The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1890-05-16

was native to the soil, and that he would
| not cut such a tree down and immediate
! ly supply its place with an uglier one, a
scrubbier one and more siczly one, be-
! cause it came from some other country
and it had become a fashion and craze
to plant it and insist upon it that it
was an ornament.
Yet to an extent this is just what the
Oaklanders have done.
How l have unconsciously lied about
| Oakland all these years! I return and
find the native oaks nearly all cut down.
| [ find Oakland as seen from the Bay of
| San Francisco, not a sea OF foliage, but a
sea of housetops, and many of them ugly
| housetops. find Oakland grown out of
| all remembrance, her avenues stretching
miles and miles away into what was open
| country, but quite bare of trees. A tree
| here seems an OffenSe. 1t is cut down
on the least pretext have talked with
various people here about it in a faint
hearted sort of way, and asked them
why they were so hostile to trees. The
variety of reasons given me is surprising.
One said: ''Well, you know, we want to
| get all the sun we can about our houses.
The trees keep it Off"
Another said: 80, they're dirty things
| about a house, and especially about a
store. They're shedding things all the
time-leaves and bugs and worms"
asked why they cut down the road
side trees. "Wen," said a man, "be-
h., IL
They keep the sun off and the roads
won't dry up fast enough, and get so
muddy"
They have no rain here at all for full
six months, and during that season the
dust that is developed is something not
to be understood or appreciated by an
eastern man until he gets on some of
these roads and tries to see it--which he
can't do, because he will carry enough
of it for a small farm in his eyes. When
the wind blows it blows here to some pur-
pose. 1t simply sends lin dust) farms,
gardens and plantations through the
air in binding masses. Real estate then
goes up and is travelling all the time.
And the ar here will turn mud to dust
in no time at all, to speak hyperbolically
and hy-boreaS-ly. 1t has wonderful
drying properties.
never quarrel with other peoples
tastes. If a man prefers a desert to live
on and must make desert about him in
order to live comfortably, say he ought
to have the desert. 1t is his right. In
this country the rattiesnake, the burrow-
ing owl, which seems to turn its head
clean round as if it were built with
ball and socket joint in the neck, and
the ground squirrel-a dirt colored quad
ruped with a NANCY, emaciated tail,
cross between a rat and a squirrel, a
poor, degraded thing, not fit to eat, al
ways full of heas and endowed with a
wonderful capacity for tumbling into its
hole, where you can't get it when shot
dead say all these creatures prefer
and enjoy to live on treeless, arid, sun
baked lands. And really many of the
people here, in the matter of trees, seem
to have the same tastes, and they have a
right to have them, because they can't
help having them.
l wonder what in the future is done
with a man who has lied about Oakland
as l have done for ten or fifteen years. l
didn't mean TO lie. thought l was tell
ing the truth. Still did lie all the same.
There is a remark somewhere which
reads, ''All liars shall have share In the
lake of fire and birthstone" There seems
no modification III this matter, no excep-
tions at all where persevering course of
lying such as mine has been could have
extenuating circumstances connected
with it so as TO soften down the penalty
attached. 1t has a black and sulphurous
look for me.
Some might infer on reading this that
was abusing or finding fault with Oak
land. No, | am not The Oakland people
know better than l do what they want.
If man prefers sour milk for breakfast
and l want sweet milk, should | quarrel
with him on account Of his preference
for sour? By no means. The rattle
snakes, horned toads. tarantulas, burrow-
ing owls and ground squirrels prefer
their town lots without trees. Do l quar-
rel with them? No. Ever since man
commenced or was commenced has he
ouarreled. fought. killed, burned and
roasted his fellow man, because Fellow
Man might not Ike, or believe. or do, or
eat. or drink what ne did not think
proper TO do. believe, eat or drink what
the other thought the thing for himself,
whether it was or not-and ID many
cases it was nos. No. Nine Is simply
the peaceful. benedcent attitude OF mere
difference Of opinion or taste The eagle
scars. The mole burrows. Snail the
mole prosecute the eagle foT soaring? Or
vice versa:
Alameda. next to Oakland, md in sub
stance a continuation OF it, Is a very
beautiful place yet. Yet the anti-tree
mania prevails there. Often when a
street Is newly graded the trees must 90.
And they are gong.