Arthur Strawn, editor (and philosopher)

by Betty Jane Wilson

“I will call it ‘IF’ — a bit of prose from an unknown source. It has a number of interesting ideas,” concluded the late editor, Arthur Strawn, in the Nov. 28, 1972, issue of the Valley Falls Historical Society Newsletter, commenting on the following:

“IF the races of men should suddenly disappear from the earth, leaving only the animals, great changes would take place. For a time, the works of men would remain, but gradually the lofty buildings in our cities would crumble and collapse, the railroads would become thin lines of rusty steel buried in tangles of weeds, farms would be covered with brush and with great forests, the roads would become merely paths for animals, and in place of fertile fields and villages and busy cities the ancient jungle would return. External Nature would remain much the same as now. Season would succeed season, the rivers would flow as majestically as ever to the sea, the moon and stars would shine or would be blotted out by great storms; the woods would be filled with the music of bird song or the fragrance of flowers, or, in winter, would be clothed in their mantle of snow. And the animal world would be much the same as now, except that the wild beasts would become bolder and more numerous and the animals that man has tamed or has made his companions would become wild or would be destroyed by enemies.

In such a world, no more progress of the sort that seems progress to us would be possible. There would still be such primitive methods of living as animals use. The races of animals would still keep up some such form of communication as they now seem to have. But no cooperation, working together for a safer and happier mode of living comes from this faint sense of relationship that members of an animal race feel for one another.

One reason for this failure is that the imagination and memory of animals are very small. We have no evidence that the beauty of Nature—a vista in a forest or the grandeur of mountains — produce any effect on the animals. They have no records of their past history or permanent records of any kind. Mankind can see into the past or the future, and can see what he wishes to bring to pass . . .”
— Arthur R. Strawn, Editor.

Arthur edited the society newsletter from the late 1960s through most of 1970. He devoted time and effort to conscientious reporting of society happenings, local activities, community time and tribulations with an occasional personal observation or musing material providing a priceless historical record for Valley Falls.

The society museum remains closed through February. March opening date and Saturday host schedules will be announced later.