Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1867-05-16
Brandon,
sooIAL REFORM.

elevated is society. Even more than
that. The very existence of society is
based upon It's laws, and hence it's per-
manence is In proportion to the proper
enforcement Of these laws. The result
OF the transgressions of these, strictly
speaking, is social esR-that which ever
has and will continue to curse society
so long as there are members of it who
neither respect themselves nor care for
the good Of Others.
Here in Brandon we form no happy
exception to the general rule. 1t must
be confessed that we are not yet socially
perfect enough to be exempt from all
the social evils which plague other com
munities where no. police or other civil
organization exists to prevent them. We
refer now to that particular evil-the
blockading Of our sidewalks-for which
there is neither necessity nor excuse,
and which is the direct result Of a gre
gariols tendency on the part Of rapid
ly increasing number of male bipeds,
composed almost en- maSse Of the lowest
dregs Of the place, and ranging in years
from several below to many above the
mystical teens" Their favorte haunt
is the narrow paved sidewalk ex-
tending from Morrill's block on Central
street around the corner as far as the
Brandon House on Park street. Here,
for nearly three hundred and sixty-fVe
nights in the year they revel in oaths
and the most obscene language, and keep
up an efiectual blockade-generally so
efieCtual that ladies prefer to risk their
lives in the middle Of the street rather
than attempt to crowd through such
foul-mOuthed gang, whose shockingly
profane and obscene utterances, pur-
posely uttered, are sure to reach their
ears before they can get past. And on
Saturday nights the gang increases to
such an extent as to crowd men as well
as women into the street, and it becomes
utterly impossible for q woman, and
equal to five miles walk for a man, to
make an entrance to one OF the stores
through the crowd.
This is not fiction, nor truth over
wrought, but disgraceful fact, abund-
antly confirmed by a large number of
our most worthy townsmen and women.
Now then, to say all this should be re-
medied is simply to express the senti-
ments Of every intelligent, law-ablding
person, and we believe it might be, were
the civil authorities as commercially
prompt in this regard as in some others
of even minor importance. For there is
Ctri3 Lac, which, if applied, will pre-
serve the integrity and enforce the Social
Lac, and it is high time this class Of
offenders were made aware Of this fact,
and practically taught that they are
committing a legal 0fcaee, as well as an
outrage on society, when they thus block
up street, even in the most quiet man
ner, as efectually with their persons as
could be done with so many huge tim
bers. What then must we say of those
who in the most boisterous, insulting
manner parade themselves into a public
thorOughfare with no other possible mo-
tive than to harrass and distress men,
women and children whose right they
defantly trample under foot d?
Nor is it enough to satisfy the deprav-
ed tastes of these public nuisances to
block up the sidewalk they must needs
" add insult to injury" by perpetrating
various tricks of meanness on those who
attempt to edge through their polluted
ranks. We know OF several worthy,
peaceable citizens who have been pur-
posely tripped up, thus endaDgering their
lives, or limbs at best, and others whose
clothes have been besmeared with tobac-
co juice, and subjected to other indecen-
Cies altogether too detestable to be in
vented by minds less depraved. For
those who will sink so far below the
level of common deCenCy there is but one
NORTHUMBERLAND DuL one TERM 10 e&-
press what should be their swift retribu-
tion-Justjce. If we have indeed come
to that strait when small boys not vet
in their teens can defantly assist seven
times in the week and four hours at a
time in shutting up one of the principal
streets in our village-the very nucleus
of pedestrian travel through which all
must pass in going from one side of the
village to the other-and shamefully
abuse in some way both citizens and
strangers indiscriminately, and not only
do all this with impunity, but have the
example set them by class of degraded
specimens Of humanity, many of whom
are old enough to be their fathers, and
some richly entitled to the plumage of a
" Jail bird" then we are in a most wretch
ed and pitiable condition, morally
as well as socially, and should lose no
time in preparing to escape the fiery re-
tribution of Sodom and Gomorrah,
The sidewalk is public prOpertv tn