THE PASSING OF THE PIONEER

Down the last of the trails they are bearing,
In a solemn and glorious line,
Through the valley of death they are faring,
With a soul unafraid and divine—
With that soul that was ever divine—
The pioneer fathers are passing,
And this thing ye shall take for a sign.

For with every white head that is sinking
For with every aged heart that is dead,
Ye are losing gold threads in the linking
Of traditional days that are sped,
The epic dumb eternally sped—
With the gift of their stern tribulation
Which now carpets the path that ye tread.

There is never a zephyr soft-sighing,
Where the primeval forest once lay,
There is never a patriarch dying,
But a story is passing away—
And a glory is passing away—
Of the humble who founded a nation
In the travail and stress of the day.

Though the shanty that crouched in the clearing
Is a ghost in the wrack of the past,
Though your pioneer fathers are nearing
The dark trail that is blazoned the last—
Though they pass down this trail that is last—
Yet their spirits will hover above ye,
In the wind and the stars they will love ye,
For the fight they will strengthen and prove ye.
Till they mould ye the pioneer cast.

CAMERON KESTER

CONTENTS

Foreword
Chapter I — What it Looked Like
Chapter II - What Was Going On
Chapter III — Building and Clearing
Chapter IV — The First Settlement
Chapter V — No. 3 Company, 31st Regiment
Chapter VI — Development and Decay
Chapter VII — The Churches
Chapter VIII — The Schools
Chapter IX — The Public Libraries
Chapter X — Societies and Social Amusements
Chapter XI — A Meritorious Record
Chapter XII — A Few of the First
Chapter XIII — Conclusion