Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1921-04-28

pleted. Buffalo, prairie chickens,
deer,-wild game of all kinds in a
western paradise; but now forever
gone. Spend Sunday crossing the
Great Plains is full of interest in a
way, but is not to my liking for /
would rather be where / could hear
the church bells ring. On this par
ticular Sunday a little incident oc-
Cured which was of special inter
est to me though sad. Many per-
sons will doubtless recall the song,
I'm the Baggage Coach Ahead, ("
sung by w. j. Myers and others.
This was common ON the graphic
phone records some fifteen or twen-
ty years ago. The song portrayed
a man and his little child on the
train with the little ones mother
dead in the coach ahead and being
carried by the train to its final
resting place. On this Sunday of
which I speak, a man carrying 9
little child, and two others follow
ing, came through our car and l
soon learned that the children's
mother was dead in the baggage
coach ahead and was being taken
to Pennsylvania. This song Of
many years ago and the scene Of
that lonesome Sunday evening
were inseparably linked together in
my mind, and a number of times
since then l ave thought Of that
sad scene which almost seemed to
be motion picture Of the old song.
But will write no further in des-
cription of what l saw on this
vacation. Just q few random re-
marks and then l close.
have been asked numerous
questions since returning home,
but probably the question am
asked the oftenest is in regard to
California as place to live. To
any such / would say that from
he viewpoint of a pleasurable life,
| suppose that, without doubt
southern California stands at the
head of the list. Speaking of the
particular locality in which we
lived, in over three months time
that we spent there last winter du-
ring what they call their rainy sea-
son, there was only one day with
out sunshine. There were several
rains during our stay there, but as
soon as the rain was over, it usu-
ally cleared off very soon and ended
in perfect day. There was no
freeze from November to March
sufficient to kill tomato vine
There was not a day when the
wind was strong enough to make it
unpleasant. We have been among
the oranges and lemons at 900
| O'Clock and then be where we could
make snowballs before it was time
to eat the noon lunch. | have seen
a million flowers | think, of every
hue with the white fleecy clouds
floating over them, and in just a
short time we were above those
same clouds. Standing on the
shore Of the ocean with the Their
mometer standing at probably sew
enty degrees, with a gentle breeze
from the water; vessels out in the
deep blue sea not far distant; snow
covered mountains in plain view
oranges, lemons and rose trees al
around; flowers of all kinds every
where; vineclad houses; waterfowl
by the hundredss the constan
roar of the old how coult
it help being nice place to live
And while | would not say wore
against any town in California,
would venture to say that whel
that sunny southwest goes to max
up her jewels, the list will be head
ed by Long Beach. And wha
about Iowa? The finest agricul
tural state in the Union; the leas
waste land of any like sized terri
, tory m earth. 0,,varpn,op+,} lon