The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1900-08-18
BLUE GRASS

Mr. ingalls, ever wrote was one on ''Blue
| Grass" printed years ago in the old Kan
| sas Magazine. It has the distinctive char
acteristics of his style in lighter vein.
The article follows:
| Attracted by the land softness OF
an afternoon in my primeval winter in
Kansas. I rode southwark through the
dense forests and then covered the bluffs
of the North fork of Wildcat The
ground was sodden with the ooze Of melt
ing snow. The dripping trees fere as
motionless as granite. The last years
leaves, tenacious lingerers, 10th to leave
the scene of their brief bravery, adhered
to the gray boughs like fragile bronze.
There were no visible indications OF life,
but the broad, wintry landscape was
flooded with that indiscribable splendor
that never was on sea or shore-a purple
and silken softness that half yelled, half
disclosed, the alien horizon, the vast
curves of the remote river the transcient
architecture Of the clouds, and filed the
responsive soul with a vague tulmut OF
emotions, pensive and pathetic, in which
regret and hope contended for the mas
terry. The dead and silent globe, with
all its hidden kingdoms, seemed swim
ming ike a bubble suspended in an
ethereal solution Of amethyst and silver,
compounded of the exhaling wilderness of
the snow, the descending glory of the
sky. A tropical atmosphere brooded upon
an arctic scene creating the strange spec
tacle of summer IN finter, June in Janu-
airy, peculiar to Kansas, which unseen
cannot be imagined, but once seen can
never be forgotten A udden descent into
the sheltered valley revealed an unexpect-
ed crescent of dazzling verdure, glitter
ing like a meadow in early spring, IN
real as an incarnation, uprising as the
sea, to the soldiers of Xenophon as they
stood upon the shore and shouted '"Tha-
latta!" 1t was Blue Grass. unknown in
Eden, the final triumph Of nature, reserv-
ed to compensate her favorite offspring
in the new Paradise CT Kansas for the
loss of the old upon the banks of the
Tigris and Euphrates
Next in Importance to the divine pro-
fusion Of water. light and air, those
three great physician facts which render
existence possible, may be reckoned the
universal benefcence of grass. Exagger-
ated by tropical heats and vapors TO the
gigantic cane congested with its saccha-
to the fibrous hair of Northern eolitudes,
embracing between these extremes the
maize with its resolute pennons, the rice
plant OF Southern swarps. te wheat, rye
barley, oats, and other cereals, no less
than the humber verdure Of hilisides.
pasture and prairie in the temperate zone.
grass is the most widely distributed Of
all vegetable beings, and Is at once a
type Of our life and the emblem Of our
mortality. Lying in the sunshine among
the buttercups and dandelions of May,
scarcely higher in intelligence than the
minute tenants of that mimic wilderness.
our earliest recollections are Of grass:
and WIN the fitful fever is ended and
the foolish wrangie OF the market and
forum is closed, grass heals over the scar
which our descent into the bosom of the
earth has made, and the carpet of the
infant becomes the blanket of the dead.
Grass is the forgiveness Of nature
her constant benedfction. Fields trampled
with battle, saturated with blood, torn
with the ruts Of cannon, grown green
again with grass, and carnage is forgot
ten. Streets abandoned by traffic become
grass grown Ike rural lanes. and are OBJ
liberated. Forests decay, harvests perish.
flowers vanish. but grass IS immortal
Beleagured by the sullen hosts Of Writer.
Il withdraws into the impregnabIe fort
ress Of its subterauean vitality. and
emerges upon the first solicitation u
spring. Sown by the winds. by wander
ing birds. propagated by the subtle horti-
culture Of the elements which are rs
ministers and servants. ii softanS TIE
10
iores old the earth IN its place. and IRE
vent its soluble compouents from wash
Ing into the wasting sea It inva7es the
solitude Of deserts. climbs the inaccessible
slopes and forbidding pinacIes OF noun
tails. modifes climate. and determines
he history. character and destiny % na
lions Banished from the thoroughfare Of
the fed. It 5ides it time n return and
when vigilence IS relaxed. or the dynasty
has pe-sshed Il silently resumes the
throne from which T. has been expelled.
but which It never abiicztss r bears
10 blszonry 81 bloom - charm the Sense
with fra grarce or spIersor but its home
y rue IS more enchanting than the HTy
OF the rose. It Yields no fruit fn earth or
afr, and Yet. should its harvest faii -
a single year. famine would dsp7guIats
the word
Ore grass differs from another grass
IN glory. One Is vulgar and another psf-
rician- The-s ara grades n l,s rsrefaa,e
nobility Some varieties az usafal. soras
are beautiful Others com5lna atilitF ana
ornament The sour. ree.ly hsr5a~e %
the zEaups is bsssaorn. TirnrnotAy fs
a valuable servant RestoP and clever
are : degree higher n the social sca'e
B-t the king % ;ssm al. vfth genuine
blood roTai Is Btue Grass- WAY Il =
caIlsd Sire, save thst X IS most vgvss5iv
and intstuzesy gree. Z izeEpsIczsis. bit
had IS unknown 7-ssst bartizes {, VITA
~. me huez q the p-tsrl he wous re-
have changed rs hereditary ;{tls : Tn
rerial ssperfa-itY ove- NJ is h1mbie-