Bristol news. [volume] (Bristol, Va. & Tenn.) 1867-189?, 1872-05-10
GIVE US A PUBLIC SQUARE.
"Te prevent disease is far better than to
cure IL ~ ANON.

known trutS-Some are smaller, some
greater factors in producing the iusa-
lubrity spoken of.
The writer's purpose is to name,
principally, but one, which may be
considered the greatest.
Allusion is made to Carbonic Acid
Gas. 1t is composed of one equivalent
of carbon and two of oxygen chemical
Is combined. This gas cannot be re-
spired for moment without insensi-
biity following. Even when largely
diluted with air it is hurtful to animal
life, and acts as q narcotic poison.
Being more than fifty per cent. heav-
Ter than air, we find it more and more
densely mingled with that fluid the
nearer we approach the eaIth's surface
For the same reason it gravitates to
the level of low lands; penetrates eel
lars, wells, mines and subterranean
caverns. Whence it has so often, as
1.-The pestilence that walketh in dark
ness" caused the walls of despair and
lamentation to ascend and make the
heart grow sick and the face pale.
This deadly poison which was ever
so fatally concentrated in the great CT
ties of past ages, is the product of com
QUESTION. 1t is generated by every fire
that is kindled, every lamp that is
lighted and every brewery and distil-
lery where the process of fermentation
is going OH, Nay, every living being
into whose nostrils has been breathed
the breath of life. is burning labora-
tory from the alembic of which is ever,
awake and asleep, being distilled this
noxious gas to polute our atmosphere.
For the act of respiration is as truly 4
process of combustion as is the confia-
grafton of "a city.
During the dark and middle ages,
before the light of sciences had taught
our ancestors TO build their towns with
wide streets and well ventilated houses
the concentration of this pestilential
gas, in many an ancient city, was the
chief cause of these mortal plaques, the
horrors of which have not yet ceased
to make mankind shudder. But those
scenes of terror have become greatly
mitigated, or have gradually passed
away.
Broad avenues and airy dwellings
have done great work for health in
diluting that poison and diminishing
its virulence. More than all, God, in
His infinite wisdom and goodness, has
given us an dntidote that will not only
render it inert, but convert it onto the
very allment that gives raddiness to
our cheeks and strength to our nerves.
In the beautiful encomy of our
creator, those poisonous gases that EN-
ter our atmosphere and render it dele
FERROUS to animal life, serve but to
quicken into being and luxuriant
growth the vegetable kingdom.
1t has been already said this ire
spirable gas, carbonic acid, is COM
posed of
Carbon 6, Oxygen Is.
Now The leaves of all living plants
chemically decompOse this compound,
the carbon is assilnilated to the plant,
the oxygen is liberated to the atmOs-
phere and imparts TO it, for us, its life
giving principle.
These thoughts come up, now, fOrci-
bly, to the writer's mind, as, in the
daily pursuit Of his calling, he is cheer
ed on every hand by 1.-The note of busy
preparation" that seems sure to enter
our growing town on a career of future
greatness. LOrg lines of spacious
streets have Eeen freely opened and
literally extended. The interspaces
are al rapidly going through the pro-
cess OF being carved off and sold out
for building lots. Are considerations
directed solely to the greedy MARI Of
Mammon, to shape entirely the policy
of our city fathers? Will those who
are to live here after we shall have Ia
ken up our abode in "the village on
the HILL" need nothing but business
thoroughfares and avenues for private
mansions. Cannot kind feeling for
the innocent pleasure, recreation and
health of the generations who are to
succeed US, be INDUCED?
There is in the very midst of our
town beautiful square. l see, driven
into its virgin soil, those ominous
stakes that indicate that it, too, has
been condemned to the adctioneer's
block. Frog Level! Who will not
appreciate thy charms? Though thy
t. ue it is, "that which we call q rose,
by any other name would smell as
sweet" Well may the laughing "Bea-
though doomed, shores, tune its MUIR
murs to sound in harmony with the
signs of the passing wind.
Nothing can contribute more to the
health of large towns than the reserva-
clothed with a luXuriant vegetation.
They stand in the same physiological
relation to cities, that lungs do to the
animal body. They serve to absorb
and convert into organized matter the
hurtful gases of the air, and render it
pure, to US, as the zephyrs playing
around the mountains summit.
One of the most elegant pleasure
grounds and places of health 'ul resort !
in the worlds metropolis, is known by |
the repulsive maine Rotten Row"
Then, why may not our own Frog |
Level y be converted into Public Gar |
den, where the jaded citizen may re-
treat from the dust and toll of the |
store-rOom and the workshop, to re- |
gale his tired senses with the songs of |
birds, the fragrance of flowers, the
beauties of the landscape, and the eX- !
hilerating influence of a pure air.
This beautiful green, charming i'm |
its rude and unadoFned state, is sus-
ceptibIe of the finest touches of artistic /
skill: and can be made, as it should |
he, glittering gem on the bosom of |
our future city. 1t is impracticable |
for us, now, TO attempt carrying out, |
to the full extent, designs that might |
be made to render this a magnificent |
Square but the preliminary steps, that
will lead to their accomplishment in
the future, may be taken.
Let it be neatly and substantially en-
closed, set in grass suitable for lawn;
and planted in trees and shrubbery |
with view to its being intersected
with walks. OF course a site should |
be reserved in its centre for "City |
HALL" where we can have a public
Rostrum, Lyceum, a public Library,
Court Rooms, &c.
plead to- the worthy Mayor and
Common Council of Goodson that |
these beautiful grounds ne spared, /
that an ornamental Square shall here
be made, and that it may perpetuate |
the name of some one whose memory |
we will all delight to honor. In the |
nauae of unborn children who will |