The Detroit times., 1913-07-16
CHAPT Err ~.
When | was a Kid.


courthouse square OF Rome. one sees
The ripeling corn like bronze shield
ON the hills which close every street
end beyond the arching sugar trees
The bottoms. TOO. are choked by the
lust ot the cold, and the church spires
and the ragged syCamores along the
roadsides rise out OF this opulenJ sea
from tAe river 10 the bmrrs as IL
drowning In the perfume OF the tas-
sells These west bluffs alone seem
20 evade the conquest. one sees a road
I Winding up red gap among groves
OF oak. hickory walnut with the
crimson sumaC and alders showing a
tighter SOL. The upland Groupings OF
shale clay and stony ridges Here
7 cue has g,.mpses OF clover and oat
Stuhble rounded stacks, barns, wind.
mills, White farm homes and wire
fences about shaded pastures. But
beyond The triumphant sea OF the corn
stretches north and west across the
Iowa Midlands. for there Is no trace
OF the virgin soil. the short srsss as
, he indians rode II when the settlers
Of the forties came.
II Is s land fat 70 bursting with
lumberless rich and comnlaceut little
! cities The county annals snow YOU
/ mat the people nevcr have hungered,
( fought nor suffered From the srst
! every man had his bag OF silver under
! the puncheon floor OF his cabin and
1 went forth 10 buy the acres as the
/ SacS and Foxes moved away The
second year they ate their own corn
with the yenison and prairie chicken:
ttheir schools and churches were built
/ before the oak In their own cabin
! homes was dry. and the first grand
/ jury or this Iowa county sat in the
nntrodden grass OF what is now
I Romes main street and indicted a
/ territorial comm issioner for malteas.
ance. IL was significant. the first mid
landers were insurgents Of conscience
/ and not hunger-rebelious. for never
/ had they felt want or known sacrifice
The Indians called II The Land OF
/ Beautiful Rivers, and few towns
/ there are which havee not stream
! lettering near over clear pebbly bars
md along blue--tem margins where
! the Wild grapes and crabapples lure
( the children autumn long Through
! Rome, therefore, flows Sinsinawa
| Greek sleeping the summer In leaf.
lined, sveet.smeling pools along the
! shady streets where the boys fish for
sinners with their hats: and where. in
October the water having dried. the
oak and maple leaves drift deep so
that, by Hallowe EN- all the town is
flied with the pungent smell OF the
smoke.
Rome is in a continual grandmother
~ quarrel with Sinsnawa Greek. new.
er has IL been able 10 reason sobriety
. into the laughing jade which tumbles
its June freshets down from the bluffs.
fills every hollow OF the wandering
streets and vacant lots plays mischief
with fences and walks and goes its
way To the Mississippi across the bot
I toms, leaving its mirrored pools 10
! taunt the ancient dame OF a town with
/ its wifulness Yet Rome so loves the
wanton that when Earlville wanted 70
divert its waters In the uplands 10 run
factory for that aggressive metrop-
oils OF the county the protest that
went mp echoed for years in local poll
tics. Earlvillans called Il Sin Greek,
or skunk Creek but what could one
expect of Earlyille?
In Rome when tree interferes with
a sidewalk the walk is not built; in
Farlville the tree Is cut down and the
cement laid That is why Earlville
has the railroad. the furniture factory
and the Elks club. while Rome has
only It's memories, its rusty fences
and its best families And the county
court house The courthouse Offices
and the best families were a tradition
as venerably intertwined as the Ivy
q. I'm
its position. n would have sat with
dignity on It's hills only skunk Creek
4 beg pardon, Sinsinava kept push
ing II OF
Yet none in Rome more than mildly
censured Sinsinawa Not even Wiley
T Curran, Of the Rome News. who
was always bothering the town board
about street improvements He ought
/ 10 have known Better Every one hav.
| ing county business had 20 come 70
Rome II one didn't like the streets
one could go to--Earlyille
Wiley Curran used 10 retort that
good many had Rome contained
not nearly so many people as il did
when tho war closed Earlvlo then,
was merely one OF Thaddeus Tanner
COW pastures Earlville welcomed anv
one who would hustle" as the Boost.
ers club par IL Rome did nor care
70 have people ahou, whose families
nothing was known Every one there
had lived Iii Rome since $50 az least.
Even the obnoxious NJ Currans pro.
genitors aud some ~ the old families
o!erated the News solely because pat
Curran founded it. before the court.
house was built But those families
were few. for Par Curran had been one
OF The hghtug abcl'tious,s. and south
ern Iowa WIS rOticea1ly In the stream
LOT The Kentucky and Virginia migra
tlons during the secession prelude To
this day these lower counties are
known as The Reserve and have
ever stood aloof from he rampant re-.
publicanism Of the militant north and
west I'M Rome still exist dim tradi.
lions Of Tullys raid and the-copper.
headism that was smottercd f.-the
triumph o. the northern arms n
lends political conservatism and q
, best family air 20 society and az.
counts for the tumhle-down fences nm.
paved streets and Arcadian corner
lots. II also furnished Curran az tho
News. with editorials
But no one who was anyone mindeI
Curran In Rome everybody who
was anybody had money IN these rich
and mature DAYS having The static
order OF The east and Stationary