one who first landed in Iowa in 1839, less than one year after its organization, and engaging in active business, achieved merited success in his work, and was well known as one of the leading business men of the new State. He has ever remained a citizen of this city, which has repeatedly honored him, until the State demanded his service, and resulted in the election of John H. Gear as Governor in 1877, in which position he continued for two full terms, until January, 1882, and proved to be one of the most painstaking and competent officials in its entire history. But this was not all, for he was then elected as Representative of the First District in the Congress of the United States, where his service was of such importance, that the people promoted him to a seat in the United States Senate, there to continue his labors to the betterment of the citizenship of the whole country, and judging from a study of his life, and the results of his earnest efforts in the general public interests, we can not doubt the future to his great credit; and as Iowans, we may well congratulate ourselves on the faithful and competent services of John H. Gear, and as well also his zealous associate, William B. Allison, so conspicuous and effective as shown by the records both of State and Nation.

There are many others of our early pioneers yet with us, in all the walks of life, of whom it would be a pleasure to speak, but the time allowed me will not permit. Only a comparatively few occupied prominent place, nor was it necessary they should, in order to proper remembrance. Like the make-up of the army, all could not be generals, no more than chaplains, for we had division of duty and authority, and the war demonstrated the fact there was an equal proportion of real heroism and ofttimes the most hazardous amongst the men who carried the musket rather than those in chief command. And so I would be glad to speak of our every-day, but less prominent pioneers, but will pass to other scenes by way of comparison of our early days with the experiences of to-day. The record of Iowa's progress is a glorious one, viewed from whatever standpoint, as a few examples therefrom will

conclusively demonstrate. It was nine years after its admission ere the first railroad spike was driven in its territory, but in the years since then, it has grown to that extent that it now has nearly 9,000 miles of railroads penetrating into every one of its ninety and nine counties, and only exceeded by five other of all the States.

The latest general State school reports of two years ago, make this most gratifying exhibit, that Iowa was the eighth in rank, in the number of children enrolled in the common schools of the State, the number being 513,614, and only second in the number of teachers employed therein, and this fact, which attests in strongest terms the intelligence of the people, and their fidelity to American progressive ideas, for with an educated constituency, neither tyranny nor degradation is possible.

In population we have advanced to tenth in rank, according to the last Federal census, of 1,911,896-now over two millions! And what is really most remarkable, that only 5% of one per centum of all that vast number is made up of the colored element, and that inclusive of Chinese and Indians! No other of the States can make such showing!

In the war for the preservation of the Union, the Iowa soldiers numbered 76,242, being the eleventh in the list of the United States service, but out of this number of brave sons, so many as 13,001, or one-ninth of the lost of the entire Union Army, laid down their lives in defence of the general government and to the general good of the people of each and all degree!

And so, my fellow citizens, the history is soon told, and the labors and sacrifices of our fathers, and treasuring their labors in perpetual remembrance, let us all

"So live, that when the summons comes

To join the innumerable caravan

That moves to the pale realms of shade,

Where each shall take his chamber in the silent halls of death,

We go not like the quarry slave at night,

Scourged to his dungeon,

But sustained and soothed by an unfaltering trust,

Approach the grave, like one

Who wraps the drapery of his couch about him,

And lies down to pleasant dreams."

LETTER OF MRS. SEMIRA A. PHILLIPS.

OSKALOOSA, IOWA, September 29, 1896. Hon. Charles Beardsley, Chairman of Committee for Pioneer and Old Settlers' Day, Burlington, Iowa.

DEAR DR. BEARDSLEY:-It gives me much pleasure to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of September 17, inviting me to attend and participate in the proceedings of Pioneer and Old Settlers' Day. I am sorry to have to say I cannot be there, but will try to tell of some of my recollections and experiences of the early days, as you were pleased to ask me to do.

Many Drs. Johnston, famous for wisdom, have from time to time appeared on the stage of action. The great State of lowa was admitted into the Union on the forty-second anniversary of the birth of one Dr. Johnston, who was a great geographer and maker of maps.

The Dr. Johnston I am going to tell about, appeared on the stage of action about the same time, was an M. D., and supposed to be endowed with great wisdom and to be very scholarly.

In the early autumn of 1843, my parents having sold their possessions in the old "Hoosier State," decided to move to Iowa.

One day, having been sent to see a sick neighbor, I found Dr. Johnston there, sitting by a table, portioning out on the point of his pen knife, some medicine from various small bottles which he placed on square bits of paper, then proceeded to fold them up into little oblong packages. After returning the bottles to his pill-bags, and giving directions about the powders, and cautioning the family to not let the sick man have cold water, but dress that blister frequently with wilted cabbage leaves, he turned around and addressed me something like this:

"Well, Semira, I understand you are going to move to Iowa." I told him we expected to do so.

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Well," said he, "you are doing a very foolish thing to leave a land of great poplar, beech and sugar trees, and go

where there is nothing but bleak cold praries, with only here and there a little scrubby timber. Fuel is scarce and has to be hauled a long way, the winters are fearful, and people are in danger of freezing to death." Then he went on to say "the Mississippi River is only navigable a short time in the year on account of the rapids just above Keokuk. With all these objectionable features, Iowa never can be much of a country." Although the doctor was the acknowledged oracle in that region, his pessimistic talk did not deter us from loading our household goods into big wagons and rolling out for Iowa. We started from Cambridge City, Indiana, October 22, 1843, and kept the national road to Terre Haute.

The woods were gorgeous with their October coloring. Paw paws were ripe. Hickory nuts were falling. The days warm and hazy, the nights mellow.

Nearly every farm house on the road was a "Tavern " where movers could find shelter and a big fireplace in the kitchen where, if they desired, they might do their cooking, but we had a tent and preferred camping out.

As we journeyed through Illinois, east of Springfield, we saw many high trestles spanning ravines, and much grading, all overgrown with grass. We were told a railroad had been projected, and after much money and labor had been expended, was abandoned for lack of means to finish it.

At Springfield were cars drawn by mules on a railroad track where once a locomotive had been used. The country had not yet recovered from the financial crash of 1837. As we neared the western boundary of Illinois, we heard many stories of highway robbery by Mormons.

Their city, "Nauvoo," was said to be a den of thieves. But we were not molested.

On the 7th of November we crossed the great "Father of Waters" in a ferry boat, and first set foot on Iowa soil at Ft. Madison.

Our first night in Iowa was spent with some old friends who had come a year or two before, and were located on a farm of

four hundred acres, in what was called "Green Bay Bottom," three miles above Ft. Madison.

My faith in Dr. Johnston's knowledge began to weaken, when I saw great tall sugar trees all about our friend's house and vast fields of corn stretching away off toward the river.

My first winter in Iowa was spent in Salem, Henry County. The majority of Salem's citizens were Quakers, who were the only denomination owning a meeting house.

I went to a Quaker meeting at that log meeting house, where I heard that aged saint, Joseph Hoag, preach. He was the Joseph Hoag whose prophecies concerning our country have been so often printed in the newspapers. He was a very old man when I saw him in 1843. At Salem we heard much talk about the "New Purchase" some seventyfive miles to the northwest. A relative of ours who was living near Salem had explored the "New Purchase" and was enthusiastic in his description of a certain locality called the "Narrows." In the summer of 1844, death broke into our family, and all that was mortal of my beloved mother found a last resting place in the Friends' burial ground at Salem. In 1844 Mt. Pleasant was a considerable village. The country surrounding Mt. Pleasant was beautiful beyond description. Some of Iowa's most brilliant young men were citizens of Mt. Pleasant, the Wallaces, the Porters, the Sanderses and many others. Alvin Sanders lived in Mt. Pleasant in 1844 and kept a store of general merchandise. Two miles north of Mt. Pleasant was what was called the Brazelton neighborhood. In the spring of 1844 the school directors in the Brazelton neighborhood were kind enough to employ me to teach a school. When we were negotiating concerning that school, those gentlemen informed me that Miss Jane Smith had taught their school the summer before and had taken her pay in farm produce, as cash was a very scarce article. They proposed to pay me a rather extravagant price, one dollar and fifty cents per scholar for a term of three months if I was willing to take my pay in produce as Miss Smith had done.