And in the midst of it all came 1873 and 1874, with their twin devastations and calamities. A fierce sun rose and set for months in a cloudless sky; the parched earth shrank and cracked; and the crops withered and shriveled in winds as hot as the breath of a furnace. But as if the destruction thus wrought was not enough, out from the northwest came clouds of insects, darkening the sun in their baleful flight, and leaving the very abomination of desolation wherever they alighted. It was then that the bravest quailed, and our sturdiest farmers abandoned all hope. Thousands of people, now among our most prosperous citizens, would have sold everything they possessed for one-sixth of its value, during the year 1874, and abandoned the State forever. But they could find no purchasers, even at such a price. Somehow—and I mention the fact to their everlasting credit—many of the newspapers of Kansas never lost heart or hope during that distressful season. They lauded the State more earnestly, if possible, than ever before. They asserted, with vehement iteration, that the season was exceptional and phenomenal. They exhorted the people to keep up courage, and confidently predicted abundant harvests next year. And to their influence more than any other, is due the fact that Kansas survived the drouth and grasshopper invasion of 1874 with so little loss of population. THE PERIOD OF TRIUMPH. The period of triumph began in 1875. While the world was still talking of our State as a drouth-powdered and insect-eaten country, Kansas was preparing for the Centennial, and getting ready for a great future. And in 1876, she sprang into the arena of Nations with a display of her products and resources which eclipsed them all, and excited the wonder and admiration of the whole civilized earth. From that time to this the development of Kansas has never known a halt, nor have the hopes of our citizens ever been troubled by a doubt. More permanent and costly homes have been builded, more stately public edifices have been reared, more substantial improvements have been made on farms and in towns, more wealth has been accumulated, during the decade beginning in 1875, than during the two previous decades. No citizen of Kansas, from that day to this, has ever written a letter, made a speech, or talked at home or abroad, with his fellow-citizens or with strangers, without exalting the resources and glorifying the greatness of the State. No Legislature, since that time, has ever doubted the ability of the State to do anything it pleased to do.