324 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY 



God-fearing original. The best of the races of northern 

 Europe, either directly or through their descendants in 

 the older states, have settled in the Louisiana Purchase, 

 and from them have sprung the composite people who 

 now inhabit that land. But as men grow older they look 

 with increasing interest upon all the traditions of their 

 forefathers. 



Heredity and blood increase in importance as the years 

 roll by, and it is a pleasure to know that the stock from 

 which this population has been formed has such an hon- 

 orable history. 



IOWA A-Y-A-U-W-A-Y 



Thomas Jefferson was an enterprising man; his rest- 

 less mind was always boiling with plans. No sooner had 

 the treaty been made than the Lewis and Clark expedi- 

 tion was planned and started out from St. Louis, and the 

 long journey was begun. We first find the word "Iowa" 1 

 in the record of this exploring party, and it is spelled 

 " A-y-a-u-w-a-y. ' ' The voyage up the river, the winter at 

 Mandan, the journey across the mountains to the mouth 

 of the Columbia, the second winter there, and the return 

 to St. Louis read like the tale of another journey of Jason 

 in search of the golden fleece. When these discoverers 

 returned and told their story of adventure at Washing- 

 ton the Americans began indeed to dream dreams of the 

 future, but those visions were only feeble suggestions of 

 what the realities have become. 



THE WORLD'S PROGRESS 



We can best note the progress of the world by com- 

 parison. When Augustus ruled the world the Mediter- 

 ranean was a Roman lake. One hundred and twenty 

 million people were under the dominion of the Caesars. 

 But Augustus, rich and great as he was, never read a 



