Moving Picture News (Jul-Oct 1913)

10 THE MOVING PICTURE NEWS M. A. NEFF, HIS RAMBLES. REMINISCENCES AND CONCLUSIONS We left Cincinnati, Ohio, full of enthusiasm and expectation of the many sights that we might see during our extensive trip. From Cincinnati to Vincennes, Indiana, wc viewed the old home of Tippecanoe Harrison, located on the Wabash Pviver. Passing through Southern Illinois, we were reminded at Murphysboro of that great general, John A. Logan; on to St. Louis, where we visited the home that was given to General Sherman after the war by patriotic St. Louis friends, on to Shaws Garden, Forest Park, and there we viewed the buildings left by the Worlds Fair of 1003, and the splendid monument reared in memory of Benton; leaving St. Louis, we came to Alton, Illinois, where General Grant once lived and hauled cordwood with an ox team to St. Louis and sold it in the market; from Alton we go to Springfield, Illinois, where the great emancipator, Abraham Lincoln, lived; we viewed his old home and stood with head bare in front of his monument in honor to that great patriotic heart that beat for all mankind ; from Springfield on to Chicago, where only a few years ago the gumbo and mud was so thick and stagnant water and the mosquitoes were known far and wide, but now a grand city — the third largest in the world — • has been reared, as if by magic, with its teaming millions and Western progress, making wonderful strides for supremacy; from Chicago to Des Moines, Iowa, the one capital that represents the greatest agricultural state in the Union ; from Des Moines to Omaha, which was settled the headquarters for the Government supply of the Western territory up the Platte, and the scenes of the recent cyclone and the destruction of the mighty wind; from Omaha to Kansas City, the home of the pioneers of the West, the city built upon the hills, the city of the marvelous wealth and the splendid future; on to Osawatomie, the home of John Brown, the martyr to human liberty; on to Dodge City, the town noted for the man)' who died with their boots on; thence to Pueblo, the Pittsburgh of the West; passing through Colorado Springs and viewing Pikes Peak, that towers skyward; then over the summit; arriving at Denver and viewing the snow-capped mountains in the distance, formerly the homes of the Utes Cheyans ; on to Greeley, w-here a colony was formed immediately after the war by Horace Greeley and General Cameron, the town being named in honor of Horace Greeley, of New York, the great editor. General Cameron located the colony where they really had a rope ready to hang General Cameron for leading them into such a God-forsaken country, but to-day it is dotted in every direction with beautiful homes, and prosperity abounds everywhere. On to Salt Lake City, founded by Brigham Young, where we viewed the Mormon Temple and the lake of salt; thence to Deadwood, where Wild Bill was shot while playing at a game of hides; from there to Laramie City, made famous by "Bill" Nye and his forty liars ; from Laramie City to Seattle, the gateway to Alaska and the Yukon ; through the icy waters and drifting, deep snow we arrived at Dawson City, and there viewed the beauties of the midnight sun. Leaving Dawson wc wended our way back, and by boat arrived in California, landing at San Francisco, the home of the progressive brave and the mechanical builders of a great city, viewing the ravage and the freaks of the earthquake; passing on to Southern California, where the hand of genius has left the magic touch that causes the eye to expand and the soul to cry out at its magnificent, entrancing beauty; on to Los Angeles, so fortimately located and beautiful, not even missing Universal City, where the God of nature hath bequeathed to them that splendid scenery which, in the near future, will be beautiful to look upon; on to Old Mexico, where the scenes of the ancient mines and the primitive ways of mining and the people lake one back into the year of 1400. the desolation and linancrial losses caused by the ravage of war, S(j easily inspiied through the two great jiotciilial factors in life — love and hate, love of supremacy and hate of imaginary enemies; on to America, crossing the Rio Grande into the grand old Lone Star Commonwealth, Texas, viewing the battlefields of the war Twelve, seeing the ancient forts and i)assing <>n to the house in which Maximilian slept, who worried over supremacy in Mexico; on t(. Dallas, the magnificent, the si)len<lid and the progressive, the busiest and lastcsl-growiii).; city of tin South; passing thnniuli Carsama, the home of Roger Q. Mills, the great free trader of Texas; to New Orleans, the hospitable, historical city. where Jackson waited until he could see the eyes of the British and the victory was won; on to Island Number Ten, where Grant landed his army, crossed over to Grand Gulf, and waded the swamps to the historical city of Vicksburg. The hills and the pine trees around Vicksburg we saw; thence to Birmingham, Alabama, another magic Southern city; on to Nashville, Tennessee, where we visited the home of President Jackson ; from Nashville to the historical city of Richmond, Virginia, where we visited Bell Island, the battlefield of the Seven Pines, and viewed the capitol of the Southern Confederacy, where President Davis sat in executive session, and other places located on the James River and \-iewed the place where Libby Prison once stood; from Richmond to Fredericksburg, where Washington was born, and we saw the home of Martha Washington and the lodge where Washington was made a Mason; from Fredericksburg to Washington, that Lafaj^ette took so prominent a part in constructing, where we visited the Smithsonian Institution, National Library. Capitol and White House, the Mint, Patent Office and other places of note and interest; on to Baltimore, in Maryland. "Aly Mar\dand," the song that saved a nation; thence to Philadelphia, the home of Franklin, once the capital of the United States ; then to New York, the home of great men and intellectual giants, and the world's grandest and greatest city, the place where Washington, Jefferson and Hamilton camped and planned in defense of America, the great city which m a few years has caused the whole world to take notice that it is not only destined to lie the largest, grandest, most beautiful city in the world, but the financial center of the entire globe; from New York to London, the home of Queen Victoria and the country of Gladstone; from London across the channel to Paris, the city that knew Napoleon, Marshall Ney and otners. As we viewed the shores of St. Helena we marveled at the escape of Napoleon, and were saddened by the surroundings thereof ; on to Athens, where the statesmen of two thousand years ago mingled, and as the rising sun appeared in the East and dispersed the gloom we visited the old coliseum, where the voices and advice of the ancient wise men had resounded two thousand years ago, nothing left to remind the present generation — only a few bats that were flying through the darkened corners and a few loose boards flapping in the wind in various parts. As we left Athens for Rome, it was with a thought of a city that has been rebuilt many times, one building upon the other. In Rome we visit the ancient place where Caesar and Nero had made such efforts to destroy human liberty and rights and forever establish rule by Divine Right; from liome we visit Egj'pt; we view, with great interest, the Pyramids and seek out the seven wonders of the world; we visit with the Arabs; we look upon the ancient Jerusalem, and again face towards Pans, after visiting Bombay, India, Edinburgh, Germany, the home of Bismarck; Pekin and Hong Kong, China; Alelbourne. Australia; Tokio. Japan, and seeing nearly all of the crowned heads of Europe, we again turn with a sigh and start for our old native land, with but one thought and one hope and one desire — to ag-ain be at home, in the country i\'here the right to freedom is given to every individual, where the hope and ambition of the poorest child may be realized; where the common people may attain the highest honors known to mankind ; where the beacon light of liberty beckons all on to a higher, grander and more perfect civilization ; where the greatest men. most beautiful retined women and the most glorious natural scenery of any country on -the face of the globe is to be seen — America. -Ml of this travel has taken not only days, weeks and months, but almost two years, and has cost thousands of dollars. Any one to-day may visit the picture theatre, and in two or three nights — in only a few hours' time — may more clearly and intelligently visit all of these places for less than one dollar, and not take the tiine. expense, dangers and hardships of travel into consideration. In the near future all who attend the picture theatre will be even more thorousihlv Iiosted and conversant and familiar with the rules of nations and the environments and conditions existing, and historical facts than those who have given years of time and thousands (if dollars to travel. The greatest potential factor in the lives of the human race to-day for the advancement of civilization, the amusement and education of the people is the M(V||(^\ IMCTI'RE. M. A. NEFF. (.iiu\,i. (). 'riie Casino, Geneva's new picture house, will open up lor business. Manager .'\i:lt.