THE CALL OF THE LAND 



universities today, are of these various na- 

 tionalities ; people whose fathers and moth- 

 ers came here from beyond the sea, but with 

 the highest sort of civic purpose. They have 

 lived up to this. At one point the Bohemian 

 farmers got together and organized a full- 

 fledged farmers' institute, carrying it on all 

 by themselves, before the English-speaking 

 farmers of the county did anything of the 

 kind. 



The settlement of the great plain west of 

 the Allegheny Mountains is one of the mar- 

 vels of human history. Only a little over a 

 hundred years ago there were no white men 

 in all this vast area. When George Wash- 

 ington became president of the United 

 States, there were as good as none. Of the 

 few French and English, none were in the 

 business of insuring scalps, though plenty of 

 redskins were in the habit of removing 

 scalps. If you wanted your headpiece in- 

 sured you had to insure it yourself, or you 

 and your few neighbors whom you could 

 gather around you, with rifles. In the effort 

 made to Christianize and educate the In- 



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