Daily Davenport gazette. [volume] (Davenport, Iowa) 1854-1855, 1855-08-24
1ailrosd villages.

Aaiisoad villages are comparatively re-
cent feature IN village building. They usu-
ally begin with depot, followed by a post
Office, blacksmithshop, and the contents
off couple ofpedler's packs duly dis,ribu.
ted upon half dozen shelves, and there they
are born, and christie ned, and waiting TO
grow.
The trains run to and fro, and the pas.
sengers see the little group clustered round
the track, and wonder what they do there,
and why they do not 60 on with the train.
by and by, houses get to be an epidemic,
and up they 60, here and there, all about
Streets are staked, and lots are measured,
anda public square is reserved, and they
have justice, and 4 doctor, and young
lawyer, and "stated preaching" once in two
weeks. That's pretty good beginning,
but Il is only beginning. A young Sppho-
more, out Of funds, and looking Tor place
to teach winters school, gets of from a
struggling train some day. Every body
knows that he is there. He reaches there
at two o'clock, and II quarter past three ev.
erybody knows who hests, and what he is,
and whence Ne Il, md the Squire sees him,
and the doctor shows him round the town.
waves his hands towards the prairie, and di.
lates upon its resources; towards the town,
and pronounces a eulogy upon its enter
prise, and the young man is charmed, and
oyer the store he climbs at once, up one
dight Of stairs into High School"
Things BON bravely, and public spirit
ed individual, who, as he Gays, has more
room than he wants, gets the painter--for
meanwhile such an ar,izan has taken pas
sage in the village en- route to greatness--to
NJ tl ~ Lao
on very broad board. and there 10 gene
ra! rejoicing at the new Hotel" where the
lawyer argues nightly with the store-keep-
er, while the doctor completes the triangle,
upon the destinies Of the world in general
and Depo,dom in particular.
What they lack now is newspapcr.-
BY and by an old press is for sale in neigh.
boring town, and "tramping jour" has
stranded upon their beach, and the lawyer
promises TO write their leaders, the doctor
will contribute their obituaries, the school.
master do the puzzles and the poetry, while
the blacksmith and the merchant promise to
be liberal patrons in the way Of advertising.
The paper appears; like the village, very
small, but With the village grows.
The traiss used to whistle and ring, and
barely slacken their speed. Now they stop
altogether, for there are more TO get of, and
more TO get on.
The tavern-keepcr takes a State map of
pedler, who happens to be his guest over
rainy Sunday, and discovers that Depot
dom is the geographical center Of the conI-
ty. There is an immediate agitation. The
seat of Justice, Justice her elf, scales and
all must be removed thither.
They work al It, clectioneer about it, bid
for il. and get il. .....5s
| Now the huddle is a village; now the vi.
lage is a town; now the town is a shire
town; now the shire-town il a city. The
blacksmith shop has grown into half doz-
en- factories; the lawyer is multiplied by ten
aud the doctor by six, and the housekeeper
knocks down his prices ten per cent. to
compete with nineteen new. corners.
And all this is accomplished through the
agency Of Railroads and locomotives, with.
10 the space oftwo or three years.
The lawyer is a county judge, the doctor
has grown rich, the blacksmith is mayor,
and the Sophomore is married and settled.
They have Lyceum and a Library, and
little daily that regales its readers with a
whole column of city items. How they talk
of sur city," they ure no longer villagers
and papans They are citizens.