The Empire County argus., 1855-10-06
Railroad Vii ages

Railroad villages are comparatively recent fea-
ture in village building. They usually begin with
a depot followed by post office. a blacksmith
shop and the contents of couple of pedlars packs
duly distributed upon half-a.dozen shelves. and
there they are born, and cristened and waiting to
grow.
The trains run to and fro and the passenccrs
see the little groug clustered about 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 90, here and there and all about Streets
are stalked, and lots are measured. and public
square is reserved and thena justice and n doctor
and young lawyer, and stated preaching once
in two weeks. That's pretty good beginning.
but it is only beginning. A young Sophomore,
out OF funds and looking fore place to teach a
winter school, gets Oft struggling train some day
Every body knows he is there He reached there
at two o'clock, and at quarter past three every body
knows who he is, and what he is and whence he
is, and the squire sees him, and the doctor shows
him round the town--waves his hand towards the
PRAIRIE and dilates upon its resources; towards the
town, and pronounces eulogy upon its enterprise;
and the young man is charmed and over the store
he climbs at once, up one fight Of stairs into a
High School,
Things go on braveIy, and pubc.spirited indi.
vidual, who as he says, has more room than be
wants, gets the painter--for meanwhile ssch an
artisan has taken passage in the village en- route to
greatness-to blason his name in very black let
tiers upon very broad board, and there is gene.
raj rejoicing at the new Hotel where the lawyer
argues with the storekeeper nightly while the doc
tor completes the triangle, upon the destnes OF the
world in general, and Depotdom in particular.
what they lack now is q newspaper. BY and
by, an old press is for sale in neighboring town.
and a 'tramping jour has stranded On their beach,
and the lawyer promises to write for the paper the
d1,nf. ,L.,t. 4I..D L
master will do the puzzles and the poetry, while
the blacksmith and the merchant promise to be
liberal patrons in the way of advertising. The
paper, like the village, is small but Nth the village
it grows.
The trains used to whistle and ring and barely
sacken their speed. Now they stop altogether,
for there are more to get off and more to get on
The tavern-keeper takes State map of IL pedlar,
who happens to be his guest over rainy Sunday,
and discovers that Depotdom is the geographical
center of the county. There is an Immediate agi-
taton. The seat of Justice, Justice herself scales
and all, must be removed thither,
They work ut it, eectioneer about it, bid for it,
and get it,
Now the huddle is village now the village is
Il town; now the town is a shire town; now the
shire town is a city. The blacksmith shop has
grown into half-dozen factories; the lawyer is
multiplied by ten, and the doctor by six and the
storekeeper knocks down his prices ten per cent
to compete with nineteen new cumers
And all this is accomplished, through the agency
Of railroads and locomotives, within the space OF
two 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 TEey have q
lyceum and library. and little daily that re-
gales its readers with column Of city items. How
they talk of our city. They no longer vii
layers and pagaus. They are citizens--.Sat. Eve
atnr Post