SEPTEMBER 71 



our borders. According to the same authority, 

 the pecan and the redbud are at home only in tliis 

 southeastern part of the state. ^^ 



Today the apples are ripe in the orchards, the 

 katydids are in emphatic voice along the well 

 shaded streets, the sunlight is bright, with quite 

 summery warmth. It is pleasant to ramble in 

 leisurely fashion down the long highway bridge 

 that leads to Illinois. It has no great structural 

 beauty, but refreshing breezes blow over it, and it 

 affords wonderful views of wooded islands and 

 shores far up and down the river. There are boats 

 in mid-channel, and there are sandbars where per- 

 haps a great blue heron may soon alight. In Mus- 

 catine the bridge rises out of a fairly busy city 

 street ; at the eastern terminus it leads into a coun- 

 try road, without sign of town or village. The 

 banks at the Illinois end are now aglow with yel- 

 low composites, and the air is heavy with the 

 scent of fetid marigold. With reference to the ac- 

 quisition of our national domain, we have passed 

 in this bridge journeying from the days of Napo- 

 leon, from the soil of the Louisiana Purchase, to 

 the days of George the Third, to the ^^ Territory 

 of the original thirteen states as recognized by 

 Great Britain in 1783.'' 



The road bridges of Iowa in general do not make 

 a very strong esthetic appeal, yet some of them 

 are not without interesting associations, at least 



14 See Appendix, Note 9. 



