Four centuries ago, lacking four years, counting from this present writing in 1888, Columbus discovered America. The world will celebrate the quadricentennial of that great event in 1892. But the white foot did not get a firm hold on that part of the continent now mapped the United States until after many attempts and failures. When a hundred years had

elapsed, after Columbus first saw the border of the New World, the only white settlement north of latitude thirty degrees, in America, was a small colony of Spaniards at Santa Fé, then within the province of Mexico. If we consult the colonial records of census, we learn that the sum total of the English-speaking population of this country, only two hundred years ago, was not one-tenth so numerous as that of Ohio in the present year. The city of Chicago contains about. half as many people as the colonies contained at the close of the French and Indian War.

It is now but twelve years since the people of the United States commemorated the founding of the Nation, by holding at Philadelphia a grand centennial exposition celebrating the hundredth anniversary of Independence Year-1776. In this year of our Lord, 1888, the citizens of Ohio and her neighbor States, unite to celebrate, by several demonstrations in various localities, what may be not inappropriately called the centennial anniversary of the birth of the great Northwest.

The whole history of civilization in the United States is known. We know why, when, and how men of Europe came to the western continent; how they made discoveries and fixed settlements; how the English colonies crowded out or swallowed up all other nationalities, and founded powerful States; how these States joined to cast off the rulership of Great Britain and became a distinct nation-one great State comprising several smaller Commonwealths.

The history of the Republic, from its birth in 1776 to its present age of one hundred and twelve years, is recorded in countless volumes. The life-story of America is complex, being the annals of many in one; the

career of each several State must be studied in order to understand the history of the Union; yet the great features of general progress may be traced without much difficulty. These great features should be familiar to every man and woman who lives a subject of our government. Teachers should teach and children learn how we came to have a Fourth of July; how the Nation born on the first Fourth of July grew strong and great; how it passed through several wars; how slavery existed in the land and how it ceased to exist; how the population spread from east to west, forcing the wild tribes from their hunting grounds and changing the wilderness into farms and towns; how the manner of living altered as the country became older; how the many streams of foreign migration have mixed and mingled in one vast ocean of loyal Americanism; how fortunate discoveries and useful inventions have added constantly to the wealth and convenience of the people; and how, to-day, millions of citizens enjoy the blessings won by the bravery, industry, patriotism and forethought of those who lived before our time.

THE YEAR 1888.

The year 1888, regarded as an anniversary, is of such interest, both special and general, that its celebration is an important event in the world's history. The Constitution of the United States was ratified just a century ago. The vast territory northwest of the Ohio River, now comprising five great States, was settled a hundred years ago within the limits of the present State of Ohio, which State, however, had no separate existence in 1788. Ohio being the eastern part of the general domain called the Northwestern Territory,

was naturally the region first to be populated, and first to be organized under a State government. She was the first-born of the five sisters. This gives Ohio a peculiar distinction, and entitles her to special privileges in the year's rejoicings. Therefore her own citizens, and those of Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin, combine to do honor to the representative Commonwealth, Ohio. Scarcely less is the interest which other and older neighboring States share in the memorable occasion. Pennsylvania, the Virginias, Kentucky, and Tennessee--all the States of the Ohio Valley are united by ties commercial, social, and patriotic. The whole Nation sympathizes with this demonstration, as the body feels in its every member. North and South here coälesce, for, as has been said eloquently by William P. Cutler, a son of the founder of the Ohio Company, "Massachusetts and Virginia joined holy wedlock and Ohio was their first-born."

DISCOVERY OF THE GREAT WEST.

The accurate and brilliant writings of Francis Parkman have familiarized readers of history with the romantic lives of Champlain, Marquette, and La Salle, whose daring footsteps led a host of missionaries and soldiers to New France, a name which once applied to a large portion of North America. Imagination plainly pictures the hardy adventurers of the seventeenth century, pushing their way westward, along the Great Lakes, now bearing their canoes on their shoulders, now launching in unknown waters, guided and assisted by the bronzed natives of the forest. Two centuries and a half ago Jean Nicollet, the French interpreter, who lived with the Indians and like an Indian, discovered the Wisconsin, and thought himself within three days'

journey of the South Sea. La Salle discovered and navigated the Ohio River in 1669 or 1670; in 1679 La Salle built and launched "The Griffin," the first vessel that sailed the upper lakes, and in 1682 he floated down the great "Messipi."

Thus was the "Great West" discovered.

The ban

ner of France and Navarre ruled Louisiana, a region that spread from the Alleghanies to the Rocky Mountains, and stretched from the Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico.

The name Louisiana was given in honor of Louis the Fourteenth, the "Grand Monarch," who is remembered for having said: "I am the State."

The circumstances attending this discovery of the Beautiful River—la belle riviere, as the French named the Ohio—are enveloped in mystery. But that Robert Cavalier de La Salle is entitled to the glory of leading the first exploration to its banks, there can be no doubt. History accepts it as an established fact that early in July, 1669, this bold adventurer left Montreal at the head of an exploring party, and that he probably spent the winter of 1669-70 in the Ohio country between Lake Erie and the great stream which the Indians called "Ohio," "Oligheny-sipu," or "Meesch-zebe." Writers conjecture variously that he reached the Ohio by following down either the Muskingum, the Scioto, or the Big Miami. Having come to it by one or another of its tributaries, he floated upon its current, in a canoe, as far down as the falls, opposite where Louisville now is.

The French Government claimed and held jurisdiction over Louisiana, including, of course, the Ohio Valley, for ninety-three years. The State authorities at Paris, in their instructions to M. Du Quesne, in