Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1912-03-07

AAAAAaa A4
By =. D Cobnra

This hour has been allotted to q
survey, in part. Of the grassy quad
Irangle geographers call Kansas" oil
(which John James Ingalls, said. Her
undulating fields are the floors OF
ancient seas. These limestone Ierges
underlying the prairies and crops
ping from the foreheads Of the hills
are the cemeteries Of the marine In
sect life OF the primeval world. The
Inexhaustfble humus is the mold of
the decaying heritage OF unnumbered
centuries. II Is only upon calcareous
plains, in temperate ATTITUDES, that
agriculture is supreme, and the
strong structure and the rich nour-
Ishment impaired essential to bulk.
endurance, and speed in animals; to
grace, beauty and passion in women;
and in man to stature. courage, health
and longevity"
Occasionally good man becomes
dissatisfied with Kansas. The milk
is too yellow or. the honey too sweet,
and he doesn't like to have them
flow over his land anyway. So he
parts with his land and sells his live
stock and other things to numerous
to mention, and moves to Oklahoma,
where his good Kansas money buys
a farm which today is and tomorrow
is not, because the wind has blown
1t away; or tries Colorado, and wades
about in the mud while trying to
irrigate a strip Of bottom so limited
a COW could jump It. Then he hears
OF Texas, and goes there to hunt
the pot of gold he has been told is
at the end of the rainbow. In the
daytime he scratches for the sand
burs that are in his flesh and in the
silent watches of the night, his ears
are RECALLED with the love murmur-
ings Of neighborly coyotes, while he
swears at the centipedes that bur-
row in his whiskers. When his mon
ey and courage are gone, he yearns
for good old Kansas. and the yearn
sticks in his throat and chOkes him
till the tears come in his eyes. Mem
ory is marvellous painter and paints
the things we love best. 1t pictures
to the one who has strayed, the corn
silking in the fields he used to own,
the wheat yellow for harvest. the
alfalfa stretching away in q carpet
of purple and green, richer than the
rugs Of Persia. 1t pOrtrays to him
the apple trees and the elms as they
whispered to the children at play
in their shade; points to the roses
in the corner of the garden, and In
infinite detail paints q thousand
things that touch the heart and
prove memory's whimsical power.
Happy is the man who wakes to find
that he has wandered from Kansas
only in a dream.
You used to hear of Bleeding KAN
sas! And now, as Leigh Mitchell
Hodges of the Philadelphia North
American, says. it's leading Kansas,
and feeding Kansas, and everything
but needing Kansas. when Kansas
is mentioned, see in my minds eye
the playground Of prosperity spread
out in front of the great rock steps
that lead up to Gods blue house. !
see real men and women doing real
work, and getting good out of life
by being what they are In spite of
what anyone else 10, or was, or might
be. see a stretch Of fertile lands,
where the Creator seems to have set
His gold seal of wheat and corn, SO
the world need never go hungry;
succession of rolling plains, burst
ing with pregnant riches. I'm proud
of Kansas, because she grows more
thinkers than any other state. I'm
proud of her because of her cranks.
1t will be a big day for our land when
every American is Kansan in spirit,
and Kansan in enthusiasm and eff
fort. God bless her cranks, and corn.
and courage"
AS Walt Mason puts it.
'Kansas: Where we've torn the
shackles
From the farmers leg;
Kansas: Where the hen that cackles
Always lays an egg;
Where the cows are fairly achin'
To go on with record breakin',
And the hogs are raising bacon
BY the keg!"
II.
Kansas, agriculturally speaking.