From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for July 29, 1915:

• “Topeka. – Kansas will observe Good Roads days August 18 and 19, according to a proclamation issued from the office of Governor Capper today. The proclamation urges every able-bodied citizen of the state to lend his support to the movement. It is pointed out that if every man will help to smooth out a rut or to repair a culvert and every woman will help provide refreshments for the workers, the roads of Kansas can be improved vastly. Organization of the workers in each county into a military unit under the command of a road general is urged and it has been announced that Governor Capper, himself, will assume charge of an organization of statehouse employees, who, armed with picks, shovels, and ploughs, will attack some of the bad roads in Shawnee county.”
• “Work on the new apartment house at the corner of Oread avenue and Twelfth streets is being rushed to completion so that the building will be completed by the opening of the school year at the University. The outside brick walls are all up and work will be started on the interior soon. The house is to contain several apartments and will probably be occupied by teachers and students of the school who wish to do light housekeeping. It is on the same style of architecture and interior plan as many of the newest apartment houses in Kansas City and will be an addition to the homes on the hill.”
• “A letter received this morning from J. M. Boyd, who left Tuesday for Colorado in his automobile, says that the party was between Herington and Marion, Kan., at 10 o’clock Wednesday morning and that the roads had been found excellent as far as they had gone. ‘The roads are well marked, too,’ Mr. Boyd writes, ‘and there is a fine camp house near Council Grove. The corn looks fine in most places and prospects are generally good in this section.'”
• “The average person draws his fund of information concerning Kansas birds from eastern literature instead of from personal observation. Take for example the most common bird in the vicinity of Lawrence, the robin. He is continually spoken of as a ‘bird of spring,’ while the truth of the matter is he is here in the winter, but in the very coldest weather keeps in the deep timber, and only comes to town when the weather moderates. In most of the New England states where most of the bird literature originates, the robin is a migrant…. The name of robin red breast is a misnomer. Everybody knows that his breast is not red, but is the color of an apple that has withered on the tree. The Pilgrim Fathers called this lusty thrush the name of their own English robin, which is a much smaller bird with a bright red vest, that belongs to an entirely different ornithological family.”