Pennsylvania, Virginia and the southern states. Clark checkmated the British scheme to attack and destroy the colonies from the rear. More than all Clark saved to the Union the Northwest Territory. Had it not been for him and his little band of backwoodsmen, although the armies of Washington were victorious, without doubt in the settlement of the result between the two countries, the Illinois and the Wabash country, including Ohio, would have been retained as British territory, precisely as was Canada. Had it not been for Clark the colonial western frontier would have been the Alleghany range. Clark changed the destiny of the United States and perhaps the destiny of the English speaking race.*

* Clark himself, towards the end of 1779, took up his abode at the Falls of the Ohio, where he served in some sort as a shield both for Illinois and Kentucky, and from whence he hoped some day to march against Detroit. That was his darling scheme, which he never ceased to cherish. Through no fault of his own, the day never came when he could put it into execution. - Roosevelt.

Q

THE OLD RIVER BRIDGE.

JAMES BALL NAYLOR.

(Read at the dedication of the Malta-McConnelsville steel bridge, July 8th, 1902. The new steel bridge superseded the old wooden toll bridge built in 1867.)

The old river-bridge, grown decrepit and gray
In the warfare of years, has, alas, passed away;
For Time the remorseless has triumphed at last
And the faithful old bridge is a part of the past.
Like a warrior it stood, with its feet in the tide.

And its lean arms outstretched to the bridegroom and bride
Saying: "Lovers unwitting, God's will has been done!
I've blessed ye and bound ye; ye train are made one!"

When the elements battled, and thunderbolts fell
Like arrows God-flung at the ramparts of hell;
When a crash of the storm sent a chill to the blood,
And the highway of man was the gateway of flood;
Then the sturdy old bridge strained its sinews of wood,
And stiffened, and quivered, and tottered- but stood!
And the message it sent o'er the turbulent tide

Was: "I've bound ye and blessed ye; no storm shall divide!

At night-in midwinter, when snowdrifts lay deep,
And the wind was awake and the world was asleep;
Or in summer, when hilltop and housetop and stream
Were aglint with the touch of the moon's paly beam;
Then the old wooden bridge, that no ill might betide,
Kept guard o'er the slumbering bridegroom and bride.
And the words that it murmured at daybreak's release
Were: "I've guarded and kept ye; sleep on-sleep in peace!"

Ah, the old river-bridge felt the terrors and tears

Of the twain it had joined all their sorrows and fears!
And it, also, partook of their pastimes and joys-
Knew their frolicsome girls and their rollicksome boys!
And its rigid, impassive, old features of oak
Went aquiver with smiles, at the crack of a joke
Or the trill of a laugh; and it whispered: "Ah, me!
May their lives full of pleasure and happiness be!"

But there came in the year of the century's birth-
Sent by Time the remorseless, the ruler of earth-
A panoplied knight in a harness of steel;

And the old wooden bridge felt the conqueror's heel!
Knowing well that its battles and triumphs were o'er
That the friends it had loved would now need it no more,
It sank down to its rest, with the tremulous sigh:
"I've blessed ye and served ye; God keep ye - good bye!"

VOL. XII. No. 1.

EDITORIALANA.

&O, Randall

JANUARY, 1903.

THE AMERICANISTS AT FORT ANCIENT.

The International Congress of Americanists, made up of delegates from the leading states of Europe, and nearly all of the Countries of the Americas, held their biennial meeting in New York City, beginning October 22, 1902. At this meeting many addresses were made, and papers were read by distinguished scholars pertaining to the Archæology of North and South America. The full proceedings of this meeting, with the addresses, will be published in book form during the present year. This congress is an institution of great importance, and is rather unique in its character. The delegates to it were from various foreign countries, and were appointed, and had all their expenses defrayed, by the respective governments which they represented. At the close of their regular conference in New York, they were made the particular guests of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, which conveyed them by special cars from New York to Washington, D. C. where they investigated the Government Museums. Thence they were to proceed to Chicago by way of Cincinnati, their ultimate destination being St. Louis, that they might visit the great mound of Cahokia, which is on the Mississippi river nearly opposite St. Louis. It was the expressed and almost universal desire of the delegates to this congress that they have an opportunity of visiting Fort Ancient, and negotiations between he Secretary of the Ohio State Archæological and Historical Society, and Mr. M. H. Saville, the general secretary of the congress and Assistant Curator of the American Museum of Natural History of New York, resulted in the accomplishment of the wish of the members of the congress. By the action of the Trustees of the Ohio Society, the Americanists were made the guests of the Society at Fort Ancient, on Thursday, October 30, 1902. The train conveying the foreign party reached Columbus in the early morning of the date in question, and they were met and greeted by the following trustees and officers of the State Society: Gen. R. Brinkerhoff, G. F. Bareis, A. R. McIntire, M. D. Follett, H. A. Thompson, J. P. MacLean, C. L. Martzolff, B. F. Prince, C. P. Griffin, N. B C. Love, E. O. Randall, W. C. Mills and E. F. Wood.

The guests and hosts proceeding over the Little Miami Railroad arrived at Fort Ancient at 10 A M., where carriages had been provided by the custodian Mr. Warren Cowen, to convey the entire party to the 7 Vol. XII.

97

hill, and about the Fort. After a substantial lunch had been partaken of, an address of welcome was made to the guests by General Brinkerhoff, on the part of the Society, and remarks explanatory of the Fort were made by Professors J. P. MacLean and W. C. Mills. The entire grounds were then inspected, many of the party putting in much of their time in looking for relics, mostly with disappointing results. The weather proved to be the most propitious, and the visitors were greatly delighted by their examination of these world-renowned prehistoric remains. Many of them had become familiar with all that is generally known concerning Fort Ancient, from Archæological literature, and the inspection of models in foreign museums. The European delegates were peculiarly interested and astonished. Even the youthful and practical United States could exhibit prehistoric remains of surpassing magnitude and perfection. They all declared that it was the most wonderful specimen of its kind, probably, in the world, and all complimented the Ohio Society on being its possessor, and for keeping it in such excellent condition. They all declared it was the most enjoyable and interesting day they had experienced since their visit to America. Mr. George F. Bareis took several photographs of the party. Altogether it was a redletter day for the Ohio Society whose representatives present were none the less delighted and entertained than were the guests. The foreign party embraced many of the most distinguished Archæologists in the world, and indeed, all of them were men of ripe scholarship and of more or less widespread fame. The following is a list of the guests present at the Fort Ancient visit:

Edward H. Thompson, Merida, Yucatan, Mexico.

David Boyle, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Juan B. Ambrosetti, Buenos Ayres, Argentine Republic.

M. Gonzalez de la Rosa, Paris, France.

Arthur Farwell, Boston, Mass.

Arthur M. J. Hirsh, Munich, Germany.

Waldemar Borgoras, St. Petersburg, Russia.

Alfred M. Tozzer, Peabody Museum, Cambridge.

Francisco Belmar, State of Oaxaca, Mexico.

Henri Pittier de Fabrega, Costa Rica.

Leon Lejeal, College of France, Paris.

Alfredo Gonzalez, Mexico.

Chevalier L. C. van Panhuys, The Hague, Netherlands.
Prof. Eduard Seler, Berlin, Germany.

Juan F. Ferraz, Costa Rica.

Mary Endora Lyon, Salem, Mass.

Mrs. Jessie Crellin Pepper, Newark, New Jersey.

Mrs. Annie Lyon Saville, New York City.

Mrs. Grace Hyde Trine, Oscawana-on-Hudson, N. Y.
Miss Alice Edmands Putnam, Cambridge, Mass.