The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1916-07-08

the waist and skirt sewed together on
belt. All wear an apron and
little shoulder shawl The little girls
looked so quaint, with their hair done
up on their heads and no sign of
ribbon or frills of any sort.
The children from 3 to S years of
age are cared for In public nursery
so that their mothers can do what
ever work is assigned them in the
village.
There is a school in every village
which is part of the public school
system of the state. The Amana
colony owns all Of Amana township,
therefore they govern their own
schools. they levy their own school
tax and pay it. The children from
five to fourteen years go to school
six days in the week, flfty-two weeks
in the year. / am sure the Keokuk
children are glad they do not live in
Amana. The school begins early in
the morning and continues until sup
per time, seven o'clock in the even
ing. They study and play in the
garden and play ground surrounding
the hours long or tiresome. The
teachers are for the greater part
men, some of them have grown old
in the service. The teacher and his
family live in the upper story Of the
school house.
The church is long building, with
no steeple or other mark to distin-
guish it, except its great length.
There is a prayer meeting every
evening and a general church service
on Saturday morning and on Sunday
afternoon. The men sit on one side
of the church and the women on the
other, with the children on the front
benches. There are no regular minis
tiers, a trustee presides and the SER
vice is informal, anyone who feels so
disposed taking part. A visit to
Amana is very worth while, and Is
an experience never to be forgotten.
Being members Of the Civic league
and interested in the work done here
by Miss Caroline Baldwin and her
committee in placing flowers in the
down town district, we took note OF
the plans in several Iowa cities. In
Des Moines there are many green
window boxes like ours and in some
pl1AIOo INV SAOCA 5buA oOo w AiSA
look like little trees with no flowers.
The baskets on the electric light poles
are almost like those used here. In
Brooklyn where gas has been super
seeded by electric lights, the gas
lamps have been made Into baskets
and are filled with flowers and vines
with very pretty effect. In Grtnnell
and Iowa City instead of flags placed
at the intersection of cross streets
for automobile guides, there have
been placed big tiles on which Is
painted the words, Keep to the
right" These tiles are filled with
flowers and vines. The marker is
much more permanent than flag on
pole which can be easily turned
over and which says dismally in the
rain
The D. A. RS will be interested
to know that the Grinnell chapter has
very recently placed boulder in a
little park in the center Of the town
to mark the site Of the home of J..
B. GrinneH who in 1854 founded the
city which bears his name. We noted
with great satisfaction that Mr..
Schneider had done much neater
and better job in placing the tablets
on the Maine boulder in Rand park
than in the case of the Grinnell
boulder on which the tablet was sunk
| in cement instead of being riveted on.
Speaking of the controversy over
the name Mormon trail" which trail
the Iowa D. A. RS are to mark. Mrs.
WINS says that the Mormons did not
blaze that trail, they crossed it to
be sure, as did the Ayers and many
| others who went west in the early
days. She says the trail was blazed
by the Astorians in 1913 and that
the Mormons crossed the trail in
1s47. The trail was we'll defined, she
says, before the Mormons were driven
out of Nauvoo. To give the trail the
name Mormon" is to ignore and dis
regard those first pioneers who cross
ed the state going to Astoria on the
! other early settlers maintain that 1t
should be called the Pioneer trail which
would include the Astorians. the Nor
mons. the '49'rs and other pioneers
who traversed it.
Mr.. Harlan's contention is that the
early surveys call it the Mormon
trail. Mrs WINS says to be sure
that is so, but the surveyors who
weren't thinking about establishing
historic facts, used that name because
the surveys were, made shortly after
the Mormons went west and long
after the Historian migration. The
surveyors spoke OF it as the Mormon
trail because the Mormors had but
recently crossed it. They did not
make it, it was well defined road
which they followed.
Speaking of the law1essness OF the
early Mormons, Mrs. Twins said:
why Mr.. Twins was whitfield out OF
Nauvoo." When we asked her what