Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1919-06-03

5 home in the Valley of the Sui.
| Turing byways runs to the home Of
| Carl Dresel, pioneer vineyardist Of
| Sonoma.
He stood at his gate as I drove up
a tall, straight man of 70, white
haired, father of family of six
surveying his 150acre ranch.
Fifty years ago Dresel arrived with
q good, careful farmer. He rooted
his life in the soil with his grapes.
| Here he married. From here he sent
his children to schoOl-and three
sons to the war when his country
called. His vintages have long been
| spent $1,250,000 in the community.
money he made on his ranch.
Lives Booted in the Fields Hal1owed
With Associations
Dresel stands often at his gate
these days looking across the fields
that testify to his industry and that
| have fulfilled his modest desires.
! Soon he will see them no more,
these acres halloWed with the asso-
| Citations of a lifetime, for, like most
of his neighbors, his life will be
uprooted and transplanted with the
passing of the vine.
| eff it is the will of the people" he
said, 81 bow my head and accept
| what is to be. The will of the people
that is always first and above ev-
erything.
But it is no light thing for me
down the valley. Like most Of the
others, 1 will have to dispose of my
land for pirtanCe and move-1 don't
know where.
Most of this soil is good for moth
ing but wine grapes. And even
where orchards would grow, few Of
the ranchers have the money to tide
them over the five or six-year period
prior to bearing.
You are young man." he sald
gravely. Maybe you don't realize
what it means for an old man and
his family to leave in it's ripeness
what our lives have ripened-to pull
nourished and blest me and mine.
Only love Of country can compare
to the attachment for ones fields
/ and this is the very core of love OF
country
Dresel's ranch is valued at $4,000.
He has cooperage worth $4,000. En-
croachment of prohibition in the past
few years has already cut down his
former production of 175,000 gallons
annually to 10000. He says he will
be lucky if he can sell out for So
500.
Family" Says Pioneer
"But the money" he said-"that's
the least Of it. Down in my fields
you'll see gnarIed old vines that have
grown up with us-some [ planted
when 1 married, some when my. chill
dren were born, some when they
members of my family"
He came to the gate again with
tray of glasses filled with a SHIN
mer Of gold. Gravely he handed them
round to visitors who had driven up.
well. here's happiness. Mr.. Dire
sell said one with a laundering
toast.
The old man slipped slowly. IT he
had WINGED, there was no sign. One
of his soldier sons came out and put
his arm around his shoulders. His
wife Joined him.
AS [ drove away down the valley
where larks sang and bees droned, /
glanced back.
The old man was still at the gate
| looking out across the fields.
IT IS GOOD no rs BaAUTIFUL
! l heard some one objecting the
other day, because girls thought so
much about their looks.
! They are continually fussing over
| clothes. especially this time of the
!
man. cit seems a shame to me that
! they can't be made serious minded
| A very dear old man, who had had
! two wives, and six daughters STOOD
| looking at him with a twinkle in his
eyes. And then he made answer in
this wise:
"Well, sir, maybe you're right, but
L don't think you are. Stand here
with me, and look over at that hill,
and at all the pretty things on it.
That hill is just busting itself be-
ing as pretty as it knows how. And
see that little old bluebird sitting on
the post? He hasn't done a thing all
morning but preen his feathers, and
polish himself, except when he was
singing and Dragging about his good
looks. And then, there's the garden.
Why even the cabbage tries to look
pretty, and every little blade of grass
| just naturally shines with beauty
and contentment. 1t appears to me
as though the Lord loved beauty. and
expected everything to reflect 1t
And, taking into account that moth
ing in all creation is more beautiful
than a beautiful woman, and moth
ing more distressing than a bedrag-
gled one, l can't see anything much
! better for the girls to think about
The grumpy young man looked at
the hill, which was lavender and
tender, and eXquisitely beautiful, and
ne looked at the ndppV DIuG SKY
with white cloud rose on it's bosom
and the grass, and the bluebird. anC
he didn't seem to have much more
to say. But his face began to look
a little gentler, and more beautiful,
itself.
But. Of course, one thing must be
constantly held in mind. That is
that nothing is more beautiful than
a calm and peaceful spirit, and d
loving heart. But all the same, that
loving heart should be as beautiful
ly and fittingly adorned as any pink
rose bush by the garden walk.
Perk up girls. Be good, but dc
be pretty. and don't let a hill that is
ten thousand years old have DAM
| tier spring garments than you have
Annie Frances in Farm Life