Southern Illinois Record

              The Southern
Record
A Good  Newspaper im a  Power in   tlie  Home.  Seliooi,  State and  Nation
VOLUME 4
FLORA. ILINOIS. THURSDAY. ()( TOHKR 7. 1915
NO.   2
I
XENIA'S JOYOUS
HONE CONING
ii
I
As Seen By A Former Resident
(Thomas Flnty, Dallas Texas.)
Eclipsing all former events of the kind at that place, the Farmers and Merchants Carnival and Fair held In Xenia last week was a pronounced success in point of attendance, in In¬ terest manifested. In the volume, scope and tiuality of exhibits, and as a further useful and pleasurable fea¬ ture it had In connection the Urst for¬ mal "home coming" of former citi¬ zens of Xenla. Xenia lias remained stationary In population for many years because so many of her sons and daughters have gone forth al¬ most to the ends of the world to achieve distinction in useful lines. One hundred and fifty of tliese. In re¬ sponse to the Invitations of the car¬ nival committee, came back last week to enjoy the home of tlieir childhood. For many of them It was the first home coming in thirty or more years. To others who had been less constant In absence, Xenla seemed more like home than upon the occa¬ sion of any former visit, because many more of tlieir childhood friends were liere. Thus it has borne in upon tliem that it was friends and kins¬ man that had made dear to thein "the fond spot which mine infancy knew". For these prodigals the kill¬ ing of the fatted calf 1ms been lavish¬ ly performed, and the nightly meet¬ ings there has been reiiiinlscenclng 'way back almost to the very founda¬ tion of the village.
The homecoiuers ha\e stai-ted a fund to memorialize this occasion in a sultable'way, and further tiiay have suggested that there shall be a home coming annually, so tliat the chasm which lias separated the exiles from home may be lurther narrowed.
The carnival, which was promoted and financed by the business men of Xenla, has tor an incident the con¬ ventional street fair amusement fea- ture.s, but chiefly it Is an agricultu¬ ral fair at which Is shown the pro¬ ducts of thecountry within a radius of ten miles. In Clay, Wayne and Mar¬ lon counties, exhibits from a greater distance being barred. These exhib¬ its are made under huge round top tents erected in the streets aud squares.
Prominent among them are the dis¬ plays: first, of apples, drawn trom one of the greatest apple producing belts in the United States, Xenla being the center of it Is familiarly known as the "Orchard City". Second, was the display of red top seed, Xenia being the center of that very limited area which furnishes the bulk of such seed for tfie world. Third, was the display of fine livestock, to tlie pro¬ duction of which this section has be¬ come largely devoted within recent years.
The liomecomers universally com¬ mented upon the iniproveinent of .\enia and the surrounding country. They were Impresbed by the evidence seen in the exhibit tents and by count¬ less other evidences that education is more widely diffused than before and that material c(mditions have been vastly improved upon the farms.
Some of them have been told that "The Little Red aclio