Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1876-09-15
Village Improvement Societies.

There are just about four months in tho
year IN which an ordinary country village is
a pleasant place 10 dwell in, viz. from
May TO September. The muddy streets and
sidewalks Of autumn and spring, and the
icy aud snowy ways Of winter, render it un-
comfortable for walking or driving. The
foliage and heritage Of summer cover up the
ugly spots, and the greenery of the growing
months transforms the homeliest details into
the pleasant and picturesque. The moment
the greenery disappears, dilapidated fences,
broken-down sheds, unkept commons, neg
lected trees, and all the tolerated ugliness Of
the village assert themselves. The village is
beautiful no longer.
There are thousands Of villages scattered
over the country in which tn ere has never
been a spirited attempt made to reduce their
disorder to order, their ugliness to beauty,
their dscomforts to comfort. Every man
takes care, or does not take care Of his own.
There is no organic or sympathetic unity,
and the villages, instead of being beautiful
wholes, are inharmonious aggregations.
Some paint and some do not paint. Some
keep their grounds WE'LL aud others do not
keep their grounds at all. Unsightly wrecks
Of vehicles, offensive piles Of rubbish, are ex-
posed here and there, and every man ap.
parently feels at liberty to make his belong
ings as unpleasant to his neighbor as il
pleases him. No public sentiment of order
is developed; no local pride is fostered
there is apparently no desire for beauty or
convenience that goes on step beyond ones
home in any case.
II is therefore with great qualification
that we nstice here aud there the organiza-
ton OF village improvement societies, and
the beautiful work which they are accom-
plishing, Wherever they have been in ex-
istenco lOOg enough to accomplish anything
shade trees are planted by the side of the
highways old neglected commons are fenced
in, graded and planted sidewalks are laid
in all the streets, and a public interest 10
order and beauty is developed, which makes
every man more careful Of his own. Two
villages of which we happened to know, have
been quite transformed within two or three
years by the operations oil these organiza
tons; and their benefcient aud beautiful
work, already done, will insure to their 10
calties a certain amount Of beauty and con
veBence for the next hundred years. The,
have not been met by the public apathy tina
they anticipated, and they have been en-
ablel, by subscriptions, fairs and festivals
to raise sufficient money for the work the
have instituted, while individual citizen
have co-operated with them in their schemes
There is no good reason why every con
siderable village of the country should no
be made convenient, healthful aud beautiful
by the operations of such societies as these
There is no good reason why a public feelin
of pride should not be engendered by them
and an earnest purpose developed to max
each village more attractive than its neigh
Dor. Selfish interest is all on the side of tn
societies for improvement in beauty an
comfort means improvement in value. En-
ulatiOn between neighbors aud between vi
lagos is excited, and niggardly property hole
ers are shamed into efforts to contribute Il
the popular desire for harmony. This is nc
q theory; it is experience for, wherevC
! they have been tried these societies hay
done the work and exercised the nfiuenC
we have stated.
| thSoS oOSiStASs NV oSNhSASo VI w
turc. Developing public spirit and fee
ing Of local pride, they cannot fail to bet
fruit in other and higher directions Publ
: and domestic architecture will be the effe
2 Of the new sentiment. Men will build pre-
ty houses, in tone with the new order
things. New ambition will be develope
!, with relation to public buildings and the
surroundings. The new town hall will
J, better than the old. The new church wi
be an ornament aud glory, which the o
one was not. Lyceums, reading-clubs a.
: libraries, are just as natural an outgrowth
: public spirit engendered by these socetiC
IS and public culture nourished by thom,
they are, themselves, the outgrowth Of
:, public necesslty,-Dr. Holland an Septe
10 Der ScriJner.