Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1922-05-31
Miss Florence Minis Visits Cap.
itols of Three States.

/ ltOlS O1 [lIC0 SIdtSSs
A peculiar interest is always add
led to anything or anybody on seeing
them for the last time. A singular ap-
probation for their worth and charm
makes you want to linger near them,
paints them with glory that is born
of the wistfulness of grief at parting.
But should one change ones mind
and remain, the sudden charm would
depart from the object and fade
from the person as surely and as
quickly as it had come, and they
would be just things, and just people
again and the memory and reminis-
Fcence are made of this raptuous
thing, the sudden recognition that
one could not get during all the sor-
didness of ordinary days. So on look
ing back one sees not blue distance
but a rosy glow that seems real be-
cause we cannot go back and exam
inc it. And so you know "the best is
yet to be-" The past is known thing
that cannot now change to better or
worse, but the future is a scroll on
which we may write anything, any,
thing that we have the back bone,
the moral stamina and the initiative
ito fulfill.
So as I rode through the country
to catch the last train in that old
western country that seemed quite
wonderful that May morning, l look
ed back at the campus of the school
and its towers might have been those
of the holy city, so full was my heart.
But had my journey been given up,
should / have gone back to walk the
golden streets, the walls would have
been brick, ordinary brick, and the
ground dry with the same hot sun of
Oklahoma. So we fool ourselves, but
that is as it ever is and should be.
For perhaps life is better than we
think and it is only in these exalted
moments that we can fully compre-
hend the goodness of it.
But as rode over the old familiar
road, I saw for the first time, mi
rage. In the dry, dusty road lay a
lake cleaning and sparkling i, The
sunlight. So real did it seem that 1
watched breathlessly till the swift
moving car brought US to the spot
where the lake had been and there
was dry ground, dry as only Okla
homa is dry. And other people with
me had seen the lake, so l knew that
it could not ali be thing of my I'M
agination. And that was how felt
about all the things / had left behind.
had peopled the town and endowed
the buildings with scintillating glory
that the mirage possessed, but as l
drew near them l could have beheld
reality that most provoking of all
things even as the lake disappeared
in the road ahead.
And then as / reached the Santa
Fe station I saw some Indians, gaily
bedecked. l felt that / wanted to
shake their hands and say good bye,
but they cared not at all whether l
left or whether l came. So boarded
the train and as it rolled away L
watched the long rows of oil der
ricks till distance wiped recognition
from their pointed spires.
,Capitols are my hobby, one of my
many hobies. They are about the only
places in this country where one sees
anything approaching grandeur even
on small scale. They are nearly all
alike, but some are new and some are
old. The new ones have magnificent
buildings and the old ones splendid
grounds. For the western capitols are
the newest and the west has more
money. The Eastern capitols have
better grounds because it took. a
long time to grow the trees and the
shrubs.
The Oklahoma capitol is situated
two and a half miles from the city
with the wheat fields lying near it.
This is the newest capitol being only
about five years old. No dome has
been put on the capitol as yet, but l
walked up the winding stairs that
led to the top of the building and
climbed a rickety ladder leaned
against the parapet to view the city
from afar. Last year the Oklahoma