, 1906-07-20
STATE PRIDE.

homes they had left behind and longed
for the time when they could return
with a mug fortune to enjoy the
scenes of their childhood. Until that
longing for the land of birth had be-
come dulled by time. the state OF their
adoption was necessarily compelled TO
take second place in their hearts. or
recent years, however, n change has
beer coming over the people of this
mountain region. They have discov-
cred that the climate is healthful, in
MIGRATING and conducive 10 long life
and happiness. They have come to
understand that II Is better to devote
their lives to the enjoyment of glorious
sunshine by day and to dreamless sleep
by night-a blanket is comfortable in
every month. They have found that
there are business interests in Wyo-
ming in which they can make a good
profit, that there are churches and so
cieties in which they have just as con
q genial associations as they had in the
old home down east, and that there are
HGuObiH us NNll hNuINSu w VIZ NNHN
ton of the youth as any upon he face
of the earth.
All these things have brought about
contentment, hope and love Of country
the newly-adopted country lying be
yond the reach of the cyclone and tor
rid summe sun, through which count
less mountain streams dash and spar
kle down the mountain sides, and,
tumbling or lettering, run wauton to
the sea.
In the old days of the range cattle
business the only ambition seemed to
be to make n stake and hurry to some
other cline to spend it. Now beauti-
full homes are constructed within our
own borders and there is a love OF
country and state pride in evidence on
every hand, and it is growing year by
year, This is evidenced in our lttera-
ture and in our music. The thoughts
of many are being turned toward the
beauties of nature as exemplihed in
our lofty mountain chains and in our
broad and productive valleys. We
have a patriotic song composed and set
to music by a Wyoming man; we have
a beautiful university song composed
and set to music by a native Wyoming
woman. Both of these productions are
inspiring in their conception and lofty
in their one. They could only have
been written by people with a love of
home in their hearts.
Men now becoming wealthy in Wyo-
ming are investing their money within
the state and are increasing their own
confidence and that of their weaker
neighbors in the great possibilities con-
stantly being unfolded. They are
building beautiful n comfortable
modern residences in city and coun
try and are in every way giving evi
dence of a determination to make OF
their state all that in them lies. Ranch
homes Of expensive and modern ar
chitecture are taking the place of the
log cabins of early days, and the chill
dren as well as the parents have a
fondness for those homes that is even
more intense than was the love for the
old New England domicile in the hearts
OF the pioneers of the great west.
The thoughts herein expressed were
recently brought to the mind of the
writer in a manner at once forcible
and touching. 1t was our good fortune
to be on the same train taken by Mrs.
b. B. Brooks and her children when on
their way to their HON in Natrona
county. They were happy in the
thought that they were going to that
home wrought out through the hard
work, the skillful management and the
undying devotion of a loving husband
and father. They appeared to have
no regrets over leaving the executive
mansion behind-the summer sun,
shine, the free air of the country home
and the pleasures in store at visiting
old familiar scenes seemed a greater
recompense in life than the So
ciety Of a gay capital. Cover
nor Brooks has made of this coun-
try home a heaven on earth. 1t is filled
with the laughter of vigorous, romping,
healthy children and the peace and con-
tentment of grown people whose du-
ties have been well performed. 1t is
one of those delightful places to which
old age turns with a feeling of relief
and rest. Here the head of the house
hold has demonstrated the possibilities
of Wyoming soil. Magnificent crops
have been garnered year after year,
and the very best strains of live stock
have been raised and shipped to mar
ket. 1t has been proved, as many 9th
ers have also proved, that our state is
as good as any n that it is not a state
in which to rough it for a few years
and then to take the money earned
from its bounty and its soil with which
to establish a home elsewhere.
Hundreds of our citizens have come
to the same conclusion as that reached
by Governor and Mrs. Brooks, but thtir
life has been so typical of good citizen
ship and loyalty to home and state that