Springfield (Ill.) -- Fiction; Springfield (Ill.) -- In literature; Utopias in literature
Rabbi Ezekiel, moreover, with all care to defer to the aged St. Friend
in a personal way, declares that the photoplay movement, being no longer
in alliance with questioned places, is destined to go forward with fresh
life. He admits that the abolition of the halls is justified, though he
took no part in it. But he is a motion picture fan, whatever the turn of
history.
June 27:—My whole feeling over the fights about the halls is that I have
not had much chance, after Avanel’s promise to dance there with me. I
have had only an evening or so.
As for the lynching, the court proceedings promise to drag on, as they
always have in such cases. Everyone knows nothing will be done except
postpone. Everyone knows it was Jim, yet no one knows it, and the
Janitor of the Yellow Hall is the only person whose name gets into the
papers.
June 28:—The Thibetan Boy, that the Romanoff dubbed the Muttering
Thibetan, now swings into my life, and as though he were a guide sent
from wonderland, with sealed orders just opened, he takes me the rounds
of Springfield and the whole city becomes new. It is not a place of
individual sinners and saints. The City’s architecture seems to breathe
and live for him. The tiniest gargoyle takes on personality and
citizenship. All this morning he has been taking me through the gardens
of Mother Grey. These gardens seem built rather than planted. The trees
are green walls and roofs. I am amused to note there is no prejudice
against dandelions, since, in a former existence, I had so many to dig
up. They now make the carpets. He takes me into the temple studio of
Joseph Bartholdi Michael, the Third, who is especially busy for young
university student girls who expect to be June brides in the next two or
three days. This studio is a place established for the innermost circles
of the flower religion. Before each altar is a design to be set up and
kept glorious in some new cottage. Several of these are for a new row of
cottages near Washington Park called Bridal Row. The temple is full of
the fluttering brides of tomorrow, seeing the last touches and
consulting about what candles and incense to burn, and asking over and
over what flowers are permitted by the Flower Religion Marriage Service,
which is the one most preferred by the exquisites of 2018.
June 29:—Avanel and I have developed a favorite walk: the Lincoln’s
monument region. We pass under many of the Golden Rain Trees and Ezekiel
Oaks, to the Apple-Amaranth Grove that was the first in Sangamon County,
and the Grave of Hunter Kelly, in the midst of it. There are the old
pick and spade of the Devil, always left on the grave. When we do not
walk in this region we are apt to be looking this way from the Truth
Tower, from the lookout room of the newspapers, or looking back from the
telescope room of the Ashland Gate. Avanel is generally very solemn
looking this way, planning new processions and dances in praise of
Hunter Kelly and the next festival of Hunter Kelly, July 11.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account