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but weeds were found; who forms from social chaos an intelligent well 

 governed society — that man is an honorable man. He has done hia 

 duty, and in his quiet, silent struggle, he is ten-fold more worthy of 

 fame than the victorious General at the head of his army, whoso only 

 effort is death and destruction. Every act of man inscribes itself in 

 the memories of his fellows; the air is full of sounds — the sky of to- 

 kens; the ground is all memoranda and signatures; and here, inscribed 

 in letters that cannot be mis-read, you see the worth of labor, and the 

 commanding capability of the human mind. 



But why speak of the village alone ? The country was then for 

 miles around, almost an unbroken wilderness. And beautiful, exceed- 

 ingly, it was. You who w^ere here at an early day, cannot have forgotten 

 the magnificent, park-like openings; the green sod stretching far and 

 wide, interspersed with the majestic oaks; the meadows, luxuriant with 

 their long grass, changing in color from green to white, as the wind 

 swept over them and the sun smiled upon them ; the flowers, like jew- 

 els from the skies, of every hue and gorgeous brightness ; the little lakes, 

 encircled with their swelling banks, spreading their azure bosoms to the 

 wide eye of Heaven ; the groves spotting the prairies, and breaking what 

 would else have been monotony. 



I used to think, that of all the world, for soft and luxurious beauty, 

 this was the chosen spot; but there was one serious drawback — man 

 was not there; there was no useattiiched to it; the trees grew, the grass 

 sprung, the flowers blossomed in vain —for he for whom it was made — 

 the heir of all this rich inheritence — had not yet come to take poeses- 

 eion. A few early settlers, it is true, had already got their farms in or- 

 der, but the difficulty of teaming produce to market was a serious one, 

 deducting largely from the profits. A few young orchards had been 

 planted, but I think your enterprising citizen, Mr. Cook, was the only 

 person who had trees in bearing. For want of fruit, green tomato pies 

 were considered a luxury. Wild hogs still roamed through the woods; 

 and in a winter's night the howl of the wolf was the common serenade, 

 while the bears came into the village to steal the cabbages in the gar- 

 dens. 



It was my duty to ride extensively through the country, and I had a 

 good opportunity of witnessing how it was settled. That autumn and the 

 next are supposed to have been the most unhealthy ever known in Michigan. 



