The lecturer, was a glib, self-possessed youth, filled to the brim with
statistics, with which he literally overwhelmed his auditors. His
remarks were accompanied by a rapid-fire snapping of fingers to the time
of which the operator changed his slides. A bewildering succession of
coloured views flashed on the screen. They showed Lucky in all its
glories--the blacksmith shop, the main street, the new hotel, the
grocery, Brown's walnut ranch, the ditch, the Southern Pacific Depot,
the Methodist Church and a hundred others. So quickly did they succeed
each other that no one had time to reduce to the terms of experience the
scenes depicted on these slides--for with the glamour of exaggerated
colour, of unaccustomed presentation, and of skillful posing the most
commonplace village street seems wonderful and attractive for the
moment. The lecturer concluded by an alarming statement as to the
rapidity with which this desirable ranching property was being snapped
up. He urged early decisions as the only safe course; and, as usual with
all real estate men, called attention to the contrast between the
Riverside of twenty years ago and the Riverside of to-day.
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