Page:History of Richland County, Ohio.djvu/278

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��HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY.

��instead of Virginia and Pennsylvania G ermans, Mansfield, instead of being platted with a market sqnare in the center, with narrow streets radiating out in every direction, would have been laid out like a checker-board, with broad avenues toward the points of the compass, and who can tell what a difference it would have made in the whole internal life of our city.

" The religious institutions and tendencies are mainl}^ as the pioneers made them. The most powerful element in the whole structure of society is its religion. Men in communities, or as individuals, develop according to their faith. Unlike an animal, a man's life is the outgrowth of what he lielieves, and what he believes is for the most part what he is taught in his youth. So a community develops ac- cording to its faith, and its faith in its fountain head is the faith of the men who founded it. In accordance with this law, the faith of Rich- land County, not only in religion, but also in politics, is stamped with the image and super- scription of our hard^' pioneers. Coming, as they did, in the main from Pennsjdvania, it was but natural that orthodox Christianity should dominate the county, and that it should manifest itself most largel}^ through the Meth- odist, Presbyterian and Baptist Churches, and so it did, and so it will continue to do for gen- erations to come. The pioneers of Richland Count}' were stead}', honest and industrious farmers, who feai'ed God and hated shams, and so to-day, we are unvexed with heresies in re- ligion or politics, and John Wesley, John Calvin and Thomas Jefferson continue the guiding stars of action in church and State with a lai'ge majorit}' of our people.

'' 5. The equality of our social life, with none ver}' rich and but few very poor, we owe largely to the pioneers. They were mostly men of moderate means, and fulfilled the prayer of the Psalmist, who desired neither poverty nor riches. There were no large landed

��proprietors to absorb the public domain, and crowd our population into tenant houses, and the result is that to-day the average size of farms in Richland County is less than one hun- dred acres, and the great body of our farmers own the land they till, and non-resident farm- ers are few and far Ijetween. The advantages of this are immense, and will continue a sub- ject of thankfulness for generations to come. So in ever}' direction we look we have reason to rejoice in the legacies we have received from the pioneers of Richland County ; they were wise and prudent in their generation, and it is just and fitting that we should render honor to those who remain among us.

" Our photographic friends are doing a good work in preserving their portraits, but a more important work should still be done in preserv- ing a record of their deeds.

" The pioneers of Ohio were a different tj'pe of men from those who, for the most part, have settled the prairie States to the West of us. They were hardier and more adventurous ; and for the simple reason that the dangers to be encountered, and the difficulties to be over- come, were greater. Ohio was a gigantic forest, which to subdue was a work in itself so enor- mous as absolutely to appal the average civil- ized man. It was only the strongest, the bold- est, the most courageous, who dared to encoun- ter it. The men in war who volunteer to lead"*' a storming column in battle are honored for life when they survive. So it seems to me we should honor those who volunteered to charge upon the howling wilderness of Ohio during the early }'ears of the present century. No wonder Ohio stands to-day the foremost State of the Union. Her people are the descendants of the might}' men of valor who conquered the wilderness.

" The time will come when the pioneers will be more appreciated than they have been hereto- fore, and our grandchildren will wonder why

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