Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-09-21
Circulation Every 12720
Evening Yesterday 1OICO
TrITSDAY SEpTENfRER 81 1920.
Dover the Prettiest Capital.

Dover the PrettleSt Sdpltai.
Visiting Dover after lapse of twenty
Eve wears, meanwhile having seen nearly
Ill the capitals of the Eastern and New
England States, one is forced to the con-
ra,,.ion that our own seat of government IS
hy far the most attractive and beautiful
rspital east of the Mississippi. at least.
There is no other capital city that has
SQUARE Of such individual distinction as
Dover Green. Here on all sides face the
hne houses that bespeak culture and the
simplicity and dignity in their appear
Ance. an expression of architectural beauty
probably not so definitely presented by
any other State capital.
One could expect, as he walks through
ehc delightful Dover Green, TO hear
fanfare and see coach drawn by four
horses come swinging in beneath the over
hanging trees, and in a moment TO behoid
Cgsar Rodney, in wig and queue, dressed
in satin and fnc linen, with silk hose and
golden buckles at his instcp. let down
seisurely from the panelled door OF the
pompous vehicle as a waiting Negro, pos
nbly silvered by long service, transfers all
bus luggage into the hands of still other
servants who come to greet their master.
Or one might expect to see Samuel Chew,
or his likewise aristocratic son, Benjamin,
or later. Jonathan Jenkins, also Friend.
with the profile of an old Roman Senator,
and he, too, looking as if just turned out
by "his man"
Or later one might picture John NJ
CLAYTON, if memory went back to the days
when Delaware kept statesmen In the
public service, or again the mental picture
might be set with Chief Justice Comegys,
with his ample figure, great dignity, broad
hat and nhuricd gait. Or Chancellor
Saulsbury, grave and wise-looklng, or
George v. Massey. genial and debonnaue,
a master student Of human nature, an
able lawyer and a man Of many friends
Dover Green of itself does not suggest
age, except for its splendid trees. which
required years to attain their present slze
and stately dignity, 1t is, on the contrary,
fresh and elegant today. The abuttlng
houses are spick and span, fresh with their
highly polished windows, WIDE open to
the glittering sunlight, with spacious
doorways and huge brass knockers by
which the caller announces himself. In
stead Of hinting at age, Dover Green gives
The thought that time may have turned
back sixty or seventy years, for 1t does
not impart the tawdry sense of newness.
The imposing dignity of the State House
restored to its ancient Colonial form and
Implicity, with its modern wing, the tall,
ratelv columns of white against back
ground of red brick, an adaptation of
Grecian architecture, imparts an indie
scribable charm to the Green and to all
that section of the capital city.
Dover has escaped the hapless deface-
0ent and influences thht come IN the I'M
mediate wake Of quickly acquired riches.
She has come out of the war with her
beauty undefIed by architectural mon
strosities. and every Delawarean may
find pride In knowing there is no other
-ity in the country today more truly
IN the broad sense
than our own capital.
Not only on the Green is Dover beauti-
Ful but everywhere is visible the same
illness or adjustment, as though every
body who has a home there has been
more or less, by the artistic !
beauty of the central setting. No matter |
how sumptuous or how humble the houses |
70 other sections. they, too, express the |
pride and love of those who live within, |
an exterior that distinctively |
,eems TO reflect an unusual communal
.fection and pride The capital city APP
,ears not as one dressed up, but. indeed, |
Is of always being in the freshest and most
garb.
And her front yard flower gardens seem
brighter and finer, and better kept and
ess formal, more nearly real, than those
een almost anywhere else. Whichever
way one turns in the residence section
he eye finds pleasure, and one cannot
scape the conviction that Dover is the
'rettiest capital of all in the forty-eight
states of the Union, and in her quiet,
elegance, the prettiest,
classiest" little city of our big, beautiful,
ich country.
One also is forced TO conclude that in
aging out Dover, in 17I7, to meet the
deals he had in view, William Penn plan
led better than he could have known.
Open comparisons of general cam
4. IL ID L ]