C. C. Andrews

“ But the serene and quiet age of the settlement is near its close. Enterprise and speculation, with their bustle and turmoil, have laid hold of it. The clank of the hammer, the whistle of steamboats, the rattling of carts, heaps of lumber and of bricks, excavations and gratings, short corners and rough unshapen walks, will usurp the quiet and the regularity of the place. Indeed a man ought to make a fortune to compensate for residing in a town during the first years of its rapid building. The streets appear, on the map, to be well laid out. A number of purchasers of lots are preparing to build ”

“ Many of the ablest men in each of our learned professions [27] were once school-teachers: if a proper reward had encouraged them to remain in that capacity, how visible at this day would be the influence which they would have exerted upon their pupils! It is clear, then, that the only means by which we can retain teachers who have the requisite talent and ability, is by paying them adequate salaries. Then our schools can furnish moral as well as intellectual instruction; and the object which our system of education contemplates can in a great degree be accomplished. ”

“ The view of the prairie stretching "in airy undulations far away," and of the eddying current of the Mississippi, there as everywhere deep and majestic, with its banks skirted with autumn-colored foliage, was enough to commend the old fashioned system of stages to more general use. Call it poetry or what you please, yet the man who can contemplate with indifference the wonderful profusion of nature, undeveloped by art— inviting, yet never touched by the plough— must lack some one of the senses. ”

“ In an age when astonishing improvements in every art and every science are being developed,—when nature, in her most regal and opposing state, bends to the energy of man,—when countless sums are lavished to gratify and satiate every sense, how mortifying and discreditable that a great moral cause should languish! ”

“ It may be well to pause here a moment and inquire into the causes which contribute so wonderfully to build up empire in our north-western domain. The territorial system of the United States has some analogy, it is true, to the colonial system of Great Britain— not the colonial system which existed in the days of the stamp act— but that which a wiser statesmanship has more recently inaugurated. The relation between the general government and our territories is like that of guardian and ward— the relation of a protector, not that of a master. ”

“ It will be as difficult for him to become criminal, because as foreign to his confirmed habits, as it would be for one of your lordships to go out and rob on the highway. Thus, to commence the education of youth at the tender age on which I have laid so much stress, will, I feel confident, be the same means of guarding society against crimes. I trust every thing to habit,—habit, upon which, in all ages, the lawgiver, as well as the schoolmaster, has mainly placed his reliance,—habit, which makes every thing easy, and casts all difficulties upon the deviation from the wonted course. ”

“ New forms spring into being. Villages and towns spring up as if by magic, along whose streets throngs of men are passing. And thus, as "coming events cast their shadows before," does the mind wander from the real to the probable. An hour and a half of this sort of revery, and we had come to the Fort Ripley ferry, over which we were to go for the mail. That ferry (and I have seen others on the river like it) is a marvellous invention. It is a flat-boat which is quickly propelled either way across the river by means of the resistance which it offers to the current. ”

“ By paying the teacher more, am I not increasing his usefulness? Am I not doing something to bring up my children in knowledge and integrity? Will they not be a greater comfort to me, and more happy and prosperous themselves? Besides, in a few years, much mischief in the community may be diminished, and there will be a smaller tax on me and mine to support criminals and prisons. If all are taught to do their duty as citizens, I shall not suffer for their neglect of doing so. ”

“ The river is here very clear and swift, with a hard bottom; and if it were unadorned with its cheerful foliage-covered banks, the view of it would still add a charm to a residence. There is a mild tranquillity, blended with the romance of the scene, admirably calculated to raise in the mind emotions the most agreeable and serene. For nature is a great instructor and purifier. As Talfourd says in that charming little volume of Vacation Rambles, "to commune with nature and grow familiar with all her aspects, surely softens the manners as much, at the least, as the study of the liberal arts." ”

“ This country—this Commonwealth especially—has ever been distinguished for being foremost in the maintenance of a benevolent and comprehensive system of education. That system is, we believe, in the judgment of foreigners, one of the most original things which America has produced. Fortunately for the prosperity of the people who derive their support on this rugged soil, their fathers were a class of men deeply imbued with moral sentiment,—lovers of freedom and of knowledge ”

“ One of the finest regions now unoccupied, that I know of, not to except even the country on the Crow Wing River, is the land bordering on Otter Tail Lake. For forty miles all round that lake the land is splendid. More than a dozen disinterested eye-witnesses have described that region to me in the most glowing terms. In beauty, in fertility, and in the various collateral resources which make a farming country desirable, it is not surpassed. It lies south of the picturesque highlands or hauteurs des terres, and about midway between the sources of the Crow Wing and North Red Rivers. ”

“ But an enlightened public sentiment rejects such a theory as narrow and unsafe. It is surely of great importance that children should be made familiar with the common branches of knowledge; that their minds should receive as thorough discipline as is practicable; but [10] of what transcendent importance is it that they should have impressed upon their minds the principles of truth and justice, and the true value of resolute, earnest industry; that they should grow up in the love of virtue and honor, and be taught to know and govern themselves! ”

“ If there is a rainy day, he knows what to set himself about. Be lays his plans in a systematic manner, and carries them into execution with energy. He is a true pioneer, and therefore he is not an idle man, nor a loafer, nor a weak addle-headed tippler. Go into his house, and though you do not see elegance you can yet behold intelligence, and neatness, and sweet domestic bliss. The life of the pioneer is not exposed to such hardships and delays as retarded the fortunes of the settlers in the older states. They had to clear forests; here the land is ready for the plough. ”

“ A very large majority of those who enter our colleges are desirous of acquiring that knowledge, as well as discipline, which will prepare them most thoroughly for some one of the learned professions: it is a course preparatory to one still higher,—a gateway by which the industrious and sagacious may with greater ease traverse the long and winding avenues of science. Of a more general nature is the object of that instruction provided by the State for all, because it is designed to fit them for a greater variety of duties, and the chief of these duties is that of living justly. ”

“ When a man sunk in crime is held up to public gaze, nearly the same feeling is excited which actuates boys who follow with noisy jests a drunken woman. Rarely do we stop to inquire, why, if wrong influences had been brought to bear upon our characters, we should not have been as bad. Unless such instruction be promoted, many who are now unconcerned for the misfortunes of others will themselves ask for compassion. ”

“ This momentary desertion of the exact purpose never occurred to Follett; he fitted the thought to its place; the word to the thought; and allowed the action only to take care of itself, as it always will with an earnest speaker. His, therefore, was rather the artlessness than the art of advocacy— its second nature— justly appreciated by those to whose interests it was devoted; but not fully understood even by the spectator of its exertion; dying with the causes in which it was engaged, and leaving no vestiges except in their success. ”

“ Another reason, also, for the rapid growth of the territory, is, that the farmer is not delayed by forests, but finds, outside of pleasant groves of woodland, a smooth, unencumbered soil, ready for the plough the first day he arrives.
But if a salubrious climate, a fertile soil, clear and copious streams, and other material elements, can be reckoned among its physical resources, there are other elements of empire connected with its moral and political welfare which are indispensable. Why is it that Italy is not great? Why is it the South American republics are rusting into abject decay? ”

“ In regard to the payment of female teachers, we might suppose that a different rule would prevail; that in a community where woman holds a high moral, social, and intellectual position,—where marked deference is paid to her character,—where the great superiority of her influence as a parent and a teacher is acknowledged,—one might indeed suppose that she would be liberally rewarded for her services, especially when those services are rendered in her peculiar sphere of duty,—that of teaching. ”

“ The unequalled harbor of Norfolk, and the resources of the country all around it, extending as far, almost, as thought could reach, might well have encouraged the theory of Washington. But munificence and energy and labor have built up many cities since then, which had not half the natural advantages of Norfolk, while Norfolk is far behind. A little lack of enterprise, a little lack of harmony and liberality, may, in the early days of a town, divert business and improvements from a good location, till in a short time an unheard-of and inferior place totally eclipses it. ”

“ If we regarded physical resources as the chief elements of prosperity, or intellectual superiority the principal source of national greatness; if we followed the theory of the Persian legislator, Zoroaster, who thought that to plant a tree, to cultivate a field, and to have a family, were the great duties of man, we might be content with that instruction which would sharpen the intellect, and furnish us with acute and skilful men of business. ”

“ There is no reason why the Indians should not speedily become civilized. Those who have longest lived amongst them, and who best understand their character, tell me so. I fully believe it. The Indian follows his wild habits because he has been educated to do so. The education of habit, familiar from infancy, and the influence of tradition, lead him to the hunt, and as much to despise manual labor. He does what he has been taught to consider as noble and honorable, and that is what the most enlightened do. ”

“ The fact is, generally speaking, parents are so confident that their children do not lack in honesty and integrity, at a time when these principles should be forcibly impressed upon them, that they let the occasion for moral training pass until bad habits are deeply rooted in their character. There are, we know, many cheering exceptions; yet, if moral instruction is neglected in the school, to a majority of the scholars that neglect will nowhere be provided for, until some bad results have ensued. ”

“ Not so magnificent and potent as the East India Company, it is still a powerful combination, showering opulence on its members, and reflecting a peculiar feature in the strength and grandeur of the British empire— a power, which, to use the eloquent language of Daniel Webster, "has dotted over the whole surface of the globe with her possessions and military posts— whose morning drum-beat, following the sun, and keeping company with the hours, circles the earth daily with one continuous and unbroken strain of martial music." ”

“ If we are to teach him those principles which are to shape his destiny in life, [12] and have their home in the heart, should we wait till it is least susceptible of impression? It cannot be denied that too much indifference prevails on this subject. We are apt to shut our eyes to the evils which arise from imperfect education, so long as they do not affect our personal interest. Victims of depraved appetites and passions we take charge of, not out of regard for them, or the circumstances which have induced their guilt, but for our own protection. ”

“ It is ridiculous to suppose that it is easy or profitable for lawyers to make false statements in their arguments. The opposing counsel is ready to catch at anything of the kind; and if he misstates the evidence, the jury are aware of it; while if he states what is not law, the court generally knows it. So there is no opportunity for lying even if a lawyer should be so disposed. The practice in civil actions as provided by the statutes of Minnesota is similar— if not actually the same— to the New York code of practice. ”

“ There is not an occupation in which intelligent young women can be employed that does not present greater pecuniary inducements. Under such circumstances it must be a matter of surprise that we have as good teachers, both male and female, as now have charge of our schools. Will any one, then, for a moment suppose that persons of greater ability than they will be induced to engage or continue in such an employment, when wealth and influence and happiness point in another direction? ”

“ THE progress which has characterized the settlement of the territory of Minnesota, presents to the notice of the student of history and political economy some important facts. The growth of a frontier community, so orderly, so rapid, and having so much of the conservative element in it, has rarely been instanced in the annals of the world. In less time than it takes the government to build a custom house we see an unsettled territory grown to the size of a respectable state, in wealth, in population, in power. ”

“ To carry out, then, the primal purpose of our system of education, instructors should seek to mould the character of their pupils. Supervisors and committee-men should require a faithful discharge of this trust. When they come to examine the school, if the standard of intellectual attainments is not so high as might be desirable, they should yet bear testimony to its advancement, if they find that those "virtues which adorn life" have been held up in all their attractiveness to the imitation of the pupil. ”

“ There are many cottages and gardens situated on the most elevated part of the city, north and west, which would not suffer by a comparison with those cheerful and elegant residences so numerous for six to ten miles around Boston. From the parlors of these homes one may look down upon the city and upon the smooth bosom of the river. In the streets, too, you see much evidence of opulence and luxury, in the shape of handsome carriages, which are set out to advantage by a first-rate quality of horses. ”

“ But the fact that a man is a lawyer does not advance him in politics so much as it once did. Fortunate it is so! For though learning will always have its advantages, yet no profession ought to have exclusive privileges. Nor need the lawyer repine that it is so, inasmuch as it is for his benefit, if he desires success in the profession, to discard the career of politics. ”

“ Paul is not on the west side of the Mississippi, but on the east. Though it is rather too elevated and rough in its natural state to have been coveted for a farm, it is yet just such a spot as a pioneer would like to plant himself upon, that he might stand in his door and have a broad and beautiful view towards the south and west. And when the speculator came he saw that it was at the head of navigation of what be thought was the Upper Mississippi, but which in reality is only the Middle Mississippi. ”

“ If the promotion of the interest of the client were an advocate's highest duty, it would be another name for the exactest virtue; and inasmuch as that interest is not, like the objects of zeal, fixed in character, but liable to frequent change, the faculty of directing the whole power of the understanding to each shifting aspect of the cause in its minutest shadowings without the guidance of an inflexible law, is far more wonderful, if far less noble, than a singleness of devotion to right. ”

“ It is a muddy and sluggish stream, navigable to the mouth of Sioux Wood River for vessels of three feet draught for four months in the year. So that the extent of its navigation within the territory alone (between Pembina and the mouth of Sioux Wood River) is 417 miles. Buffaloes still feed on its western banks. Its tributaries are numerous and copious, abounding with the choicest kinds of game, and skirted with a various and beautiful foliage. It cannot be many years before this magnificent valley shall pour its products into our markets, and be the theatre of a busy and genial life. ”

“ The patronage which the government bestows on new territories is one of the sources of their growth which ought not to be overlooked. Instead of making the territory a dependency and drawing from it a tax, the government pays its political expenses, builds its roads, and gives it a fair start in the world. ”

“ A settler enters in good faith upon a quarter-section for preemption; his entry, at first, attaches physically to no more than the rood of land on which he is commencing to construct a habitation. Is that entry confined in effect to a single quarter quarter? Can other settlers, the next day, enter upon all the adjoining quarter quarters, and thus limit the first settler to the single quarter quarter on which his dwelling is commenced? Is all proof of occupation in his case, when he comes to prove up his title, to be confined to acts anterior to the date of conflict? ”

“ To the east the banks of the lake are fringed with heavy oak and elm timber to the width of one mile. The whole region of country for fifty miles in all directions around this lake is among the most beautiful and fertile in the world. The fine scenery of lakes and open groves of oak timber, of winding streams connecting them, and beautifully rolling country on all sides, renders this portion of Minnesota the garden spot of the north-west. ”

“ There it stands doing no good, but on the contrary is an encumbrance to the settler, who has to travel over and beyond it without meeting the face of a neighbor in its vicinity. The policy of new states is to tax non-resident landholders at a high rate. When the territory becomes a state, and is obliged to raise a revenue, some of these fellows outside, who, to use a phrase common up here, have plastered the country over with land warrants, will have to keep a lookout for the tax-gatherer. Now I do not mean to discourage moneyed men from investing in Minnesota lands. ”

“ If we turn to its past there is no object to call back our thoughts. All is oblivion. There are no ruins to awaken curious images of former life— no vestige of humanity— nothing but the present generation of nature. And yet there are traces of the past generations of nature to be seen. The depressions of the soil here and there to be observed, covered with a thick meadow grass, are unmistakeable indications of lakes which have now "vanished into thin air." ”

“ The necessity, therefore, of connecting the head of its navigation with a harbor on Lake Superior, and a port on the Mississippi, is sufficiently apparent. As each of these lines of railroad will run through the most fertile and desirable portion of the territory, they will have a value far beyond the mere object of transporting the products of the Red River valley.
The construction of these roads— in fact the mere location of them— will secure a population along the routes at once, and will open a country equal to any in the world. ”

“ One element of the success of this city is the public spirit of its leading business men. They have put their hands deep into their pockets to improve and advance the place. In all their rivalry there is an amicable feeling and boundless liberality. They help him that tries to help himself, and help each other in a way that will help them all together; and such kind of enterprises produces grand results. Why, here is a new hotel (the Fuller House) at which I stop, which is surpassed but by very few hotels in the country. ”

“ The farmer in New England, it may be in New Hampshire, hears that the soil of Minnesota is rich and free from rocks, that there are other favorable resources, and a salubrious climate such as he has been accustomed to. He concludes that it is best to sell out the place he has, and try ploughing where there are no rocks to obstruct him. The farmer of Ohio does not expect to find better soil than he leaves; but his inducements are that he can sell his land at forty or fifty dollars an acre, and preempt as good in Minnesota for a dollar and a quarter an acre. ”

“ If it be asked what will be done with these tribes when the country comes to be settled, I would observe, as I have said, that the present policy of the government is to procure their settlement on reservations. This limits them to smaller boundaries; and tends favorably to their civilization. I might also say here, that the title which the Indians have to the country they occupy is that of occupancy. They have the natural right to occupy the land; but the absolute and sovereign title is in the United States. ”

“ But to acquire a title by preemption I must dwell on the soil, and prove that I have erected a dwelling and made other improvements. In other words, before a man (or any head of a family) can get a patent, he must satisfy the land officers that he is a dweller in good faith on the soil. It is often the case, indeed, that men get a title by preemption who never intend to live on their quarter section. But they do it by fraud. They have a sort of mental reservation, I suppose, when they take the requisite oaths. ”

“ Of course it is altogether reasonable and proper that men should be precluded from doing so until their title in the soil is complete. Because, until a preemption claim is perfect, or, until the land has been acquired by some legal title, it is not certain that the claimant will ultimately secure it or pay any money to the government. But does not the government do anything to prevent these trespasses? Yes, but all its attempts are baffled.
For example, last spring a large quantity of splendid lumber was seized by the United States marshal and sold at public auction. ”

“ My impression is, that in point of skill and professional ability the Minnesota bar is a little above the average of territorial bars. Here, as in the West generally, the practice is common for lawyers to mix with their profession considerable miscellaneous business, such as the buying and selling of land. The law is too jealous a mistress to permit any divided love, and therefore it cannot be expected that really good lawyers will be found in the ranks of general business agents and speculators. In other words, a broker's office is not a lawyer's office. ”

“ There are some who sell liquor to the Indians. But such business is universally considered as the most degraded that a mean man can be guilty of. It is filthy to see men staggering about under the influence of bad whiskey, or of any kind of whiskey. He who sends a young husband to his new cabin home intoxicated, to mortify and torment his family; or who sells liquor to the uneducated Indians, that they may fight and murder, must have his conscience— if he has any at all— cased over with sole leather. Mr. Gough is needed in the West.
Minnesota is not behind in education. ”