The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1897-06-09
A Kansan to New England.


To the Editor ~ the Eagle:
Dear tt te in yours that DR.. Dooley
disapproyes OF lhe Almighfy's countenanc-
ing such political castaway as Kansas by
giving US good crops. I regret much the
two thousand miles which rob me OF post
graduate course, IL rot a liberal education,
by preventing my knowing Doctor Dooley.
know he has been on SIX weeks person
ally conducted tour Of Europe, and seen
many edifces, and attended the grand
lodge Of the I. o. of D. F. at Chicago. !
can see him as he drives up and dowr
the steep Vermont hills in his little buggy,
his head full Of medical wisdom, his lancet
for cutting babies gums in his vest
pocket and his medicine box containing
forty-seyen distinct medical stinks between
his legs His mind is active and his horse
is not; he takes his Bellows Falls Daily
Argus with him and he reads and believes
every word. The Kansas legislature VII
make the Mexican silver dollar legal ten
DER OF course; just as 1 expected. Kan
sas legislature win make II a criminal Of
fence 10 attempt to collect debt" Ger
tainly; knew they would. Terrible Kan
sas tornado near Kalamazoo, Mich. Loss
of life" Never did see such state. And,
as an abrupt thank ye mann snaps -
jaws together. he drops his ethics and says:
Damn Kansas He is a stout Republican
and wonders why. God created Democrats.
if he did. which he doubts As for the Pop
uEsts,-"Oh, damn Kansas" He sees
Father Plat as a beneficent spirit guard
ing and guiding New York, and the saint
ly Quay holding evening prayer meetings
in Pennsylvania. o, ne knows lots of
things. For instance, you can't get him to
take any of the nast:ness IN the little med
icine box-but here's something the Ar.
gus never told him. When the war closed
there were several hundred thousand men
oat of job. Rugged, healthy. sassy, just
as all men, with a clever idea OF what the
country was. what the flag meant, but
low flung, practical cusses who had fought
three years for an idea, and were anxious
to jump into . citizens suit and go TO
work. They knew nothing of culture. the
polished vneer which conceals ignorance.
New England they looked upon as the
home of the cranks WHO mainly caused the
rebellion and failed I, furnish general
officer of the first class to aid in suppress
ing it. These fellows. the select, fire
tested manhood of the country, came west,
and Uncle Sam gave each Of them 160 acres
Of the country they had saved. They mar
other and longer and bitterer campaigns,
the battles Of the pioneer in the west. 1
saw them the other day. grizzly. spec
tacled, stoop-shouldered lot. trying TO get
the swing Of thirty-odd years ago as they
marched down the street. flag over the
shoulder instead Of the musket, and behind
them came a company of the loveliest wo-
men on earth, American matrons. the
sweethearts of lang syne, their faces radi-
ant with goodness, sweetness and purity.
Believe me, I was not sorry to march with
them.
There was another movement, second
pilgrims progress. 1t was the descend
ants of the New England pilgrims, those
tough old Plymouth Rocks who prayed and
sang nasal psalms without ceasing, sold
rum to the Indians, shot them for getting
drunk, and got bounty for their scalps.
who made this progress. As soon as they
came CT age they slid down off the farm,
said wait for me" to the sweetheart, left
the weakling to look after the old folks, and
went west. I hear their places on the hill
side farms wer taken by the Canucks and
Irish and the Catholic chapel bell is an
tiphonal to the bell Oh the old meeting
house Sober clear-headed and energetic,
those Yankee pilgrims with their Bibles and
Sharp's ries founded, and, with the soldiers,
built the state and they are proud Of IL.
II is said when the wild geese fly they
begin to bawl Crank, crank" as soon as
they hit the state line. and I tell you II
sounds mighty like it. At any rate, We have
cranks of the same New England breed
I knew as a boy in Vermont, long as to
hair, short as 10 sense. dirty as to neck,
positive as to spiritual.sm. vegetarianism.
and all the other isms, with remedy for
every human woe except, perhaps. personal
intidyness, and a penchant for letting the
other fellow pay the bills. We point with
pride at our cranks an improvement on
the Yankee stock. When the Pop" party
sprung up, a few years since, the cranks
were at the lead, and held 1t for while,
and, it's the truth am telling you, they
made the sensible portion Of the party sick
way down in their boots. Last year they
carried the state with a majority in both
houses of legislature much to the disgust
of the Republicans east and west, includ-
ing the Argus and DR.. Dooley. and. last
winter the Pop legislature held its ses-
sion.
II IL a pet idea out here that the eyes
of the east are on us. and, considering the
continuous iambasting the eastern press
has given US for several years, the idea Is
excusable. We had TO stop the home pa
pers in order to keep Gun temper. and we do
not complain Of lack OF attention, as even
private correspondence was painfully point
ed as 10 our Shortcomings. But what did
that Pop legislature do? While Platt was
working the New York legislature and
making some independent legislators inde-
pendently rich, while the Quay faction
was downing the Wannamaker faction with
coolies Of Doodle IN Pennsylvania, the sol
der state was electing an ex-rebel SOL
der to the United States senate because
he was an able and honorable gentleman.
He was elected upon his merits as states
man, and Kansas has two clean men in the
senate who WILL II their integrity is assal-
ed. demand investigation instead OF sti-
fling il. This legislature also passed a
school book law against the wishes, the ad-
vice and the cash OF the school book COM
b.ne which was there IN force.
And on this Sabbath day as I write and
watch the hooking birds and orioles help
ing themselves TO the ripe cherries between
showers. like my Methodist brother. II feel
that IL is good 10 be here that Kansas,
in spite OF crsnks here and fools east, has
future which. Ike her beginning, viii De
glorious. Ad astra per astra- c.
Sheriff NcLain OF Crbana might have re-
NAMED at his post until the last l. might
he hut.