Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1922-03-29
Miss Florence Minis Describes
Spring in Oklahoma.

Spring in Oklahoma.
l Dear Advertiser:
A poet might see some signs o
beauty in spring as it has come
Oklahoma, but I can not. The balnli
, ness of the air is not matched by tn
wild flowers and the budding tree
of the South. shall have to satisf,
my longing for yellow jessamine an,
J honey suckle by smelling differen
kinds of perfumes.
The trees are neutral gray ant
so is the landscape. I have seen on,
peach tree, with few stragglint
blooms, growing in the front yard o.
a heme here on Main street. 1t seem!
to be "a sort Of treasure. On some
dark night, should like to take Z
4 few of the blossoms, and not fee
that / had done anything wrong. A
heritage of beauty such as that
ought to belong to the world, and moi
to an individual. "Beauty is in the
eyes of the gazer."And in truth "a
man may buy Whit he may neue,
OWL" Possession without apprecia-
lion does not mean ownership.
] would describe spring here by
saying that it is a trifle less desolate
than fall and winter. In Northern
Minnesota it was a saying that that
part of the country had cnly two sea
sons, winter and very late fall.
The trees here when green, seem
like decorated posts and the felds
and byways have an awful lack of
charm. The idea Of utility is every
where too ever-present to suit the
fancy of one who comes from the
laxishness of the South. The South
may think it is poverty stricken, and
indeed the West is rich. There are a
great many wealthy men here as far
as thousands of dollars go, but how
much more really rich the South is
than this part of the country. The
money Of these people gives them
nothing but food and clothes, for
they are not capable of spending it
80 that it will give them much intel
.letct1Ial 11mousmes with What,
1f 1ufninteliigent faces shining thsopgh
the glass1 They ride up to, houses
that might be mansions, judging
from their bank accounts, but they
are not mansions, for the occupants
never thought of "a house as tenn
ple, as a reflector of the taste of the
persons within, as chance for ar
chitectural wonder, but only as "a
roof go keep away the sky" And
with all their money they haven't the
home life that the South has.
These are not the pioneers, but
the children of pioneers who often
are like the children of millionaires,
inheriting the money, and not the
initiative and patience which it took
to earn it. The forbears of these peo-
ple have blazed the trail and they
are content with living in that trail
as they found it.
The desire for any great improve
ment in any sense has died within
them. / am not speaking of the whole
west or even of the whole state of
Oklahoma. / have no right to. l am
only describing the part just west OF
Indian Territory and south OF the
Kansas border line.
They have better schools here than
in the South in some respects, but
how much less culture in them, how
much less reverence for learning, and
how much less respect for anything.
The South still has food and
clothes, and in the place of the gold
of the west it has ingrained refine
ment, culture, softness of voice, hos
pitality and courtesy, which things
I would not substitute, for the gold
of Croesus, partly, I suppose, because
miss them so much here. You are
thrice blessed and do not know it,
because you have not stood off and
watched yourselves go by, but l am
standing thousand miles away and
watching you in my minds eye and
in memory, and l know whereof
speak. :
I heard recently of poor Okla
homa farmer who had an oil well
built in his back yard right at his