Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1909-08-25
FEELS LIKE a GENUINE HooSIER
w. W. Dunlap Writes of the Great State
of Indiana

EDITOR CENSOR: This is Just to let
my old friends and neighbors know
that am in the land of the living and
enjoying myself. / left Viroqua May
| 25th last. for visit with my children
and have beceme quite a traveller for
an old man. At present | am in Indian
apolis with my son, Elmer. and feel
am a genuine HoOsier. Indiana is
great state and the crops look fine.
/ having had an abundance of rain all
season and lots of hot weather, so that
one is liable to get lost in the vast for
/ ests of corn. cabbage, potatoes and all
kinds of vegetables. 1t seemed odd on
my trip from Chicago, in looking out
over the country to see scarcely any
thing but corn, comparatively very lit
tie else it seemed. Indianapolis is 8
| fine clean city and like it here better
than in Chicago, which is so big, black
and dirty. Indianapolis has about 250,-
000 population and is about twelve
miles north and south. When the city
was laid out by the pioneers of long
ago, with the governors residence in
the center (where now stands the great
soldiers and sailors monument known,
! guess, all over the country, it is so
mag II llNCIANl bHGg put a NitNtG SlIGSk
around it and laid out mile square,
giving the streets on the four sides the
names of north, east. south and west
streets, never dreaming the city would
ever be larger indianapolis has a fine
park system; has several small parks
or breathing places right down town,
with plenty of shade, flowers and foun-
tains. While Indiana is uptodate in all
ways, still it cliBgs to log houses and
old-time rail fences, and it did me good
to see the oldtime, old-fashioned farm
houses still standing amidst so much
prosperity. Most of the people, the ma
tives of this Hoosier state. still have
the long drawn, slow manner of speech
and see lots of the old-fashioned, short
coupled wagons with short, high boxes.
long tongue and chains at the end of
the tongue, and all these things look
very odd to me. | always have heard
that Indiana is a very heavily timbered
state and | guess that is true, for there
is l)ts of fine timber vet and this tim
her is cut and made up in all lengths
and is conveyed to these big mills by
these old-fashlon wagons drawn by
mules and old horses and made up into
all kinds of lumber. 1t put me back a
good many years ago in old Vernon
county, when the Ohio and Indiana peo-
pie moved to Viroqua with these old
fashion wagons and harness. The tongue
of the wagon and the team would get
into Viroqua in the forenoon and the
wagon and the family in the afternoon;
but they were very fine people and we
had nice times those days when the
country was new.
| win give you little detail of Chi
cago / spent some time there visiting
my daughter, Mrs. Bernce Chambers,
and the rush and hurry of that great
city did not appeal to me tavorably, al
though there is something about all the
hurly-burly, where each one has to look
out for himself, that is interesting.
Having received a fall from an elevat-
ed train, didn't like TO travel on them
very much but preferred to travel on
the surface street cars and thenl loul9
see a good deal more sights, contenting
myself in the vicinity of my daughter S
home on Forty-fourth street and Cham
plain avenue, which is pleasantly stu
ated. My daughters husband, Harley
Chambers. is sales manager for O'Niel,
James & Co. Baseball seems to be
about the only topic of conversation in
Chicago; men, women and even children
SpibHiudiAN tdlh VI NuC GuDo anu
"Sox, s" which is Greek to me. Started
from. Chicago on July Both, over the
Monon route and through the Illinois
prairie until we reached the city of
Hammond. The crops looked bad for
that past of the country. It looked
sad for it was so very dry; they had no
rain all the fore part of the summer
until we got to the city of Hammond.
and it had rained more and more from
Hammond to Indianapolis
Now viii say few words about the
Vernon coun,y fair and home coming
shall be there and hope to see and
shake hand with all of my friends and
neighbors from far and near, for
think that we all ought to be there as
the officers Of the county fair and home
coming committee are making great eff
forts to make this the greatest fair and
home coming ever held in Vernon coun-
ty. SO let us all be there and have a
great hand shaking.
Yours most truly,
w w. DUNLAP.
TndiananOlis Ind August 2O