Sidney Brock was here and left his mark
Brock Park sits in southwest Oklahoma City along Pennsylvania Avenue between SW 29 and SW 36.
Brock Creek runs through it, and it has a playground and a walking trail. Brock Drive runs along the west side of the park.
It has been a park since 1909. It was named for, and the land donated by, Sidney L. (Lorenzo) Brock, a pioneer civic leader who left a personal legacy to Oklahoma City that endures today.
Sidney L. Brock was born in 1869 to a family of comfortable means in Missouri. He graduated from Johns Hopkins University and began a career of general merchandising with a partner. He bought his partner out and later sold a successful business to begin raising cattle.
He was a success at that, too, but in 1905 he moved to Oklahoma City and opened Sidney L. Brock Dry Goods Store on Main Street and became a civic leader.
In 1909 he was elected president of the Chamber of Commerce and recognized that Oklahoma City’s manpower, resources and location would be an ideal place for a packing plant. Within months, the chamber, with Brock as a driving force, had convinced Morris & Co., one of the major meatpackers in the country to build a plant in Oklahoma City.
In October 1910 the plant opened with Sidney Brock pressing a button in New York City that started power to the plant in Oklahoma City. The packing plants — another was built soon after — were major Oklahoma City employers for several decades, and housing additions were built on the south side of Oklahoma City, and the streetcar line was extended to transport workers and their families.
It could be said without the vision of the Chamber of Commerce and the leadership of Sidney Brock, the Oklahoma National Stockyards might never have existed, and certainly not on the scale it has achieved.
Sidney Brock only stayed in Oklahoma City until 1915, when he retired, sold his store to the predecessor of John A. Brown’s and moved to Colorado and then to California. He visited often, though, because his daughter and son-in-law and two grandsons lived in Nichols Hills, and the newspaper society writers kept tabs on their activities.
He became an artist, he was a charter member of the Oklahoma Art League, and an Internet search on his name turned up some of his paintings.
When Sidney L. Brock died in 1943 in California, his obituary published in The Oklahoman, March 20, 1943, summed up his life with this statement: “He retired in 1915, and has since lived in Denver, Florida and California, but has always considered Oklahoma City his home.”
Church building for sale
Another grand old downtown building is on the market.
On the northeast corner of NW 10 and Robinson, the First Christian Church building sits as it has since 1911.
A solid building, the cornerstone was laid Sunday, May 28, 1911. The building was “to be built of gray pressed brick and white stone on reinforced concrete and steel frame” according to The Sunday Oklahoman of the day.
On Aug. 7, 1921, 10 years after the construction of the building, The Oklahoman published a story about the church.
“Twenty-one years of persistent work on the part of the members of the First Christian Church are represented in the $350,000 building they now own at Tenth Street and Robinson Avenue.
“Organization dates back to April 23, 1889, and the names of Otto C. Durlan, George Newery, R.W. Wells and C.H. Kellar stand out prominently in the history.
“Their efforts made possible the organization of the members in a new city, where countless obstacles presented themselves. On a vacant lot near Broadway on Main Street, the first service was held. There was no building, no minister. The Holy Communion could not be observed because of a lack of the emblems.
“But every Sunday since that time, without one break in the long chain of years, this church has held its services.”
The church building has had its share of hard times. When First Christian moved to its new location on NW 36 and its futuristic-style “Church of Tomorrow,” the old building went vacant.
Plans were announced in 1982 to convert the building into offices. Nothing happened.
Then a Dec. 6, 1992, article from The Oklahoman shared information from Richard Hogue, pastor of Citychurch, who discussed his church’s purchase of the First Christian Church building at 1104 N Robinson.
“The restoration message pastor Richard Hogue has preached since he returned to Oklahoma City two years ago takes on added meaning today as his congregation begins meeting downtown in an 82-year-old church building that was vacant almost 30 years.
“The congregation is in the process of remodeling the lower 10,000 square feet of the 58,000-square-foot building.
“Hogue said the congregation’s goal is to restore the entire church building over a five-year period.”
The April 19, 1995, bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building damaged many buildings downtown, and the First Christian Church building sustained about $700,000 of damage. The insurance money and a low-interest loan helped Citychurch restore the building.
In 2006, Hogue bought a defunct golf club with the intention of remodeling it into MetroChurch, his former church. He told a reporter at the time that he would conduct morning services north and evening services at Citychurch.
Now, Citychurch has listed for sale its downtown building, which is on the National Register of Historic Places.
An Internet search shows the asking price for the building is $1,850,345.
Evolution of a building: 106-year-old building has survived all of downtown Oklahoma City’s transitions intact
The Lee Office Building, pre-1910. - Photo from The Oklahoman Archives.
If you’ve been around a few years, you know that downtown Oklahoma City has changed a great deal.
The 1960s and ’70s were years of transition when many older buildings were torn down to make room for new buildings that reflected the architectural ideal of the time.
At Main and Robinson, time sort of stands still: A building built in 1904 still stands after surviving several remodels. It still serves its tenants well.
In February 1903, when The Oklahoman sent a writer to report on a new building being considered for construction on the northeast corner of Main and Robinson — “a five-story business and office building
The Lee Building circa 1940. - Photo from The Oklahoman Archives
on this site, which is considered the heart of the business district, would not lack for tenants” — he probably had no clue that 106 years after the building was built, it would still be there.
On Aug. 18, 1903, The Oklahoman announced: “The plans have been completed for what will be the handsomest building in Oklahoma City’s business district — the Lee office building, to be erected on the northeast corner of Main and Robinson, site of the old Lion store building, which was destroyed by fire last spring.
“Architect D. Turbyfill yesterday exhibited to a representative of this paper the completed plans for this beautiful building, which will be a mammoth six-story and basement structure, dimensions 50 by 140 feet, constructed of St. Louis grey brick, trimmed with Carthage white stone and corniced with terra cotta. The entire ground floor frontage will be of plate glass. The ground floor will be divided into eight business rooms, all of which leased in advance.
“The grand entrance to the structure will be located about the center of the building on the Robinson
The Lee Building with its 1953 facade. - Photo from The Oklahoman Archives
Street side. It will be very handsome, will open into a lobby and commodious hall floored with tiling and wainscoted with marble.
“At the rear of the hall will be an electric elevator with a landing on each floor.
“The five floors above the first will be divided into office rooms, 22 on each floor, making a total of 120 office rooms, a grand building exclusive of the basement.
“Throughout the building will be furnished with steam heat and electric lights, while a toilet room will be provided on each floor.
“The building, when completed, will be entirely fireproof.”
Construction began in June 1904, and the building built by Oscar G. Lee had five stories and a basement when completed. In February 1905, businesses were announcing their locations in the new Lee Office Building.
Liberty National Bank moved in and bought the building in 1918, renaming it after itself. The bank remained in the building until 1952.
The building was sold in July 1952 and again in January 1953. The new owners gave it a new facade and a new name: Oil and Gas Building.
The building was sold again, and in an article in The Oklahoman of March 30, 1980, Neal Horton of the
The red brick building in the lower right corner is the Oil and Gas Building as it looks today. - Photo from The Oklahoman Archives
Horton Co., one of the new owners, said that while the new owners had hoped to restore the building to its original look, so much had been lost during the 1953 remodel that they decided to make a change, saying, “The new facade will give the stable feeling of the original brick structure, while allowing us to create a pleasant first-floor retail space.”
If you go downtown today, you can judge if the owners succeeded. And if you use a little imagination, 1904 won’t be far away.
Remembering Oklahoma City’s first canal
The tablet describing the location of the canal. - Photo by Mary Phillips, The Oklahoman
A short trip downtown on a hot Sunday afternoon confirmed that the preservation of the memory of a bit of Oklahoma City history was still in place.
A story from The Oklahoman on Feb. 9, 1938, tells the story about Oklahoma City’s first canal. It tells of a grand idea and a grand failure.
The story was being retold, because a historical marker, a small bronze tablet, was being placed to mark the location of the old canal by the ’89er organization. The canal itself was well on its way to disappearing altogether.
The tablet read: “This tablet marks the location of the canal built in 1889 by the Oklahoma Ditch and Power Co. Charles Price, Pres. and C.P. Walker, Secy. The canal head was four miles west. The power plant was located at Broadway and Canal streets. It furnished power to operate an electric light plant for a brief period.”
I doubted, given the address, that 72 years later it would still be there. Oklahoma City, south of the present Crosstown Expressway, is changing due to the rerouting of Interstate 35.
The door of the Oklahoma Operating Company with the tablet on the right. - Photo by Mary Phillips, The Oklahoman.
The address was 819 SW 3 St., formerly known as Noble Street. It was here the Oklahoma Operating Company in 1930 built their new office/plant building. The company was the owner of several laundries in town. The story said that the tablet was located on the wall to the right of the door to the office.
The building is now deserted and for sale, but the tablet was right where the story said it would be.
As I stood and looked around, I doubted that those stalwart pioneers would recognize the area. Buildings have been built, and the North Canadian River itself is nowhere to be seen as it was moved south, straightened for flood control and now renamed The Oklahoma River. But because of those ’89ers, a small group of Land Run participants, who wanted those who followed to remember the past, a memorial exists today for those who will seek it out.
Map showing the route of the 1890 Oklahoma City Industrial Canal. - From The Okahoman Archives
Stories abound in The Oklahoman about how the investors were so sure the canal would work that one of them, Charles “Gristmill” Jones built a gristmill to ground flour, and other investors built a power plant to produce electricity.
On Christmas Eve 1890, when water was sent down the canal and it worked for a short time, Oklahoma Citians were so excited. But blame for the failure that followed was put on gophers that damaged the banks and quicksand that clogged the turbines. In less than two years, the canal was abandoned and began its disappearing act.
So, if you are ever downtown visiting Oklahoma City’s successful canal, give a thought to the one that didn’t work.
– Mary Phillips
Capt. Daniel F. Stiles and the Beacon of Hope
If you have driven north along Interstate 235 at night and looked east after passing the Harrison Avenue exit, you might have seen a green light reaching towards the sky.
The light goes on for the first time at the 100-foot "Beacon of Hope" landmark northeast of downtown Oklahoma City, November 2, 2005. - Photo by Bryan Terry, The Oklahoman
It is the Beacon of Hope, and sits in the Founders Plaza in Stiles Park. While the plaza honors the visionaries responsible for the Oklahoma Health Center, the man for whom the park , one of the city’s oldest, is named seems to be one of Oklahoma City’s forgotten pioneers.
Capt. Daniel Frazier Stiles was born in Massachussetts in 1841 and entered the Army in 1861. After a long career in the Army, in 1889 he was ordered to Oklahoma with a battalion of men to provide law and order during and after the Land Run.
A story from the April 16, 1989, Land Run Centennial special section of The Oklahoman said:
“Until Oklahoma became a U.S. territory in 1890, no civil law existed within the Unassigned Lands except that which the residents themselves established.
“The federal government, however, did dispatch army troops to keep peace during the run and through the early days of the settlement. They were not to interfere in political affairs, but merely to offer support to the settlers and to intervene in local disturbances.
“When the 10th Infantry got off the train in Oklahoma City on April 19, Capt. Daniel F. Stiles was in command.”
Capt. Daniel Stiles - The Oklahoman Archives
Capt. Stiles, described in his obituary published in The Oklahoman Sept. 12, 1900, the day after he died, gives an excellent description of the man and his importance.
”Capt. Stiles was one of the prominent figures in the early opening and settlement of Oklahoma. He was the Provost Marshal at the time of the settlement of Oklahoma City and the faithfulness with which he discharged his duties won him the praise of all law abiding citizens. He was retired from the army on half pay in ’93. Since that time until his death he has been an energetic, enterprising and public spirited citizen…”
The Honorable Sidney Clarke said in his tribute to Stiles in the Sept. 12 article: “The death of Capt. Stiles will be deeply lamented, not only by the people of Oklahoma City and Oklahoma Territory, where he is so favorably known, and with which he has been intimately identified from the first settlement, but by his many friends throughout the country, as an officer of the regular army retired after an honorable service of over thirty years, and as a citizen always ready and willing to promote the good and the true, the memory of Capt. Stiles will be highly cherished by all who had the honor of his acquaintance.
”In all his long career there was no man in the army more popular and more highly respected than Capt. Stiles. He was a strict disciplinarian but at the same time careful of the welfare of his men, kind in his intercourse with all, and just and human in all his acts. While in command at Oklahoma City at the opening of the Territory to settlement in 1889 and during th ensuing year previous to the organisation of the Territorial government, his duties were extremely delicate because of the neglect of Congress to provide civil government contemporanious with the opening of the country. But he performed those duties with such uniform good judgement, that he always received the approval of his superiors.
“No words I can write can express my regret at the sudden death of Capt. Stiles. He was my friend. Hew was the friend of Oklahoma City and of our people. He took a great pride in the growth of this young city, and by his activity, enterprise, comprehensive views and wide experience, contributed largely to its marvelous prosperity. He will be missed as few men are missed, as they step over to the other side. A brave officer, a Christian gentleman, a noble citizen, a kind-hearted neighbor, a faithful husband and father and friend, he has left behind him a record of duty done– of an honorable and useful life.”
After his retirement, Stiles, joined with James Geary, another pioneer, developed the area north of what is now Stiles Park, as the Maywood Addition, Oklahoma City’s first “Nichols Hills.”
Again, from the April 16, 1989, story: “Stiles’ contributions to his new home included organizing Oklahoma National Bank, construction of the Masonic Temple, the luring of the Choctaw Railroad and true to his military colors the formation of the Oklahoma National Guard, which he served as colonel.”
So the next time you drive near the hospital complex and you happen to see the “Beacon of Hope,” I hope you think of Stiles Park and the man it was named for: Capt. Daniel Frazier Stiles.
–Mary Phillips
Newspaper man pens “Sooner Stanzas”
I’m sure there are still readers who remember “Sooner Stanzas,” the rhymes written by the late Oklahoman and Times editor Emery Winn.
He began his career with The Oklahoman in 1947 and soon after began the “Sooner Stanzas.” For 25 years, he worked as an editor, being described, at his retirement as copy desk editor for the Oklahoma City Times in 1971, as “poet laureate of the hill and one of the finest desk men in the annals of American journalism.”
The Oklahoma Publishing Company’s company magazine, “Cuff Stuff, ” for February 1971 said:
“Emery Winn would probably be the last person to entitle himself a “poet.” If asked he would say rather a journalistic jingler, versifier, or rhymer. But the fact remains that Winn has a knack for appealing to all of us with his rhymes. He is uncanny in his choice of subject– it is always just exactly what readers were thinking about. For over 14 years, and in some 4,000 stanzas, Winn delighted readers with his “rhyme in writing,” and many wrote to say ”That’s just what I say.”
Here is one of his rhymes from The Oklahoman for May 23, 1949, as it appeared in the newspaper. It seems appropriate for today.
Now April is the proper time . . . When showers are to fall . . . While May’s supposed to be sublime . . . With flowers, sun and all . . . But something seems to be awry . . . And May has gone to pot . . . We’re threatened with a stormy sky . . . More often than we’re not . . . We do not have a gentle rain . . . When rain comes our due . . . But what we have clogs ev’ry drain . . . And floods the country too . . . And then if rain is not enough . . . To saddle us with woes . . . We have high winds and other stuff . . . And these tornadic blows . . . Keep each of us in mortal fear . . . That we’ll be blown away . . . Or that our homes will disappear . . . And all our livestock stray . . . So let us pin our hopes on June . . . Perhaps it will behave . . . If not I know that very soon . . . My home will be a cave.
EMERY WINN
– Mary Phillips
Mother’s Day — A day to recognize
This proclamation was published in The Oklahoman May 1, 1910:
“MOTHER’S DAY IS MAY 8; MAYOR’S PROCLAMATION”
“Mayor Harry M. Scales Saturday issued a proclamation settling Sunday May 8, as “Mother’s Day.” The proclamation was as follows:
“Throughout the country, it is fast becoming the custom to set apart a day to be known and observed as Mother’s Day. The idea is a most commendable one, and the day should be commemorated by wearing a white flower or her favorite bloom.
“Therefore, in accordance with the beautiful idea set forth, I, Henry M. Scales, mayor of Oklahoma City, Okla., do hereby declare Sunday, May 8, Mother’s Day to be properly observed by the citizens of Oklahoma City.
“HENRY M. SCALES
mayor”
On May 7, this article appeared:
“Oklahoma City is preparing Sunday to honor one dear to the hearts of all people. To honor the best mother who ever lived — your mother. In accordance with an already old custom in the east, a day is set aside each year, proclaimed as a legal holiday by the mayor and state officials as “Mother’s Day.” In this city the second Sunday in May has been set aside as a legal holiday.
The objects of Mother’s Day is to recall the memories of the mothers that are gone and through loving words and care to brighten the lives of the mothers that remain and to help the children and men and women to a greater blessing in honoring their father and mother.
To call back mother’s words and prayers and the promises made her by the boy who is now a man and to think a little of what she was to her family. Those who are still blessed with a mother may show their appreciation by some deed of gratitude and love.
Emblematic of the day, each person will be asked to wear a white flower symbolic of purity and love, the two characteristics of mother…
“Mother’s day” had its origin in the person of Miss Anna Jarvis of Philadelphia, about five years ago, and so rapidly has the idea spread that in New England states, New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey it is observed each year.”
The second Sunday in May became the national holiday for Mother’s Day with the proclamation in 1914 by President Woodrow Wilson.
What was a great idea in Oklahoma City 100 years ago, is still a great idea.
Happy Mother’s Day!
– Mary Phillips
Demolition of history gave birth to Skirvin Hotel
As discussion continues about Sandridge Energy’s decision to demolish six buildings downtown, including Oklahoma City’s oldest structure, the India Temple building built in 1902, I came across this story from 100 years ago published in The Oklahoman, May 1, 1910.
It is timely or timeless, for it shows the change, destruction and construction of buildings, that continue to keep Oklahoma City a vital and modern city. Also, it tells us that our pioneers recognized the importance old buildings had to their history and their attempts to preserve them and reuse them when possible.
The early day preservationists recognized, in this case, that most of the buildings had changed beyond remembrance, but they made the attempt to save the one that remained. Without such forethought, the Skirvin Hotel, now one of Oklahoma City’s beloved landmarks, might not have been located where it is and might not look like it does today.
“LANDMARK DEMOLISHED MAKING ROOM FOR THE NEW SKIRVIN HOUSE”
“On the land where, but a few years ago, men vied for public favor in distributing groceries; the thirsty footsore traveler quenched his burning throat, and where a railroad then a struggling corporation, fought with the strength of a bull for a site to build a station, there will be erected within a year a magnificient modern ten-story hotel.
The work of excavating on the new Skirvin House, First street and Broadway, preceded by the removal of the old buildings, one of them a landmark, brings to the old-timers visions of the days gone by. Last week while attempting to remove, without demolishing one of the old structures, it fell apart. As old age overtakes man, so time did its work and the old Richardson real estate office is no more.
The history of the land at First and Broadway is closely allied with the settlement of the city, for there the first business section was started. The land where the Rock Island depot stands was owned by I.C. Cuppy, who staked out two lots. Soon after the opening (the Land Run opening) the Choctaw Railroad, now the Rock Island, bought two of Mr. Cuppy’s lots and one of his buildings, a two-story frame house.
For many months this was the only station house, as they were then called. Adjoining it was the old Richardson house, used and operated by real estate men and familiarly known as the “office.” The frame house, one of the first to be built in Oklahoma City, was the work of W.S. Richardson and a cousin. It was completed some time in 1889 and after serving faithfully for twenty-one years it went to pieces on April 25, 1910.
G.W. Turley staked the first lot on the well known corner and for many years lived there. To the north adjoining him was Kelley Shelton with his “Liquor Emporium,” and many a night the still air resounded with the laughter of the pioneers of Oklahoma.
Only a few years after the opening, the Choctaw railroad tore down the house originally owned by Cuppy and erected a station of its own, which is still standing. Thus one of the original group was lost. Turley’s residence was never wholly demolished, but so many and so frequent were the additions that it could not be called the orginal.
The place occupied by Shelton was partly torn down and remodeled until it bore no resemblance to the original, but the “Office” built by Richardson and his cousin was one of group that retained recognition. Before its removal last week, a number of people looked at the simple frame and many who saw it crumble to pieces, coupled the incident with memories of the past.
Within a few years nearly all of the old land marks will be gone and the early days will be remembered only by tale of mouth and pen. Among a number of the ’89ers there is talk of forming a society to preserve the structures so inseparably connected with the early history of Oklahoma City.”
Our current city planners and developers have to strike a balance between the truly historical and that which has been changed until it bears “no resemblance to the original” and save what they can.
– Mary Phillips
Jesse James’ brother Frank lived here
In the Dec 13, 2009, story by Oklahoman reporter Ken Raymond, titled “HUNTERS TRAIL JESSE JAMES’ GOLD“, he tells of the treasure hunters and searches for the loot supposedly hidden by the James gang.
He also mentions that Jesse’s brother Frank settled down near Fletcher, OK, to have easy access in his search for their ill-gotten gains.
A search of The Oklahoman’s archives finds a story from The Oklahoman, July 25, 1909, that reported:
“Frank James, formerly member of the famous James brothers, who committed numerous depredations in Missouri and terrorized citizens throughout the middle west, is certainly a man of his word. Soon after Jesse James was killed and Frank James surrendered to the governor of Missouri, the chief executive promised him his pardon, providing he, Frank, would live a “quiet and peaceful life.” Frank promised to follow out the governor’s instructions, which he has done.”
James and his wife moved to a farm near Fletcher in southwestern Oklahoma in 1906. There, they raised corn and chickens on 100 acres of land.
The 1909 article continues:
“Mr. and Mrs. James attend church and social gatherings in Fletcher, and Mr. James is ranked as one of the foremost men in that part of Oklahoma.
A great many people stop at Fletcher to visit the once noted outlaw. They are always tendered a cordial welcome and asked to remain as long as they like, providing they do not get too inquisitive in regard to Mr. James past life. Mr. James seldom refers to his reckless Missouri days and he is very sensitive towards publicity. One of the principal reasons why he moved to the farm was to evade so much newspaper notoriety and the ever curious public.”
In 1911, Frank James’ mother, Zerelda Samuel, died on a train near Oklahoma City en route from Fletcher to Kansas City to visit her grandson. Shortly after her death, Frank and his wife moved from Oklahoma, eventually returning to his farm at Excelsior Springs, Mo.
This story from The Oklahoman on Feb. 19, 1915, the day after Frank James died in Missouri, gives a slightly different picture of the man.
Frank James, who died at Excelsior Springs, Mo., lived on a farm one and a half miles north of Fletcher, from the fall of 1906 until his mother died in Oklahoma City three years ago. The farm here is still in James’ name. Following the death of his mother , who was a Mrs. Samuels, he returned to his farm here and remained through the following winter, since which time the farm has been tenanted.
The farm is in what is known as the Little Pasture, and was sold to James for $3,500. While on the farm he did most of his own farm work, and his wife lived her with him. While his mother was en route from Fletcher to Missouri she died on the Frisco train as it was entering Oklahoma City. She was accompanied by Mrs. Frank James.
James, during his residence near here, mingled but little with the public, and so far as known never referred to his outlaw career.
E.W. Dilling, cashier of the Fletcher State bank, and one of the few local citizens with whom James was inclined to talk, say that James was a good bank patron, courteous at all times, and anxious to be of material aid to those less fortunately situated so far as financial conditions were concerned.
Although James lived for several years within one and a half miles of Fletcher he seldom came to town, and seemed to shun the gaze of the curious.
Perhaps this quote from an Aug. 14, 1932, story from The Oklahoman about treasure hunters looking for lost fortunes in Keechi Hills in southwest Oklahoma offers an explanation for James settling in Oklahoma:
“Skeptics may hoot at the idea that the James gang ever had at one time more money than they could haul around with them, but skeptics can’t disprove the fact that Frank James acquired the farm north of Fletcher, Okla., and continued to own it till his death. “Why would Frank James in his old age, buy a farm in the new country of Oklahoma, or anywhere else, except his dear Clay or Jackson county, Mo., unless to look for buried bandit loot?” is the question that treasure hunters in the Keechi hills ask of those inclined to doubt.”
–Mary Phillips
“The meaning of Easter”
This is a reprint of an article by Edith C. Johnson, an editorial writer for The Oklahoman, that was first published 95 years ago on Easter Sunday, April 4, 1915:
“Today is Easter — the most significant and appealing festival in the calendar of the year — with the single exception of Christmas.
Easter is our most perfect symbol of hope renewed and our promise of life eternal. Rightly interpreted, it becomes the sign-manual of creative energy bursting the bonds of a thousand limitations. It is the token of new courage with which to face life’s struggle–strong in the belief of an ultimate supremacy. To contemplate the eternal verities for which it stands is to widen our horizon and broaden our purposes and hopes.
Science teaches us that one spring is like another–but science is forgotten in the message of inspiration the recurring springtime brings to a world that is weary with toil and endless disappointments, that is wasting its blood in futile warfare, that is struggling with iron oppressions and that is crushed to earth under the heel of selfishness and cold indifference.
Easter beckons on the human race. Symbolizing the renewal of man’s shining ideals, it revives human faith after the winter of our discontent, and spurs us on to the accomplishment of unbelievable tasks, through a courage that finds its source in the life-giving stream of our spiritual nature.
There is a sublime general in Easter, celebrated by the return of spring with its melting snows and streams, its budding leaves, and its bursting blossoms that once more turn their petals to the sun. Man may fall, but nature always stands proudly erect– for the seed drops to earth, only to blossom forth in greater glory. Man may transgress or evade the law. Inviolable nature keeps it. Man may sullenly turn away from light and truth. All nature turns her face towards the sun.
Thus do we read in the buds and blossoms and leaves of grass the victories of life. The beauties of nature heal and restore us. The incommunicable trees, flowers, the earth and the waters, all growing things and the heavens, bid us live with them and enter into the fullness of life. They proclaim that love shall overcome hate; that justice shall rise above injustice; that right will triumph over might and that dominion and power shall ultimately belong to the righteous and pure in heart.–E.C.J.”
May you find beauty in the Oklahoma spring landscape on this early Easter morning.
Mary Phillips
