The Delta independent., 1909-09-17
Those Who Think.

Those Who Think.
| Drake Watson. How honest are the
people?--How much do they exaggerate
when they tell their side of a story?
How much advantage are they willing
to take when they are in control? How
much gossip do they retail, knowing it
to be untrue? Look yourself over:
Are you tolerably careless in morals?
President Faunce.-I would like to
see the colleges of the country join in
an effort to induce the American people
to write and speak the English tongue
decently. The colleges are not doing it
now. 1t is fact that the colleges of
this country are sending out illiterates.
Many of our college seniors cannot
write decent business letter. Large
numbers of them cannot express them
! selves in writing so as to be under
stood. We Americans should link our
minds and hearts and hands in an effort
to preserve this mother tongue, which
Is our definite intellectual heritage.
F. H. Griswold. 1.-The future of the
irrigated regions depends upon the class
of people that settle here. The cities
are filled with people who would be far
better off financially and physically if
they were in the country. 1t will not
be difficult to persuade them of this fact.
Today they are living out the traditions
of city life, many of them in stuffy
fiat doing their work in close walled
offices. People of this class who earn
more than mere living are rare. 1t
would be difficult to persuade these
people to takelup the old time, hum
drum farm life, but they are willing to
move into the country when the farms
are more attractive.
Luther H. Gulick. AS a center of
work, education, religion and recrea-
ton, the American home is gone and in
every city having population of over
5000, half of the girls between the
ages of twelve and twenty years are
forced to seek recreation on the streets
The home is no longer an institution
where the proper social intercourse may
be had between boys and girls and
nothing but civic action can meet this
great moral and physical need. The
restricted children of the rich are worse
off than the children of the poor who
have more freedom. Our cities have
been constructed os if there were no
children and the home has been re-
Dlaca1 hu tho
Frank N. Page. Yesterday afternoon
the cat was acting funny behind the
kitchen stove and when we looked we
found pussy was fighting with two
foot rattlesnake. The snake would
strike, and pussy would strike back.
OF course we killed the snake; as it had
three rattles and button. Was the
cat bitten? No sir. cats are as quick as
snakes. Today got down my shot
gun to clean and on throwing it open
out came a centipede. l shook it off,
stepped on it and threw it out to the
chickens. Did this make US nervous?
Not bit. We are sleeping sounjly in
the same old house. The moving round
Of these reptiles is sure sign Of rain
and it rained 50 hard the old hous q
leaked.
Samuel Rhodus. The sod schoolhouse
looked rough on the outside, but it was
warmer in winter and cooler in summer
than frame house. The thick layer
Of sod used in the construction of these
buildings kept the heat out in summer
and kept it in in winter. twenty-five
years ago, when settled in north west
Kansas, sodhouses and dugouts were
the only dwellings. These have nearly
all been replaced by modern houses.
The sodhouses were not substantial.
They fell to pieces after a few years
exposure to the weather. 1t would be
impossible to replace them now because
the sod is not like it used to be. The
kind Of sod to build houses must be
turned over after long dry spell. We
used to have seasons of drouth six
months in length. We do not have
those now and the sod breaks up in
chunks foot or two in length when
turned by plow. In the early '9Os
turned many a strip of unbroken sod
fifty feet in length.
M.,, DIo,. II