The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1897-04-28
Daily r Eagle
I'm. NJ. MURDOCH, Editor.
OLD KANSAS EDITORS.

Nothing more wildly and persistently
impreSses the mind of the middle-aged
with the uncertainty of life than the re-
lentless work of death. The journey
down the western slope of existence is
rendered each day more lonely by the
disappearance, one by one, of those who
constituted our youths great throng of
associates and friends. The living are
ever more prone to recall the deeds of
the dead, to long for the touch Of van
ished hand or the sound of voice that
Is still, as the sun of their own lives
sinks lower. The old are doomed TO die
among strangers from the simple fact
that all of those whom they knew are
gone. And so the old only live in the
past. To the old man the children of his
long time friends and neighbors are
strangers. His life does not enter into
theirs, but fingers with the times and
memories of the sunny side OF the
mountain slope.
There lies upon our desk letter re-
ceived this morning from Hon. James
D. Snoddy of Pleasanton. 1t seems that
the death of Sol Miller affected him to
a reminiscent mood on Sunday last, for
that is the date of his letter. In recall
ing, one by one, the names Of Kansas
earlier editors, their days and deeds, he
writes them all down, closing with the
suggestion that 'the zephyrs of Para
disc, laden with the Odors Of immortal
bloom, will soon be blowing through
the golden whiskers of the editor of the
Eagle, who will become but the phan-
tom OF memory and shade OF his
tory"
That letter, in the absence of any
other data, tells the fact that Col. James
.. Snoddy, whose voice was wont to be
heard in the early councils of Kansas
land, who led his regiment into many a
conflict where death reigned, and who
in senate chamber and as speaker OF
the house Of representatives, in later
years, helped to mould and make Kan
sas a progressive and enlightened COM
monwealth, recognizes the fact that age
is rendering him a stranger to his own
people, in which he commands our per-
sonal sympathy and commiseration.
Among the old-time prominent editors.
commencing with Sol Miller and John
Speer, he enumerates D.B.Emmest and
George A. Crawford of the Fort Scott
Monitor; Ellis of PaOla; Mckee of Ola
the: Kallock, Thacher and Reynolds of
Lawrence; Vaughn, Anthony, Clark,
Emery, Embree and Wilder of Leaven-
worth; Ingalls, and John Martin of Atch-
ison; Roberts of Oskaloosa; Taylor of
Wyandotte; Baker, Prouty and Ed Ross
of Topeka; Sam Wood of Council Grove,
Stotler and Plumb of Emporia, and
George Martin of junction City, VINO
have all joined the great majority, or
otherwise have lapsed into 'inocuoHs
desuetude," as that admirable lexicog- |
rapher, Grover the unutterable, would
put it, save three, Anthony, Martin and
he whom Snoddy seems TO conclude,
from our writings or disposition TO re-
main at home, must be getting ready TO |
hail the gray-bearded pilot of the StyX |
and to follow those who have gone to |
thread the labyrinths beyond that veil
which we cannot see. Colonel /
Snoddy closes his pathetic letter with:
"How swiftly these later years do glide
into the eternal past. Each year we few
are fewer than we WERE