re- ceiving their guests. Governor Swanson's remarks, entirely ex- temporaneous, were among the most brilliant and eloquent which the writer has ever heard upon a similar occasion. The Gov- ernor dwelt at some length upon the respective histories of Ohio and Virginia, their ties of relationship, Ohio being practically the first born child of Virginia, and in periods of most glowing rhetoric he pictured the loyalty of the Ohio troops and the Vir- ginia soldiers in the late Civil War, closing with glowing trib- utes to the character and nobility of each of the two great leaders in that war, Grant and Lee. Following Governor Swanson, Governor Harris was intro- duced and responded to Virginia's welcome in the name of Ohio and her people. Governor Harris' address is herewith given, but it is a source of great regret that we are unable to include his splendid introductory remarks or to give a proper idea of the fine spirit of dignity, manliness and Americanism which capti- vated his audience. ADDRESS OF GOVERNOR HARRIS. We are frequently reminded that we are passing through the com- memorative period of our national history. Since we arrived on the

scene of action too late to participate in colonial and revolutionary events, we may consider ourselves fortunate to have lived with the generation whose patriotic privil- ege it is to celebrate these sacred and inspiring anniversaries. They teach their lesson. They light the path along which we have traveled from humble beginnings to our present high estate. They help us to appreciate more fully what our free institutions have cost and what they are worth. The way has not been uniformly smooth nor has there at all times been unity of sentiment and action with refer- ence to moral, social and industrial prob- lems. Differences of opinion on minor questions will, perhaps, continue to exist, but Americans, and, indeed, the readers of history in every clime agree as to the

prime importance to the event that this exposition commemorates.

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176        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

The men who formed the first permanent English settlement on this

continent will ever stand forth in bold outline on the pages of history.

For months, through stormy seas, they sought the land of promise, and

declared, when they had found it, that "heaven and earth had never agreed

better to frame a place for man's habitation." There was much of truth

in the estimate, but the conditions under which the first settlers began life

in the new world changed this seeming paradise into a vanishing illusion.

The story of their struggles and sacrifices at Jamestown, their varied and

romantic relations with the primitive inhabitants, their heroic suffering

through "the starving time" and their ultimate success in opening up the

way for the westward course of Anglo-Saxon civilization will live in

legend and song for all time. It would be superfluous indeed, to dwell

upon it here. It belongs to the elementary history of our country.

The introduction of slavery in 1619 and the institution of represen-

tative government in the same year were momentous events in our colonial

annals. Under the providence of God, the former passed away and the

latter became universal in America. The little legislative assembly in

Jamestown became the forum in which Patrick Henry bade defiance to

George the Third of England. It later expanded into the Republic of

today. Modern representative government began in the Old Dominion.

It is her never-failing tribute to the nation and the world.

If the greatest gifts of a state are its illustrious men, Virginia will

ever have valid claim to preeminence. In later years Ohio has justly

claimed that to her has descended the honorable title of "mother of

presidents." Of the seven men elected to that high office in the last 40

years, five were born in Ohio. We have presidential timber for the

immediate future, and we believe that the supply will not be exhausted

for at least forty years to come. And Ohio is proud of the names that

she has given to history; but the eminence of Virginia is secure. No other

commonwealth can point to a George Washington, the Father of his

country, or a Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of Inde-

pendence and the expounder of the constitution, or a Patrick Henry, who

made the stirring appeal: "Give me liberty or give me death!"

In this ter-centennial year, Ohio reads with special interest and

pride the history of the Old Dominion, the parent commonwealth of the

Buckeye State.  In the French and Indian War, Washington, then a

young colonel, with a commission from Virginia, rendered distinguished

service in aiding to wrest the Ohio Valley from the French. In the

Revolution, George Rogers Clark, by his daring and brilliant expedition,

overthrew the British and secured to Virginia and, through her, to the

nation, the extensive and fertile territory beyond the mountains. As

one of your statesmen has well and truly said: "This man was not acting

in the conquest of the Northwest under the Continental Congress. He

was not in the service of the United States. He conducted his own ex-

peditions under a commission from Patrick Henry, the first American

governor of the Old Dominion. His soldiers were Virginians, enlisted and

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Ohio Day at the Jamestown Exposition.             177

 

paid by the State of Virginia-the only one of all the states that con-

ducted war on her own account and at the same time joined her sister

colonies in paying attention to her British brethren."

Our debt of gratitude does not end here. After Virginia generously

yielded her claims to this vast domain beyond the Ohio, her maternal

interest did not cease. In framing the Ordinance of 1787, the magna

charta of liberty in the Northwest, her early statesmen rendered distin-

guished and salutary service. In that famous compact occurs this clause

that has figured prominently in our history:

"There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said

Territory, otherwise than in the punishment of crimes whereof the party

shall have been duly convicted."

This section of the Ordinance, with a slight verbal change, later

became a part of the Constitution and made liberty universal in America.

While there is still some controversy as to its authorship, there is no

question in regard to Virginia's attitude. She gave it her most cordial

support. As the mists that float between the early and the later days of

our history pass away and we see in clearer perspective the long line of

events that connect the present and the past, Ohioans will appreciate more

fully their obligation to the parent state for the fundamental act that

made the Old Northwest, from the hour of its organized existence, the

abode of civil and religious liberty. Nor shall we forget that in later

years when an effort was made to modify the compact and nullify the

provision for universal freedom, that it was an eloquent senator from

Virginia, John Randolph of Roanoke, who came at the head of a Con-

gressional committee to its defense and declared:

"The rapid population of the State of Ohio sufficiently evinces that

the labor of slaves is not necessary to promote the growth and settlement

of that region. * * * The committee deem it highly dangerous and

inexpedient to impair a provision wisely calculated to promote the hap-

piness and prosperity of the northwestern country, and to give strength

and security to that extensive frontier."

The most cursory review of the relations of the two states would

be incomplete without references to the great civil conflict that for a time

separated them and arrayed them in contending armies. It is gratifying

to realize, however, before a generation has passed away, while those

who fought on either side are still living, that we have entered upon a

new era of "more perfect union" and are today, as never before in our

history, "one and inseparable."  On the graves of the departed, we lay

the tribute of peace and unity.

 

No more shall the war cry sever,

Or the winding rivers be red;

They banish our anger forever

When they laurel the graves of our dead!

Vol. XVII. 12.

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178        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

Under the sod and the dew,

Waiting the judgment day;

Love and tears for the Blue,

Tears and love for the Gray.

 

With no bitterness, with pride and gratitude and love rather, we

recall that what was the Old Dominion and now is Virginia and Ohio,

gave to history that modest soldier, that resolute leader, that silent man

or destiny, that "Wellington of American army," Ulysses S. Grant, and

that it also gave that manly man, that intrepid soul, that military genius,

that lion-hearted son of chivalry, Robert E. Lee. At Appomattox, Ohio

and Virginia, incarnate in these two brave men, brought to an end the

saguinary struggle and arranged the terms of an enduring peace.

I cannot refrain, in this connection, from repeating the words of your

eloquent statesman, Senator Daniel:

"And now in contemplating that subject, the rise, the fall and the

obliteration of slavery, and the permanent establishment of the Union, it

comes before my mind like the figure of some slender sapling into whose

side is driven a wedge. When the war ended that wedge had been with-

drawn. The sides of the young tree sprang together, the sap formed a new

bark around it and now it rises over us and for us all, a stately oak

which extends its roots deep down into the earth and waves its leaves

among the stars of heaven."

And we knew that what the Senator said was true, when we sud-

denly found ourselves face to face with the armaments of Spain,--when

we saw the Daniels and the Grants and the Lees don the blue and take

their places under the flag to do battle for the American ideals of

humanity, liberty and independence.

With the partiality and filial devotion of an elder child, we con-

gratulate the parent commonwealth upon the achievements of the past

and the bright prospect with which she enters upon a new century.

Nature blessed her with rich gifts, the extent of which even yet is not fully

realized. What a variety of scene and soil and climate and products and

resources from the mountains to the sea! The broken counties of the

west are rich in coal. Iron abounds. The mineral industries of the state

are still in their infancy. What has been brought to the surface is most

certainly but a prophecy of the wealth stowed away in the mountains.

The growing scarcity of timber has multiplied the value of the forests.

The valleys and arable uplands are growing, in increasing abundance,

cereal and orchard products. Tobacco is no longer king. The scepter

has passed to corn. The cultivation of vegetables and smaller fruits has

made the favored section around us the garden of the Republic.

The rivers, as they descend in their swift course to the lowlands and

the sea, are constant sources of power that is yet to be harnessed for

the service of man. Add to this the coal fields, and who can measure the

energy that this grand old commonwealth is to contribute to the produc-

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Ohio Day at the Jamestown Exposition.             179

 

tive and beneficient agencies of civilization. In every fiber she feels a thrill

that revives and animates the New South.

The Yankee is coming with his machine. If in the past he has

been somewhat troublesome at long range, he will be found a thrifty,

agreeable and useful neighbor. He appreciates the natural advantages of

the sunny southland. You have here in close proximity the raw ma-

terials and the power to convert them into finished products. The appli-

cation of capital and Yankee ingenuity is yet to light in greater numbers

throughout the state the forge and furnace fires and set in motion the

"whirling spindles and turning wheels." Commerce by rail and inland

waters and the sea is to receive a new impetus. Virginia is to find new

strength in the diversified industries that have made her daughter, Ohio,

pre-eminent among the states of the Middle West. And from no other

section in this broad land will come a more hearty God speed on this

prosperous career than from the loyal sons and daughters of the Buckeye

State.

In this message of good will from my state I bear the greeting of

many native Virginians who are now Ohioans by adoption. It is a fact

that while Ohio today includes in her population natives from each of the

New England states, and the Atlantic and Gulf states from North Caro-

lina to Texas, she has a larger number of Virginian birth than she has

natives from all of those states combined.

In conclusion, I wish to thank the Ohio Commissioners for the fidel-

ity with which, under circumstances at times somewhat discouraging, you

have administered the trust imposed by the joint-resolution under which

you were appointed. You were early on the ground. Your promptness

is to be commended. Your exhibits in the departments of archaeology and

education and agriculture and mines and other industries are highly

creditable. Your state building is a faithful copy of historic Adena, the

home of Thomas Worthington, by birth a Virginian, and by choice and

the favor of his fellow-citizens a distinguished pioneer statesman of Ohio.

Your memorial is happily chosen and full of appropriate suggestion.

In the name of Ohio, a "state most largely composed of territory

ceded to the United States by Virginia," I wish you and the entire man-

agement a larger measure of patronage and success through the remaining

days of this "Ter-Centennial Exposition."

 

After Governor Harris had concluded his address Mrs.

Blanche Armstrong Weinschenck, formerly of Ohio, rendered

the hymn "Lead Kindly Light." Her sweet tones, wonderful

range and absolute knowledge of her beautiful art and the

fact that she stood near the bust of McKinley before which was

a bouquet of his favorite carnations, brought home to the au-

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180       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.   dience, wherein were many of our martyred President's intimate friends, the full significance of the rendition of his loved hymn. The orator of the day was the Hon. Judson Harmon of Cincinnati, whose address is herewith given:   ADDRESS OF JUDSON HARMON. There are no States at whose celebrations Ohio is not a fitting guest. From those older than herself came the men and women who

opened her soil to the sunshine and re- placed the shifting wigwams of the sav- ages with the fixed habitations of civili- zation from which sprang the Common- wealth which sends us here. To the younger States Ohio has given her sons and daughters to do the like for them. So that, besides the bonds of race and political fellowship, she is joined for- ever to the other members of the Ameri- can Union by closer ties of kinship. Wherever she goes it is either to the abodes of her forbears or to those of her offspring, and in both she is equally at home because she has proved worthy of her descent and is proud of her de- scendants. The various peoples of the earth, as

they now exist, had their origin in migrations. These were sometimes in masses, sometimes as individuals; sometimes as conquerors expelling or absorbing existing inhabitants, sometimes as settlers of untenanted regions; to some places they came as a blessing, to others as a blight. But never in the hitory of the world, not even in that of our country, was there such a migration, or one with such a result, as that which in a little more than a century has founded and perfected the state which honors me today as one of her representatives. Secured as part of the new Republic at the close of the Revolution by sagacity and statesmanship of the highest order, the region bounded by the Ohio, the Lakes and the Mississippi lay a wilderness awaiting a des- tiny which Washington and Jay almost alone foresaw. The then three greatest nations of the earth had partly explored it and had battled and treated about it, but only as an incident to things they all thought more important. The few settlements made here and there along its chief waters were merely posts for traffic with the Indians. It was too distant for thought of general occupation by civilized men. King George had for-

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Ohio Day at the Jamestown Exposition.              181

 

bidden all attempts to settle it and, revoking all rights of the colonies

under their charters, had made it part of Canada.

After receiving control of it Congress first, by the great Ordinance

which was the forerunner of the Constitution, devoted this entire region,

whoever might become its inhabitants, to liberty, justice and equal rights

forever, and then, having nothing else to give, granted rights in it to the

soldiers of the Revolution and others who, impoverished by the war, had

to begin life anew. Some of these sold their rights but others risked the

hardships and perils which beset the long journey and awaited them at

the end of it.

The French had gone around by the lakes and the Spanish up the

Mississippi, so that not a settlement had they made in the easterly part

of this territory. But the Americans, following the routes of the great

continental pathfinders, the buffalo, reached that part first, and everybody

who ever saw Ohio knows why they went no further.

There flowed the beautiful river through the valley where the

forces of nature had for ages collected all the elements of fertility, with

the Muskingum, the Hocking, the Scioto and the Miamis flowing in from

the North, each through its broad rich valley. There was Lake Erie

smiling at the Cuyahoga, the Sandusky and the Maumee as they came to

it from the South. And between the heads of these rivers stretched the

great divide where the trails of the Indians and trappers carrying their

canoes across from one stream to another had traced the routes for

commerce.

These men did not come as conquerors to overthrow existing insti-

tutions; there were none. They sought no conflict with the savages who,

bent always on killing each other, wandered through the forests which

had overgrown the traces of two other races which had preceded them to

extinction. They did not come to impose on others religious creed or

civil authority. They merely sought homes they could call their own

where the soil would reward their husbandry and their children enjoy

the broader possibilities of a new country.

Some of them came from New England to take up lands reserved

in the grants to Congress; some from the Middle States where the war

had wrought the severest domestic injuries; some came from the Southern

States; but from nowhere came more or better settlers than from Virginia.

This was natural and fit. The pioneers whose settlement here three

hundred years ago we now celebrate and their successors had better

founded charter rights to the Western country than any of the other

colonies. Then Virginia troops under General Clarke had taken it from

the British during the Revolution and it had been formally attached to

the Old Dominion as the County of Illinois. These facts had enabled Jay,

Franklin and Adams as our peace commissioners to make and maintain

a claim to it.

And it was Virginia which closed the long and often bitter dispute

among the States over their claims to these lands. She authorized her

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182        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

delegates in Congress to convey all her rights to the United States.

Thomas Jefferson carried his authority to the delegation and was one of

the signers of the grant which became the first muniment of title to the

territory which now includes five States of the Union and part of a sixth.

It was fitting that Ohio, the first entirely new State, admitted to the

Union just twenty years later without the usual tutelage as a separate

territory, should cast her first electoral vote for Thomas Jefferson as

President of the United States.

The causes already mentioned would have assured to the lineage of

Ohio a strain of Virginia blood, but this was made broader and finer by

the reservations which Virginia made in her grant to the United States.

She retained a large area for General Clark and his soldiers. These were

only plain backwoodsmen, but they accomplished more than any equal

number ever did in the history of mankind; and they did it by a com-

bination of courage and endurance for which I know of no parallel.

Their leader has well been called the "Hannibal of the West," because,

without support from his distant government, itself struggling with the

foe on its own soil, he held his conquests to the end of the war.

The retreat of the ten thousand, the charge of the six hundred and

other examples of heroism have been immortalized, though they mostly

lacked permanent results. American literature has not yet exalted above

simple narrative the mid-winter march of our two hundred and the

capture of the entire and more numerous British garrison of Fort Vin-

cennes, including its commander. And this was no fruitless display of

military genius and heroism, for it protected the patriots from further

attack from the rear during the remaining years of the war for independ-

ence and gave to five great States a birthplace and a home.

Virginia also made reservations for her revolutionary soldiers. All

these lands were rapidly settled by families who both in public and private

life have been large factors in the growth and greatness of Ohio. They

extend from the Scioto to the Little Miami and are still known as the

Virginia Military Reservation. My selection by the Commission has at

least one element of fitness, for on that reservation I was born.

Before the great National road was projected, Virginia had estab-

lished a highway from Alexandria to Marietta; and Washington urged the

opening of communication with the Western country by portages from

stream to stream across the mountains.

So while Ohio comes, like all the world, to join in celebrating one of

the great events of history-the first permanent settlement of our race on

the continent of North America, she comes with more than a general

interest, because if any State more than another can be called the mother

of Ohio that State is Virginia.

But the Old Dominion, in making to the Union a grant of her

western rights, did more than secure homes for her soldiers. Her coun-

cils were directed by men whose profound study of government and far-

sighted purpose were making our Revolution more than a successful re-

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Ohio Day at the Jamestown Exposition.          183

 

bellion. They were designing and building a Republic on a plan until

then untried.

Our present Republic had not yet been formed, but it was apparent

that the old Confederation must be replaced by a more perfect Union of

the colonies which had become independent States, and the character of

that Union was already taking form in their minds. It would be a gov-

ernment endowed with certain powers of the States, delegated to it by

them to be used for their common protection and welfare. But, by reason

of its origin and nature it could have no existence apart from the States

which composed it, and no functions except those devolved on it by

them. The principle of local self government or home rule was too im-

portant and too deep-seated in the hearts of the people of all the States

to be yielded, or even qualified further than was necessary to create a

lasting Federal Union.

What use could the Federal government have for a region great

enough for an empire in itself? None except to open it for settlement.

And what relation were the settlers to have with the States or the new

Republic? Some of the States could not extend their boundaries, and

jealousies would be aroused if those which could should do so. More than

a century was to pass before anybody would suggest that the general

government has imperial powers and may acquire and hold territory for

its own aggrandizement without regard to present or prospective ad-

mission as new States.

Home rule means a government created and carried on at home by

home agencies which are thus never out of touch with the people. As

Virginia soon after consented to separate statehood for Kentucky, be-

cause the government beyond the mountains at Richmond was not home

rule for Kentuckians, though they had a voice in it, so she did not seek

to impose government from a distance on the people beyond the Ohio, but

secured for them the same right her own people enjoyed.

That there might be no question about the political future of the

country she gave up, Virginia made and Congress accepted her grant on

the express condition that "the territory so ceded shall be laid out and

formed into States, not less than three nor more than five, to be distinct

Republican States and admitted members of the Federal Union having

the same rights of sovereignty, freedom and independence as the other

States."

This was no doubt the precedent for the similar condition in the

later grant by France of the Louisiana region which expanded our

boundaries to the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean. And the course

so provided has been followed without exception with respect to all ter-

ritory settled by Americans. Arizona, New Mexico and Alaska alone do

not yet enjoy the rights of statehood, unless Oklahoma is to be stopped

at the door.

More than a century of experience under this dual form of govern-

ment has proved its fitness and sufficiency for the needs of our people. In

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184        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

each state they have built up and carry on for themselves institutions under

which protection, justice, education and public convenience are provided,

and civil rights defined and secured. Those whom they entrust with the

making and enforcement of laws are chosen by themselves from their

own number and act under their own hand and eye. And they have at

the same time a voice in the conduct by the general government of the

foreign and general affairs committed to it.

The people of Ohio cherish still as they always have done the

"rights of sovereignty, freedom and independence," as well as the mem-

bership in the Union, thus secured to them. They might have gained

these otherwise, but are none the less grateful for the precaution taken

by Virginia which assured them. And they have justified her by the use

they have made of these rights.

They realize that for a people who have set out to govern them-

selves to look to some one else, no matter who to help govern them is

a confession of unfitness. They are proud of the governor who when

pleaded with to call for Federal troops said Ohio could take care of her-

self, as she did.

And the people of Ohio have no excuse for lapsing from the virtue

of self reliance. They have shown that they know how to deal with trusts

and combinations organized and conducted in defiance of the laws of

trade and the rules of fair dealing. They are sure they better than others

can control without crippling the corporations they create and fix the con-

ditions on which those created by other sovereignties may do business

within their borders. And they are not willing to yield the right to do this

to any other power, or to have it qualified save by the condition, to which

they have given irrevocable consent, that they must act justly with re-

spect to rights lawfully acquired.

It is a matter of no personal interest to me, because my aim in life

has never been to amass wealth, but I am not taken with the idea of

seeking to limit by law the acquisition of fortunes. The smallest fortune

is too great if it be dishonestly or unfairly gained. With laws so

framed as not to impose unnecessary charges on the people which operate

to give some advantages over others, and with laws impartially enforced

to prevent unfair methods and corrupt practices, no fortunes will be

"swollen," which implies unnatural and perverted growth.

Nor with our well tested systems of inheritance and restriction of

entailments will fortunes long remain in unworthy hands; while fair got-

ten wealth has neither temptation nor occasion to seek illicit favors from

officials who make and enforce the laws. And in our free country every

man who thinks happiness lies in wealth has the right to get as rich

as he honestly can. All we should demand is that he shall not increase

his gains by withholding from the laborer his just reward or adding

hardships to his lot, nor by depriving others of their gains by unfair

competition. And he must bear his due share of the expenses of the gov-

ernments which protect him in pursuit and possession.

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Ohio Day at the Jamestown Exposition.              185   But if for the first time in the history of the race somebody is to draw a line around thrift and enterprise, I am sure Ohio will insist on trying the experiment for herself. For all economic measures are neces- sarily experiments, especially those which deal with new conditions. And when the atmosphere is charged with discontent and resentment, no mat- ter how just, the eye is not always sure nor the hand always steady, so that results not intended or desired may follow. The people of each State can best decide for themselves, from time to time, what measures to adopt and judge their operation and effect. They can better and more promptly correct or change them to suit their case, as trial may suggest.  And each State will have benefit of the experience of the other States as well as its own. If a measure prove wise it will be promptly adopted wherever conditions require it. If it prove unwise the less scope it has the better. What higher hope can I express, in conclusion, than that when Virginia and Ohio meet from century to century, as no doubt they will, to celebrate their origin on this spot, they may greet each other, as they do today, as "free, independent and sovereign" States whose dignity is magnified and glorified, not reduced or obscured, by the Union to whose greatness they contribute and in whose glory they share.

The poet of the occasion was Miss Anna Piatt Worthington, great- granddaughter of Governor Thomas Worthington, resident of Chillicothe, builder and owner of the famous mansion known as Adena, which at the time of its erection was the most magnificent mansion west of the Alleghenies. It was this residence which was reproduced as the Ohio Building on the Jamestown Expo- sition grounds.  Miss Anna Piatt Worthington being unable to be pres- ent, the poem was read by her sister, Miss Martha Worthington.

ADENA. There is a quiet lake, its silver deeps Cool-fringed with grasses, lovely "Ellensmere." The high, bright heavens seem within its heart A mystic world, far-shining, softly clear.

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186        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

The gentle whispering ripples kiss the shore

Where rugged hills in darksome beauty rise,

Soft-drifted o'er with changing light and shade,

Deep-wooded, silent 'neath the silent skies.

 

The murmuring brooks that gleam through alder blooms

Shine here and there with many a bend and turn,

Like paths of glancing jewels in the sun,

Or darkly bright 'neath shadowing rock and fern.

And 'round the hill's green side a golden road

Winds ever upward, under arches free

Of oak and swaying elm and, flowering fair,

Ohio's pride, the sturdy buckeye tree.

 

Far on the hill's high summit lies a space

Broad-girdled by the dim, old forest wall,

Where magic seems to guard the sweet content

Of sunlit silence resting over all;

The wide, green lawns that reach so fair and far

Surround an ancient house, deep-walled and strong.

Against its gray, old stones the roses dream

And, clustering cling the pillared porch along.

 

Beneath the sun a terraced garden lies

Stately and sweet, where all fair flowers grow.

Guarding the broad, straight walks, in silence stand

The Yucca's dark-hued spears in seried row.

Bright bowers, fair, veiling vines and starry blooms,

And in the midst of myriad roses sheen

The mighty cedar that a hundred years

The changing sway of bud and bloom has seen.

 

Through fitful spaces lovely landscapes shine,

Clover and tasseled corn and meadows wide,

The blue Scioto winding through the vale,

The distant town against the mountain side.

Afar, Mount Logan rears its storied crest,

Where the sun's rising rays each morn reveal

The golden fields of ripened wheat below,

The picture, fair Ohio's mighty see.

 

Where through Adena's windows steals the light,

Faint-glimmering throughout the ancient hall,

It sees among the portraits grave and old,

'Neath storied sword and spur upon the wall.

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Ohio Day at the Jamestown Exposition.            187

 

An honored picture, his who built so fair,

The soldier-statesman, who, in days of stress,

Toiled 'midst the brave, high-hearted pioneers

To make a garden of the wilderness.

 

From old Virginia he, blessed with her dower

Of courage high. Could nobler gift be given?

'Twas on her shore that our fair freedom's flower

Raised its first, bravely shining bud toward heaven!

Ah, those who went to brave the Western wilds,

To fell the forest, rout the savage foe,

Full well they showed how mighty were the sons

Of that first honored home of long ago.

 

Gathered in that first, many-memoried home,

On grand old Jamestown's honored soil we stand,

The sister States to her their greetings bring,

Freedom's first bulwark in our glorious land!

And here, as in some tale of Eastern lore,

Adena's walls, new-raised, show fair and strong.

Built by Ohio's hand, they witness well

Her dauntless strength the Western hills among.

 

Here, where the courtly Governor, of yore,

Gave stately welcome to his dwelling place,

Ohio's brave and gallant sons now greet

Virginia's deathless chivalry and grace-

Throng, as of old, beneath Adena's roof,

Hearts loyal to our country's high behests,

Making the ancient halls where welcome reigns,

Honored and proud to hold such noble guests.

 

Many   representatives of the Ohio     Society, Sons of the

American Revolution, were present and as a special tribute of

that Society to the program of the day, Colonel W. L. Curry,

President, Ohio Society, S. A. R., wrote the following poem,

which was distributed through the audience:

 

"OUR PATRIOTIC SIRES."

Today around this festal board,

With wonted zeal burn Freedom's fires;

Today we crown anew the sword

And musket of our patriot sires;

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188        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

And down Time's vistas seems to come,

Clear and distinct, from far away,

The long, shrill roll of Freedom's drum,

Which eager beats the battle fray.

 

And as the mists of Time dissolve,

We catch the glint of blade and gun,

Which did a burning question solve

Upon the sward of Lexington;

Ah, from the dim, heroic past,

Replete with actions of renown,

We hear the mutt'rings of the blast

Which tore a jewel from a crown.

 

Who would not trace his lineage back

To those who in the foremost line

Stood firm 'mid battle's heat and wrack,

That fated day at Brandywine?

Or saw the flags of victory wave

Amid the hurtling leaden rain,

Where like a rock stood Schuyler brave

On Saratoga's deathless plain?

 

Hail to the men who made us free!

Hail to the stainless swords they drew!

A thousand years will never see

Forgetfulness of men so true;

Their deeds will live while grandly waves

The flag of a united land

Above their scattered, sacred graves,

From mountain height to ocean strand.

 

In silence drink to hero sires,

Who wrote upon the scroll of fame

With valor 'mid the battle fires,

Full many an immortal name;

With pride today each patriot cheek

Around this board with love doth glow,

And tongues of eloquence will speak

Of those who battled long ago.

 

The exercises in the Auditorium were followed by a luncheon

to the Governor of Ohio and his party by the Jamestown Ex-

position authorities, given at the Swiss Alps restaurant. At 4:30

in the afternoon the Ohio officials, visitors and officials of the

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Ohio Day at the Jamestown Exposition.      189

 

Jamestown Exposition assembled at the reviewing stand and

witnessed a parade in honor of the occasion. In the reviewing

party, besides the Governors of Ohio and Virginia, were Major

General Frederick Dent Grant of the United   States Army,

Rear Admiral R. F. Harrington, retired, of the United States

Navy, and Adjutant General A. B. Critchfield of Ohio. The

parade was composed of a battalion of the engineers of the

Ohio National Guard, stationed at Cleveland, commanded by

Major J. R. McQuigg. This battalion was followed by the

12th United States cavalry, the 3rd United States artillery and

the 23rd United States infantry, and the 2nd infantry of the

Ohio National Guard, commanded by Colonel E. S. Bryant.

The day of festivities was terminated by a reception in the

evening at the Ohio State Building, which had been beautifully

decorated, appropriate to the occasion. Many hundreds of guests

enjoyed Ohio's hospitality on this occasion and were welcomed

by the receiving line, in which were Governor Harris and staff,

Mrs. Harris, Governor Swanson, Mrs. Swanson, President Camp-

bell and Mrs. Worthington.

 

 

OHIO "ADENA" BUILDING.

The Ohio State Building, one of the most artistic and historic

of the state buildings at the exposition, was located upon a

choice site facing the water front between the Missouri and

the Georgia buildings.  It was an exact reproduction of the

famous Worthington home, known as "Adena," which stands up-

on a hill just outside of Chillicothe in Ross county, Ohio, and

overlooks the valley of the River Scioto and across the pictur-

esque mountains beyond. The site was selected by Thomas

Worthington for a home when he came out of Virginia with his

wife and family and followers to set up his hearth-stone in the

then Territory of Ohio and carve out his name and fortune in the

rich wilderness, big with possibilities for wealth, fame and the ad-

vancement of civilization. In his report to the commission re-

garding the reproduction of Adena, Prof. John N. Bradford, of

the Ohio State University, the architect who directed the repro-

duction and the erection of the Ohio State Building, said, "So

far as my study of history of American architecture goes, there

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190       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications. is not another structure possessing the interest, from the historic architectural standpoint in all the Central States. It is well-pro- portioned, fine in its architectural composition, with simplicity and dignity as strong features. *  *  *  The interior is typical of the convenience and comfort possessed by those old Virginia houses." As to the builder; in the Territorial Legislature of 1799 Thomas Worthington was a representative. He became the first Senator from Ohio, serving from 1803 until 1808 and again from

1810 until 1815 and was elected Governor of Ohio in 1814, serv- ing from the time he was inducted into office in 1815 until 1818. With Tiffin, Massie, McArthur and a few more sturdy, brave-hearted young men who left homes of wealth and the paths of peace to carve out new fortunes by personal endeavor and hardship, Worthington became one of Ohio's founders and one of the Nation's great men. While Thomas Worthington was Senator from Ohio, in 1805, he completed "Adena," "the gray, historic mansion" on the hill overlooking Paint Creek and the Scioto River, and it was at that

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Ohio Day at the Jamestown Exposition.     191

 

time, as now, since its restoration by its present owners, one of

the most truly historic homes of the country.

Worthington was one of Ohio's strongest, wisest and best

counsels, and the state recognized his genius by making him

Governor, following his brother-in-law, Governor Tiffin, both

members of the famous "Virginia Junta."

Thus Adena became the real Executive Mansion and from

its walls emanated many of the very foundation principles of our

organic law and early enactments. The Ohio good roads, the

canals, which did so much to develop our latent riches, and the

common school system received their impetus here.

So beautiful was the site for the residence that brilliant

Tom Marshall of Kentucky rapturously exclaimed "Had Tom

Moore seen this valley he would have sung of the Vale of Scioto

not Avoca."

Behind its external beauty Adena sheltered as artistic an

interior but, more than all else, there dwelt within warm hearts

filled with lavish hospitality and love for the society of kindred

spirits so that the value of Adena for our purposes lies not alone

in its architectural beauty and merit but because it has fostered

so many great ideas, fundamental to our superior state govern-

ment and institutions, and sheltered so many distinguished guests.

Bernard, Duke of Sax-Weimar Eisenbach was entertained

there during a short tour and upon his return home, after months

of travel through many grand and beautiful places, he sought

out young James Worthington, then travelling in Europe, in

order to repay the hospitality of Adena and on finding him wel-

comed him as a brother, exclaiming "I have seen the beautiful

Chillicothe, and the dear, dear home, and the father and mother."

Among the distinguished visitors at Adena were J. C.

Breckenridge and his wife, parents of Vice President John C.

Breckenridge, who first came to enjoy the hospitality, romance

and sentiment of the surroundings while on their wedding

journey; Mr. and Mrs. Henry Clay, Mrs. Pope, sister of John

Quincy Adams, Judge Todd and his wife, who was a sister of

"pretty Dolly Madison" and many others. Adena also welcomed

Lewis E. Cass, Governor DeWitt Clinton, President Monroe and

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192       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.   Tecumseh, the Shawnee Chief, the last and greatest hero of his race. It was at the Adena residence, while standing at one of the broad doorways with Worthington and other members of a legis- lative committee, after a prolonged night session, looking over the fertile valley dotted with sheaves of grain, where once flew the deadly arrows of our first Americans, to the beautiful stream flowing at peace along the base of the "mountain range" beyond, behind which the morning sun was just sending forth his rays, that the beautiful inspiration for Ohio's present great seal burst upon the mind of William Creighton, then Secretary of State.

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