Gonna Take You Back to the Past

"Here's to good old Kansas, the greatest state of them all--the fairest of the fair!"

-George R. Peck, in a toast at the Chicago Kansas Day Club annual dinner, Jan. 28, 1911.

Fifty Years Old

by Walt Mason

Special to the Topeka Daily Capital, Jan. 29, 1911

Through fifty years of striving

She held her upward way;

A thousand woes surviving,

She stand serene today;

No more the settler faces

The empty, silent places;

No more the red man chases

To council or to fray.

Across her woods and waters

No more is heard the drum;

And to her sons and daughters

The boon of peace is come;

Prosperity abounding

Her people is surrounding

And in her mills, resounding,

The wheels and shuttles hum.

And we, whose ways are pleasant,

Whose bosoms bear no scars,

Should look back from the present

To old time woes and wars;

Through threat'ning circumstances,

Through death and deadly chances,

The name and fame of Kansas

Made progress to the stars.

Our mother's natal morning

We greet with smiles and tears,

Her shining brow adorning

With wreaths from all the years;

And then, from incense burning,

Our hearts aglow with yearning,

With tender eyes we're turning,

To bless the pioneers.

I haven't gotten to that point yet every year there seems to be a breaking point with me and the seasons. On a really hot day in the summer, I'll promise not to speak badly of winter and vice versa. I haven't gotten to that point this winter but I am ready for it to warm up so I can do some stuff outside.

By the way, Brutus recording the weather report on August 4th actually happened.

I only wish today's strip used the same first panel words as August 4's.