Pioneer history of Ingham County, compiled and arranged by Mrs. Franc L. Adams, secretary of the Ingham County pioneer and historical society.

REPORTS OF PIONEER HISTORICAL MEETINGS

47

the mothers who reared them, and turn from weeping faces to
find a home, not among strangers, but where no white man's
abode has ever been built. Accumulations from their own industry, or the parental endowment, has enabled them to purchase
of the government a 40, 80 or 160 acre tract of land. Upon this
they enter and commence the work of life in earnest-this stouthearted young man and his happy but now thoughtful bride-he
all the stronger for loving her, she all the braver to endure for
loving him. The land is covered with an untouched wilderness
in all directions. Hastily a few trees are chopped away, a log
cabin erected, and the first housekeeping begins. It seems the
work of a lifetime to clear away the forest. Years may pass, it
may be, before another settler will be near. There are women in
this county now, or were until recently, who lived in the wilderness here for years without seeing another white woman. Now
behold this young married pair as I have seen them, and tell me
if they were not brave. See them as they stand alone beneath the
canopy of spreading oaks, he in his shirt sleeves, ax in hand, and
she in her neat but fitting dress, and listen to their discussions and
note their plans.
You hear him say, "In time these woods will disappear, for
work will do it. On that rise of ground we will build our house,
here shall be our barn and there our orchard. Just here will be
the place for our well. My wheat fields and my meadows I have
planned for, and your flower beds can be close to the garden.
Here, my dear, shall be a home as rich and beautiful in time as
your father's home. Time and labor will affect it."
The work before him is, indeed, great. The present is full of
privations, but a charming picture of the future rises before him,
and they both look forward to the time when they can see the
realization of their hopes.
The pioneers before me who can remember the pictures they
painted as they began their new life, have, I rejoice to say, lived
to realize the fulfillment of their hopes, and have the comfortable
home that fancy pictured to them thirty-five years ago. Look
over the county and see it now. Note what has happened. So
far as needful the forest has been cleared away and prosperous
farms are everywhere met. The woodland county has become