The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-03-14

here? 1 could in fancy see the flag
sliding gently down the tall iron flag
staff. ,--
There was another movement Of the
clouds and still brighter colors shot
across the sky. Then suddenly the sun
took it's final dip, and everything be-
came commonplace gray again.
by Jove! exclaimed the English
officer, breaking the silence. THAT was
pretty"
And as we walked homeward in the
afterglow the street lamps were COM
mencfng to glimmer far off in the dis
lance.
Walling in the lowlands on the west
is long low range OF hills. I do not
think they have any regular name,
but are always referred to as 1.-The
Lexington hills" probably for the
reason that Lexington avenue winds
in and out around their base. They
extend from the Short line near
ly as far south as the river In some
places they are densely wooded, while
in other places are delicious clover
fields. Here during the summer months
cattle browse among the red and white
blossoms, and by the time old winter
sends warning of his coming descent,
the fields and pastures have been eaten
so close that they look like an old
carpet.
If you go among them in early spring,
and then visit them every day during
the long hot months, you will learn to
know them like an old friend by the
time October comes to turn them red
and gold.
There Is no study so sweet and en-
tertafning as the study Of nature.
Watch the buds come and then the
A.. c<Is l. -
as it will be any time during the year.
The grass, too, will be long and album
dant, and among the grass the wild
flowers grow in prOfusion The whole
range is, in fact, a sort of natural
park.
And to this park come the people who
live IN that part of town known as
the flats" To them it is a paradise.
Here. during the sweltering days of
summer. they come to breathe the
pure air, and to lie at full length upon
the soft grass beneath the shade of
the spreading oaks. How valuable to
them it really is, one can only cOnjec-
ture. l have seen crowds Of little chill
dren playing here who looked as
though it would take a great deal of
pure air to make up for the impure
and insufficient food they received at
home. Without this field for exercise
live? About as long as they do in cities
that have no natural parks like ours,
to which the children of the poor can
come in the sitting weather.
But the cities of the West have not
yet become, like some Eastern ones, so
crowded as to be unable to furnish
fresh air except for a select few One
blessing the Westerner has is plenty OF
elbow room. And so, as long as We
have our natural parks on every side,
we can do without legislation in that
direction. Yet we have our beautiful
parks, as we'll as other cities Como
park in st. Paul and Minnehaha park
near Fort Smelling have few peers on
this continent
A few years ago one was. able to
shoot all kinds of small game upon
this range Of hills and along the bot
toms of the Mississippi river.
l remember one days hunt that
proved without precedent in these
parts. We followed the river until
reaching the mouth of the Minnesota at
Fort Smelling. Here we were Joined
by two officers with the dogs. And all
the rest Of the day and until far into
the night we pushed on up the Mime
sofa, getting hundreds of ducks.
l will never forget that nights hunt
| have a very vivid recollection of sit
ting in the bow Of a boat shivering
with the cold and putting on an old
pipe. My canvas Jacket was so heavy
with shells that 1T resembled a divers
suit more than anything else.
But what shots we got! They more
than made up for all the discomforts.
And when we arrived home how we
were enYied! All the fellows we knew
came to look at those ducks. Then