Loyalty to Idaho

:

Loyalty to Idaho

BY A. MAGDELENE FUNK

"Breathes there a man with soul so dead,

Who never to himself hath said,

This is my own, my native land?"

How adequately did the poet voice the sentiment of a loyal

nation in those fitting words They make us thrill with patriot-

!

ism to our very finger ends. As true Americans we revel in the

glory of our great country, its successes, its scope, its accom-

plishments and government;

it is full to the brim with the

healthy elements of prosper-

ity. But let us pause to ask

ourselves the question— what

has made it so? Have we

not once thought that to fill

a larp-e sphere we must first

glorify a small one? And that

in loving our country, we

love what it is composed of

— its forty-eight units? And

that in thinking that of all

the nations on this great

earth, the republic of the

United States of America

stands foremost and peer be-

cause it is our country? Just

so —

of all the states that com-

pose our country, there is one

that stands foremost and the

peer, because it is our state-

MISS A. MAGDELENE FUNK

Idaho. Then, with due apol-

ogies to Scott for an alteration in his words, but with no less zeal

and enthusiasm, we shall again repeat his sentiment

"Breathes there a man with soul so dead,

Who never to himself hath said.

This is my own, my native state?"

As citizens of Idaho, we do not boast that we are the rich-

est, the largest, the most populous, and other maximums which

LOYALTY TO IDAHO 853

reward other and older states after their years and generations of

toil and sacrifice and struggle, and we are not going to be satis-

fied in climbing slowly to their standards and reposing there con-

tentedly we aren't going to be the parasite which creeps into the

;

deserted shell of another builder. We want to build for ourselves

an original and native construction, one of which we shall be

proud, and one peculiar to Idahoans.

And how are we going to do it? By sitting silently and

watching passively, with envious eyes and greed, the maneuvers

of progress of a sister state? No, indeed! But by watching, ac-

tively, with a zealous eye and a friendly ambition to excel honestly.

Competition is a good thing good-natured rivalry makes the suc-

;

cessful business man the race horse never feels his mettle until he

;

meets his opponent on the track.

But how can we glorify Idaho ? By separating ourselves into

factions and establishing our interests in Wyoming, Montana or

LTtah, because they have discovered their resources and propagated

them widely? Are we loyal to Idaho when we neglect our own

lands and build up those of our neighbors? Indeed, we are not!

We should have the same abhorrence of factional segregation

from loyalty as the ancient heathens had of the number two, they

believed it was accursed because it was the first departure from

unity.

Idaho has had its supporters ever since that congress in 1863

when Senator Wilson of Massachusetts made the motion that this

vast western territory, then known as Montana, be given a new

name, for the old one carried no meaning with it. The other mem-

bers scoffed at his idea, and thought it not worth the considering.

But Senator Wilson persisted, and was ready with the new name.

He had looked up the geography of the tract, and had seen more

than roving bands of wild Indians, desert wastes, and cold, tim-

bered peaks he saw the waterfall, the great Shoshone, the verdant

;

plain, the rich, heavy forests, the sparkling lakes and snow-capped

peaks, the meandering Snake River, and among it all, interwoven,

the romance of the Indians and he chose from the vocabulary of

;

the Arapahoes, as most fitting, the word Idaho, because inter-

preted it means, Gem of the Mountains and ever since that day

;

of its nativity, Idaho has had its loyalists.

If beauty were our only asset, our loyalty would be shallow-

rooted, for beauty is only skin deep but our resources are just in

;

embryo. Capitalists have been sleeping unconsciously, and have

awakened as from a nightmare, for the populace have taken ad-

vantage, and Idaho is a state of the people, for they are making

it with other prospects ahead than the mere pocketing of a day's

wages. It is a state for the people, because thousands and thou-

sands have come here, have fled from cramped city flats and tene-

ments, and shop service, to broad fields that are bonanzas, in re-

:

854 IMPROVEMENT ERA

ward for honest effort. It is a state by the people, not by grafting

financiers and scheming politicians. We have as a splendid exam-

ple of philanthropy the work of the Kuhn brothers, who have

spent millions of dollars in converting our desert wastes into more

usable acreage, and have placed it within the reach of the people

who have grasped it and are glorifying it. Then there are the

thousands who have left comfortable homes and prosperous bus-

inesses and have parted with all to take advantage of the oppor-

tunity of enjoying a home in this nook in the mountains. Do you

doubt for one minute that they do not love Idaho? Does anyone

give up things for which he has spent the best years of

his life, in return for something new and untamed and

unbridled, if he does not love it? Do you think the citi-

zens of Idaho belong to that type of humanity who would

not be loyal to that for which they sacrifice most? Could

anyone accuse of disloyalty those hardy pioneers who froze

and starved, and fought, and bled through the Pequot war and

the Shoshone massacre ? They knew what they were fighting for.

God had blessed them with endurance, and foresight, and faith.

They were the very essence of loyalty. It is in the air. If you

have faith in yourself you will have faith in Idaho. She is "the

substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not

seen."

Why do we sit contentedly by and listen to tales of the tourist-

sacked shores of the Pacific and Narraganset Bay? Why do we

not tell them of the rustic beauty of the pine-banked lakes of Pay-

ette, Pend d'Oreille and Coeur de Alene? They are awaiting with

all their freshness the day when other resorts shall be worn out.

Some few have already made them their rendezvous, and there

is a peace in their still waters and a healing balm in their quiet

—

woods for others others who

"Are sitting today at their desk alone,

With their fingers hard to tame;

They'd like to shift to a mossy stone

Nor bother with pelf and fame.

I know a pool where the waters cool

Rest under the brawling falls,

And the song and gleam of that mountain stream,

Oh! it calls, and calls, and calls."

There is so much unseen and so much unused that we don't

know what we are missing. There is no state in the union, and

no country in the world, richer in health-giving properties;'

and, too, dreams of wealth may not all be in vain, for fortune

loves to dally with our hopes. We seem to be just settling our-

selves before the nations' camera for a long study in what has

been called "Our Dawn of Plenty."

Let Lowell say it for us

— : :

LOYALTY TO IDAHO 855

"Everything is upward striving,

It is as easy now for the heart to be true

As for grass to be green or skies to be blue,

'Tis the natural way of living."

"We are," as Commissioner Rich says, "the growingest state

in the union." Why should we not be proud ? What else could we

do? The only danger is that we might surfeit with too much.

With such health, beauty, latent wealth, and citizens, Idaho, un-

boastfully, might stand before the world with the challenge

"Watch me, ye bards of southern, sunny lands,

And ye who sing the praise of Eastern isles,

It's heaven and earth where liberty expands,

And man can greet his fellow-man with smiles.

"No king, no creed compels you to obey,

Contagion vexeth not nor wars alarm,

And to the oppressed of every land we say,

Come, Idaho will take you in her arms."

Open your eyes. Do not longer resist the temptation she

offers you, and for such bounteous gifts, let us not forget to thank

the Giver, and those hearty pioneers who "blazed the trail and

fought the dusky foe ;" and let us remember that one of the ways

in which we can best show honor to them is in loving Idaho

"This lovely mountain home of ours

Idaho, O Idaho,

Of winters mild and springtime showers,

Idaho, O Idaho.

Her breezes blow from western shore,

Where broad Pacific's billows roar,

Each we love her name and more,

Idaho, O Idaho.

---

"Her towering pines, on cliffs so steep,

O'er cataracts their vigils keep,

Or in the lake are mirrored deep,

Idaho, O Idaho.

"Oh, land of liberty we tell,

Beneath a starry flag to dwell,

One star is ours; we love it well.

Idaho, O Idaho."

OAKLEY, IDAHO