The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-08-16

corn, alfalfa, grass, fruits and veget-
ables are seen, prove the statement
reasonable. The universal land hun
ger will eventually force the settle
ment of this broad expanse.
1t is incredible, in these wide
spaces, that there are in this same
small world, crowded cities where
huddled hordes gasp for air. and
nightly through the streets and parks
and have not where to lay their
heads.
We Kansans think this climate de-
lightful, but there is a man from
Oregon on our car who is not suited
at all; he grumbles all the time,
makes fun of the crops, of the land,
primitive mode of life which we find
picturesque and interesting. The man
from Oregon strikes up an acquaint-
ance with everybody who boards the
train in order to be able to say, when,
they ask him where he lives I'm
Gods country, the best on earth
Oregon!" How fatuous and futile
Dragging sounds in other people. And
yet, there is a strangely familiar ring
to the an-from-Oregon's talk. 1t
sounds not unlike the sort of thing 1
say when I go back east and am
afraid everybody won't know I'm
from Kansas.
The man from Oregon wears cell
luloid cuffs and collars. luxuries
which he doubtless classes among
which he has SO much to say.
This morning when L Joined the
others for breakfast they began tell
ing me about the sights they had
seen while I slept. 1t seems we had
passed a walled palace of medieval
splendor and 1 don't know what be-
side because 1 refused to listen. mo
matter what you little early risers
see,' I told them. don't greet me
when 1 get up with an 'O-you-missed-
I
around and go home
Within five days of home one may
see many unaccustomed sights: herds
of burros and long horn rangers and
hauled by four and six oxen; little
Mexican water carriers, burros with
a wooden cask of water on either side;
dun-colored walled villages with men
and women in strange garb perform
ing accustomed tasks but in primitive
ways with rude implements and uten-
sils; bales of rubber, which look like
bundles of shrubbery from one of our
copper smelters; reservoirs
with walls of mud filled with yellow
water; strange plants and flowers;
the painted desert with it's astonish-
ing maze of co1ors; and the noun |
tains near and bold, rugged and re-
peIlent, or far and dim. dream like |
in the beauty of graceful outline and |
shadowy purple haze.
AS we approached the mountains, |
at the foot OF which Is ZdcatecaS, |
around which the road circles three |
times before it stops at the station, |
the character of the country changes |
n oticeably. In the great valley vast |
stretches of the desert have been re- |
in some places by irrigation, |
again by dry farming. There is |
rainfall in this latitude |
and, in fact. a shower is falling this |
Fences of stone. adobe and |
occasionally wire. mark field bound |
e. ef 70 h O
haciendas are seen more frequently. |
There are miles of fields-principally |
of corn and beans in which the Mex !
leans follow their ridiculous wooden |
plows pulled by oxen burroS, or In |
dian ponies. In vast park-like |
stretches the face of the desert has
been cleared of all the native vegeta- |
ton except the grass which is here
almost luxuriant and the giant cacti |
which make these tracts like a. grove
of palms 1t is easier to realize we
are nearing civilization and that to-
morning we shall be in city
Of 100000 people.
At every station the little Mexi-
canos in one scanty, ragged and In
dirty garment. come run
ming to the train, the older ones
carrying babies on their hips. palms
to beg "centavoS" of the
passengers Perhaps you think it
sn't a grand sensation for a Poor
Working Girl to sit back luxuriously
n the state room of the Pullman car,
scattering largess q am sure l use
he correct expressionl with gener-
1us not to say lavish. hand.