The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1855-10-11
Railroad Villages.


The villages that are springing up a.
long the lines of railroad every day are
comparatively a recent feature in village
building. They usually begin with de-
pot, followed by post Office, black
smiths shop, and the contents ofa couple |
of pedlar's packs duly distributed upon
half dozen shelves, and there they are
born, and christened, and waiting to grow.
The train runs to and fro, and the passen-
gers see the little group clustered round
the track, and wonder what they do there,
and why they do not 90 on with the train
By-and-by houses get to be an epidemic,
and up they 60, here and there, and all a.
bout. Streets are staked and lots are
measured, and a public square is reserv-
ed, and they have a justice, and doctor,
and young lawyer, and "stated preach
ing" once in two weeks. That's pretty
good beginning, but it's only beginning.
"A young sophomore, out of funds, and
looking for a place to teach a winter
school, gets off struggling train some
day. Everybody knows he is there. He
reached there at two o'clock, and at a
quarter past three everybody knows who
he is, and the Squire sees him, and the
Doctor shows him round the town, waves
his hand toward the prairie and toward
the town, and dilates upon its resources
and pronounces eulogy upon its enter
prise, and the young man is charmed, and
aud over the store he climbs at once, up
one flight of stairs into "high school"
Things go on bravely, and public
spirited Individual, who, as he says, has
more room than he wants, gets the paint
er-for meanwhile such an artizan has
taken passage in the village en- route to
creatness-to emblazon his name in yer y
black letters, upon a very broad board,
and there is general rejoicing at the
new "hotel," where the lawyer argues with
the storekeepcr nightly, while the doctor
completes the triangle, upon the destinies
of the world in general, and Depotdom in
particular.
What they lack now is newspaper
Bw- and-by an old press is for sale in
neishboring town, and "tramping jour
has stranded upon their beach. and the
lawyer promises to write some their lead
ers. the doctor will contribute their obi
tuaries, the schoolmaster DO the puzzles
and the poetry, while the blacksmith!and
the merchant promise to be liberal in the
way of advertising. The paper appears;
like the village, it is small, but 'cith the
village it grows.
The trains used to whistle and ring,
aud barely slacken their speed. Now
they stop altogether, for there arenow more
to get off and more to get on.
The tavern-keeper takes state map OF
pedlar, who happens to be his guest o.
ver rainy Sunday, and discovers that
Depotdom is the geographical centre OF
the county. There is an immediate agl-
tation. The seat of justice, herself, scales
and all, must be removed thither. They
work at it, eiectioneer about it, bid for it,
and get it.
Now the huddle is village; now the
village is town; now the town is shire
town; now the sbire-town is a city. The
blacksmith's shop has grown into half
dozen factories; the lawyer is multiplied
hv ten, and the doctor by six, and the
etorokecper knocks down his prices ten per
cent. to compete with nineteen new comers.
And all this is accomplished through
The agency of railroads and locomotives,
within the space Of two or three years
The lawyer is county judge, the doctor
has grown rich, the blacks NTH is mayor,
and the sophomore is married and set,
tied. They have lyceum and library,
and little daily that regales its reader:
with a whole column Of city items. How
they talk of sour city," they are no long
er villagers and pagaDs-they are citizens