The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1914-12-19

next morning. The ground had Just
been plowed and softened by q recent
rain. DAILY rolled up his trousers and
executed his def" amid the plaudits
Of the assembled crowd The State
Journal that night had a picture of
Days footprints In the mud of Cap
itol square, which showed that he
spanned the distance from the high
school building to the Santa Fe offices
in seventeen steps. about seventy feet
to the step. That was going some
although that expressive slang had
not then been invented.
Days Def restored the diagonal
walks. and Wilder's insurgent courage
saved the trees. or at least some Of
them. JAMES A. TROUTMAN.
From Josiah Jordan.
To the Editor of the State Journal:
NY recollection is that .Arbor Day"
ling Morton, who was governor OF
Nebraska in the early seventies. I
think he was the first governor to
issue an official Arbor day proclama-
ton This was followed up by other
governors Of the prairie states-Kan-
sas among the rest. He was the father
of Paul Morton. and was for a time
United States commissioner Of agri-
culture.
John Macdonald, while county SUI
worked INCREASINGLY in the good cause,
and many shady groves now beautify
the landscape where formerly an I'M
slightly 'box" house stood on a wind
swept prairie, devoid of anything to
relieve the monotony.
My father, William Jordan, who
settled on a claim south of Topeka in
1856, was a tree planter. He planted
a walnut grove nearly so years ago on
the banks of the little stream called
French creek-now known as Butch
er creek''-which ran through our
farm. He used a hoe, and 1 dropped
the walnuts The grove is now a thing
Of beauty, and bears a bounteous crop
ten to fourteen inches in diameter.
Guilford Dudley was q lover Of
trees. and set out row OF them
mostly elms-clear around his 100
the Country club. These trees were
carefully tended and kept well trim
med. They enhance the beauty of the
landscape. and cast their grateful
shade across the splendid roads that
mark the boundaries of the old Dud-
ley farm Near by stands the new
Avondale school house, EMPOWERED in
q charming little grove of trees set out
on an Arbor day that fingers in the
memory of some of us oldtimers.
Arbor day is now but a pleasant
memory. The work of the pioneer is
a dream of the past. But the results
are seen on every hand, changing the
dreary landscape to beauty spots and
shady lanes In their zeal some mis-
guided persons planted a lot of cot
tonwood trees in cities and towns,
which have become a pest If some
governor will proclaim an LAX day.
and induce patsAotic citizens to chop
down these pests, he will have per-
formed a service for which many OF
us will rise and bless him-and pos
sibly give him a second and a third
term. JOSIAH JORDAN.
Major Anderson Started 1t.
To the Editor of the State Journal:
note with considerable interest the de-
bate going the round concerning the
first of the "Arbor Day" movement OF
years ago in Topeka. Our mutual friend
| Oscar Swayze is correct both as to the
date and the man.
1t was in 1876, centennial year. and
to Mayor Tom Anderson belongs the
credit Of the establishment Of the day
to be set aside each year. called "Arbol
Day"
At that time, my father planted three
| trees near the northwest corner of the
state capitol grounds; nearby at the
same time. John w. Farnsworth did
| the same thing. A little further to the
east F. w. Giles set out several on the
| same day.
One of the trees father planted. re-
member, was a handsome box elder.
Surely Friend Swayze will agree with
me when I say that 1 ought to know
for did the digging Of the holes fol
the aforesaid trees. while the benighted
Presbyterian and the benighted Episco-
palians referred to stood by and bossed
the job.
Very truly.
ROBERT c. bob M'CABE.
| Oklahoma City, Okla.
Boom Day Recollections.
To the Editor OF the State Journal: