Breathes there a man with soul so dead, "This is my own, my native land!'' Whose heart hath ne'er within him burned, As home his footsteps he hath turned From wandering on a foreign strand? If such there breathe, go, mark him well; For him no minstrel raptures swell; High though his titles, proud his name, Boundless his wealth as wish could claim,Despite those titles, power, and pelf, The wretch, concentred all in self, Living, shall forfeit fair renown, And, doubly dying, shall go down To the vile dust, from whence he sprung, Unwept, unhonored, and unsung. - SIR WALTER SCOTT. CIVICS THE COMMUNITY AND THE CITIZEN CHAPTER I THE BEGINNING OF A COMMUNITY Why the ABOUT Seventy years ago a company of people in New York thought of founding a settlement in the far West. Their purpose was to build a college for the education of Christian ministers. Their first settlement step toward actual settlement was to appoint an exploring committee to search for a suitable site, and a committee to find families who were willing to go. was made The exploring committee was given instructions to examine the following points: I. What is the quality of the water in wells and springs? What the exploring 2. Do the streams in the neighborhood rise committee in, or pass through, swamps? Or do they rise was to look from springs? Are they rapid or sluggish? 3. Are there marshes in the vicinity? 4. Is the land level or rolling? 5. What is the quality and depth of the soil? for 6. Is there a convenient and abundant supply of timber and fuel? 7. Is there water power? If not, is there coal? 8. Are there navigable streams, or canals and roads already built or proposed? The site After three months' search a suitable location was found in a beautiful rolling prairie country, on the watershed between two large rivers, neither of which was selected more than fifty miles distant. The prairie land was very fertile. Near at hand was a large tract of woodland containing oak, black walnut, and other fine trees, which afforded shelter during the first hard winter, before substantial houses could be built upon the open prairie, and supplied building material and fuel. There were numerous springs and streams which furnished water and good drainage. Since the settlement has become a city, one of these streams has become a menace to health because of the refuse drained into it. Near by an abundance of coal was found, and in the course of time there was discovered a great deposit of shale, good for the making of paving brick, which is one of the chief industries of the city at the present time. The settlement was made before the day of railroads, and there were few wagon roads and no canals in the region. But the location was such that it was felt that roads were certain to center there in the near future. The committee to find families was also successful. Thirty families, comprising one hundred and seventy The families persons, were found who would go to the new settlement the first year. The settlement settlement founded by these families still takes pride in the fact that it is a city of homes. for the Common The purpose of those who planned the settlement, as we have seen, was to found a college to educate Christian ministers. The families chosen to make up the interests of settlement were selected, therefore, with a view to getting people who would take an interest in this purpose. The community was noted for its zeal for the settlers education and religion. But this was not all that concerned them. If you will examine the instructions given to the exploring committee, you will see that care was to be taken to find a site favorable to health; it must also be favorable to the production of wealth; and there must be easy means of communication among themselves and with the outside world. Which of the instructions refer to these different things? The little colony not only planned to build a church, a college, and a common school; they also built houses for shelter, they began to cultivate the soil, they put up a sawmill and a gristmill. Many of the necessary occupations, such as making clothing and shoes, repairing tools, and making furniture, were at first carried on in each household, but soon carpenters, a blacksmith, a shoemaker, and other tradesmen settled in the community. For social life, the people had their singing schools and quilting parties.. The colonists had acquired a township of land. Three sections were reserved for the site of the village and the college. The village was laid out in lots to be sold to those who wished to build homes and The people united with the land places of business. The college land was fenced in, and lots were reserved for the church, an academy, and a common school. Outside of the village the land was sold in half-sections and quarter-sections for farming. These farms were fenced in and improved by cultivation and by the erection of permanent buildings. The more the settlers improved the land, and the more they invested in their homes and business, the more certainty was there that the community would be permanent and prosperous. The early life of this little community was very simple. |