Reminiscences: Chapter 22

Reminiscences of Early Peoria
by Odillon B. Slane

Chapter 22
pages 47-48

Note: This is a picture of a re-created pioneer home
located in Glen Oak Park and built by Isaac Crandell
This structure was eventually eaten by termites.

MOTHER OF PIONEERS

Mother of the pioneers,
Queen of the cabin home,
Out where the dark forest clears,
And where wild Indians roam;
Where the back-log's blazing tongues
Warm up the hearth of stone;
And where the scout devours his meal
Of venison and pone.

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Mother of the pioneers,
Where frosted prairies wild,
Reach to the far off frontiers;
Where the sun of morning smiled
On ranch and hut of western peers,
(As these are often styled)
Like as a mother's smile that cheers
The heart-throbs of her child.

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Mother of the pioneers,
Next to Nature's own,
Memories of the years aglow
Are with us in the gloam;
Only in the yester year,
When shades of evening shone,
Lingering here---a presence near---
We are not all alone.

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Mother of those pioneers,
Who turned the virgin loam,
Where harvests of the after years
Now gladden the modern home.
The halo of a sunset nears,
Where truest love is known;
Mother of the Pioneers,
We worship at thy throne.

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Mother of the pioneers,
A future blessing see;
Thine throughout the coming years
A hallowed name shall be;
A power-a glory shall be thine,
A kingdom that is free,
And offspring from the parent vine
Shall rise to honor thee.
---Odillon B. Slane

Chapter 21 Chapter 23

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