The Portland daily press., 1900-05-30
"ARDUTUS DAT" IN MIL
WAUKEE.
Few More saeh wsn Estsrmfnsts th'
Plant In Nershern wisconsin.

(Miiwaukee Letter In New York Sun.)
"Arbutus' day has proved such an all
round success, viewed either from the
esthetic or the practical standpoint, that
1t Is likely TO become permanent an
nual festival In wisconsin-a sort OF
western May day, with prosaic modern
commercial aspect effectually disguised
under genuine old fashioned sentiment.
For a week the town has been full OF the
delicious fragrance Of trailing arbutus.
Ordinarily, the flower Is difficult 10 oh
tain here. Florists get only small ship
ments, which are speedily disposed Of,
and unless he has an accommodating
friend up In the woods to send him . box
Of the pink and white blossoms, the lover
Of arbutus must content himself with
the scantiest Of supplies. But this week
while no one person, perhaps, has had an
unusually. large quantity, thousands of
Milwaukee people have gone about with
sprigs Of the forest flower pinned 10 their
coats or their dresses. Every one wore
arbutus. The sick In the hospitals and
the wicked In prisons were helped physi-
cally and morally by Its message OF hope
and good cheer, and Sunday sermons
were preached more eloquently because
Of the nearness Of n cluster Of the flower
Everywhere you snelled Its fresh frag-
ranoe. everywhere you caught CLINT of
its pink and white prettiness, and for
several days this staidest Of cities, popu-
larry supposed TO have no soul above It's
lager beer, went arbutus mad. And no
one paid Q cent for this, for the arbutus
came TO town as the gift of the people OF
northern Wisconsin.
The idea of "Arbutus day" originated
In the mind of Lester Rose, secretary of
the northern Wisconsin advancement as
ISOLATION, recent organization having
branches in almost every northern Wis
consin town and having for Its purpose
the promotion OF the interests OF that
locality other than those Of its woods.
There Is fine water-power to be developed
In that region, minerals of all sorts wait
ing to be unearthed, embryo farms only
needing to be rid OF stumps and tree
great promise. The thing Is TO make all
this generally known and that is the
problem with which the advance ment as
sociations Of the various towns ara wrest-
ling. Most of the people who wore ar
butus did not know tho reason back Of
one who escaped hearing the names Of
Tomahawk, Mosinee, Rhinelander, Wan
sau, Minocqua, Stevens Point, Grand
Rapids, Centralla and Eagle river-here
tofore obscure geographical points some
where up In the woods, but just where
never wholly plain before. And that
was what the advancement associations
meant "Arbutus day" to do, though the
managers only talked eloquently of the
sentiment that brought Whit Of the
forests into the shut-in lives Of the dwell
lers in the city.
The services of the farmers, the school
children and the women Were. enlisted In
carrying out the plan. The farmers were
asked to give the use OF their teams and
wagons In carrying parties OF arbutns
gatherers into the woods and In some
places, in order to stimulate healthy
farmer bringing in the largest load. The
schools had holiday and the teachers
formed themselves into committees to
take charge of parties OF children and to
superintend the making of bouquets and
their packing in moss for shipment. The
day was made general picnic OCCASION
for the towns contributing to the festi-
val The railroads carried the flowers to
Milwaukee free of charge. In the city
the newspaper Offices were made the dis
tributing centers. The coming OF the
flowers had been heralded by press notices
and there was no lack Of applicants for
them.
Last Sunday morning. when the largest
shipment, amounting to 5000 sprigs,
was sent in, there We're long lines OF peo-
pie waiting for the offices to open and the
distribution to begin.
Every town sent its distinctive greeting
with the flowers. The greatest enthusi-
asm prevailed among the lumber towns
and every one joined in the gathering
irrespective Of age, class or station. Some
of the bouquets, were tied by the wives
of millionaire lumbermen whose winters
are spent in the South or In Europe, and
whose houses In their home towns are
models of convenience and beauty, with
preserved parks, trout ponds, conserva-
tories and even private racing tracks.
What will become OF these homes when
the lumber industry dies out in Wiscon-
sin is a problem. In the meantime the
men who made their fortunes In lumber
are willing to spend fair proportion of
them in establishing new sources of reve-
nue. in what was the numbering district.