The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1904-01-03
The ahita Daily gae1e Sunday morriuo gauuary 1904

san abroad is a procession or crowd of
people wearing the bright, familiar bios
som, of which our POSTMASTER has spoken.
About two years ago at Colorado Springs,
our Missouri neighbors had Missouri
Day." and hundreds of tourists from that
state assembled and each wore as badge
You will have to show me-" The Kan
sas contingent in that vicinity announced
a reunion of Kansans for the following
week to show them. The day came and
also several thousand people, most of
them from Kansas, and as they marched
and mingled in happy throngs and en-
gagged in appropriate exercises, every one
wore the large blossom with the golden
rays. 1t presented a pleasing scene
unique and attractive to all. but especial
ly thrilling and homelike to every citizen
of the Supfower state. None of us will
ever forget that day or the common en-
blem we wore Our hearts swelled with
pride and our thoughts and words fondly
dwelt upon the resources. traditions and
triumphs OF the state we all love so well
That occasion suggested the formal lega.
adoption of the sunfiower as our state
flower
zone cold, bleak evening last winter,
that evensful day in the shadows of the
Rockies with the wealth of warm, glow
ing sunflower blossoms displayed, came
vividly before me and the bill referred to
was prepared
1t was only tardy recognition Of the
noted flower SO intimately woven with
~ Nf
glad it is favorably received. This native
wild flower is common throughout our
borders and is always hardy and con-
spicuous. 1t lifts it's proud head in tri-
umph along our most beautiful and clas-
sic valleys and mingles its cheerful light
with the verdures of expending prairies
The seasons have little effect on it's COM
ing. for it fourishes alike in times of
food and the drouth OF arid summer
only adds to the multitude of its bios
SONS. 1t is of definite, unvarying ard
striking shape. ever faithful, whether
gracing the beautiful gardens of the rich
or lingering near the humble habitations
of the poor. 1t is easily sketched, mould
ed and carved and has armorial capaci-
ties. Wherever reproduced, whether in
color on canvas, worked in iron or CHS
eled in stone or marble, its identity is
ever present. Its arrrlorial capacities are
evident and 1 am pleased to see it has
been wrought in bronze and as a badge
decorates the new uniforms Of the Kansas
National Guard. This well-known Kan
sas blossom is ideally adapted for artistic
with its strong, distinct disc
and its circle of clear, glowing rays-a
flower that a child can draw on slate.
a woman can work in silk OF a man can
carve on stone or fashion in clay. Artists
prize and paint its colors Skillful work
men have wrought it into emblems and
articles of jewelry, while the deft fingers
Of our mothers and sisters have embroid-
cred the beauties into bright badges and
blazing banners, attracting wide atten-
ton and favorable comment while it
marked the position of Kansas in many
an imposing pageant This flower has to
every Kansan a historic symbolism. 1t
speaks eloquently of frontier days when
buds and blossoms of civilization were
not numerous and when we were deprived
Of many of the refnements we now en-
joy The sunnower recalls roads and
golden lines of beauty, at times marking
their graceful turns over hill and vale
and breaking the dull monotony of many
4 prairie scene. 1t is not n blossom lin
yering a few brief hours, but lasts for a
season. 1t gracefully mods to the caresses
If the earliest morning zephyr Its bright
ace greets the rising orb of day and
'aithfull follows him in his onward |
course, through the blazing noontime till
he pink-tinted afterglow of sunset deco |
'ates the western sky and marks the !
luiet hour of eventide other states name |
md stand by their favorites; Maine the |
)ine cone. New York the red rose and |
Michigan the apple blossom, Colorado the |
,olunrbine and Idaho the lily. Florida the /
orange blossom and Oklahoma the mistle- |
oe.
Few men recall all the state favorites, |
,ut the entire nation knows that Kansas |
las the sunfower and it is the Sunfiower |
tate.
Here is TO our state flower, the sunny /
blossom of the west. AS your emblem /
md military pledge, may ii ever mark the /
inform of brave men. AS il is full of /
he life and glory of our heroic past, may |
ever be a symbol of the majesty Of a |
GOLDEN future May il ever bud and bios
om in rich profusion from the hill slopes
nd valleys of our eastern borders 10 the |
western limits OF our great plains, which |
tretch,
In airy undulations, rar away
nd with the tri-colored banner of the !
tars and stripes, may it always be an in +
piration to every man. woman and child
within the imperial domains of our great