Connecticut western news., 1876-09-01
Village Improvement Societies.

Village improvement Societies.
 In an article on tho above subject in Seri6ner's for September, Dr. Holland says: There are just about four months in the year in which an ordinary country village Is pleasant place to dwell in, viz from May to September. The muddy streets and sidewalks of autumn and spring, and the icy and snowy days of winter, render it uncomfortable for walking or driving. the foliage and herbage of summer cover up the ugly spots, and the greenery of the growing months transforms the homliest details inte the pleasant and picturesque. The moment the greenery disappears. .dilap- idated fences, broken-down sheds, unkept commons, neglected trees, and all the tol- erated uglinesses of the village assert them selves. The village is beautiful no longer. There are thousands of villages scattered oyer the country in which there has never been public-spirited attempt made to re- duce their disorder to order, their ugliness to beauty, their discomforts to comfort. Every man takes care, or does not take care, of his own. Tbere is no organic or sympathetic unity, and the villages instead of being beautiful, ,wholes, are inbarmonious aggregations. Some paint and some do not paint. Some keep their grounds well, and others do not keep their grounds at all. Unsightly wrecks of vehicles, offen- sive piles of rubbish, are exposed here and there, and every man apparently feels at liberty to make his belongings as unpleas- ant to his neighbor as it pleases him. No sentiment of order is developed; no local pride is fostered; there is apparently no desire for beauty fostered: there is appar- ently no desire for beauty or convenience that goes one step beyond ones home in any case.
 It is, therefore, with great qualification that we notice here and there the organiza- ton of Village Improvement Societies, and the beautiful work which they are accom- plishing. Wherever they have been in ex- istence long enough to accomplish any thing, shade trees are planted by the side of the highways; old, neglected commons are fenced in, graded and planted: side walks are laid in all the streets, and pub lie interest in order and beauty are devel- ed which makes every man more careful of his own. Two villages, of which we hap pened to know, have been quite transform ed within two or three years by the opera ton of these organizations and their be. nefcent and beautiful work, already done, will insure to their localities certain amount of beauty and convenience for the next hundred years. They have not been met by the public apathy that they antici- pated, and they have been enabled by sub scriptions, fairs and festivals. to raise sui fcent money for the work they have in stituted, while individual citizens have co. operated with them in their schemes.
 There is no good reason why every con, siderable village of the country should not be made convenient, healthful, and beauti. ful by the operations of such societies as these. There is no good reason why a public feeling of pride should not be en- gendered by them, and an earnest purpose developed to make each village more at tractive than its neighbor. Selfish interest is all on the side of the societies, for i'm provement in beauty and comfort means improvement in value. Emulation between neighbors and villages is excited, and nig galdly property-holders are shamed into efforts to contribute to the popular desire for harmony. This is not theory it i' experience, for whenever they have beer tried these societies have done the work ant exercised the influence we have stated,
 Again, these societies arc agencies of cul ture. Developing a public spirit and { feeling of local pride, they can not fai to bear fruit in other and higher directions Public and domestic architecture will b. the first to feel the effect of the new senti ment. Men will build pretty houses, il tone with the new order of things. Nev ambition will be developed with relation t public buildings aud their surroundings The new town hall will be better than tn old. The new church will be an ornamen and a glory, which the old one was moi Lyceums, reading clubs and libraries, ar just as natural an outgrowth of 8 publi spirit engendered by these societies, and
 public culture nourished by them, as the are themselves the outgrowth of publi