Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 9.djvu/203

Rh dimensions four-square to the world. He was but exhibiting— uncouth as the outfit might have seemed to the over-fastidious —the ark in which was borne the scions for a nation of largest destiny.

Nothing could have been more fitting and fortunate than this transcontinental memorial trip by a veteran of the culminating migration, still possessed of the vigor of his prime and an adept in handling the truly symbolic ox- team and prairie schooner. So, single-handed and alone, Ezra Meeker appealed to the historic sense of the American people, to their sense of obligation to the memory of the intrepid Oregon pioneers, as could have been done in no other way.

It is but fair that Mr. Meeker should express in his own words his conception of the mission he undertook and triumphantly carried out. I quote chapter six of his account:

"The ox is passing; in fact we may almost say has passed. Like the old-time spinning-wheel and the hand loom, that are only to be seen as mementos of the past; or the quaint old cobbler's bench with its hand-made lasts and shoe pegs; or the heavy iron bubbling mush pot on the crane in the chimney corner; like the fast vanishing of the old-time men and women of fifty years or more ago— all are passing to be laid aside for the new w^ays and the new actors on the scenes of life. While these ways and these scenes and these actors have had their day, yet their experiences and lessons taught are not lost to the world although at times almost forgotten.

"The differences between a civilized and an uncivilized people lies in the application of these experiences; while the one builds upon the foundations of the past, which engenders hope and ambition for the future, the other has no past nor aspirations for the future. As reverence for the past dies out in the breasts of a generation, so likewise patriotism wanes. In the measure that the love of the history of the past dies, so likewise do the higher aspirations for the future. To keep the flame of patriotism alive we have only to keep the memory of the past vividly in mind.