May you all have a very good holiday and may each day get better than
the one before.
Hope sending to the list is o.k. as it is really our help to where we
are today. It is genealogy.
STILL SEARCHING FOR KIN WHEREEVER THEY MAY BE. One new cousin would be
a wonderful Christmas gift.
THE PIONEERS
by DAN VALENTINE
They came with hope in their hearts ...a dream in their eyes
and a prayer on their lips
The Pioneers.
They climbed angry mountains, plodded across
hot plains, walked over unending hills, crossed
wild rivers
and forged a trail to a new land.
The pioneers.
Over the next hill --tomorrow!!
Across the next river --home!
Every dusty step, every turn of the wheel,
around each bend of the prairie
that much
nearer to the goal.
The pioneers -- hard-eyed, practical dreamers
The pioneers --lean men, strong women
probing across untamed plains to make room
for the future.
No little people, these
No whiners, no
complainers
no weak of will, no faint of heart.
The pioneers
They came for many reasons.
Some heard the cry of gold. For others, there
was the promise of peaceful valleys.
Some came to find the freedom to worship
their own God in their own way
For many it was the last chance to begin
again
These were the grass-roots people of the land.
They carried a heritage in their hearts every
rugged mile of the pioneer trail.
The heritage of Plymouth Rock
and Lexington
and Valley Forge
and
the Star
Spangled Banner
The pioneers
Swedes
Scots
Irish
English
Danes
and Germans
All the bloodlines of a new nation just
beginning to breather
They lived on roots and wild game
and
raw courage
and confidence and hope.
The defeated turned back with the wave of
a sad hand. The strong pushed westward, too
proud to quit.
They had an appointment with destiny--
just over the next mountain range.
The pioneers
adventurous, inventive, curious,
fearless.
Danger was their companion, fear their foe.
They pushed the frontier back foot by foot,
dusty step by dusty step.
They buried their dead along the way
and
pushed on. Home was always over the next hill.
Faces marred with sweat and blood and dust
and tears, they cleared the plains for the coming
of the railroads, they opened the mountains for
mammoth mines and giant cattle empires. They
planted the roots for the great Western cities
of the American plains.
The pioneers
they knew the excitement
of the new. They had the courage to leave behind the old.
Today, the West stands as a great memorial
to the men and the women of a century ago who
dared to take the big chance.
But their day has not gone.
Whether they walk the Western plains
or sail uncharted seas
or soar across the
mystery of space, always there will be the
pioneeers.
Every man probes his own unknown frontier
in the search for a better tomorrow.
_________________Had to sent this.
Felt it was like we genealogists, searching, hoping, praying for some
new kin.