New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-07-04
. Rrk1L LMPROKEMENTD

Cities are not such bad places to live in, or
70 die in for the matter of that, and with the
n .ocross of sanitary and social science lie
in the town wi h each ensuing year becomes more
comfortable and desirable. And yet the
minority will continue to be born in the
country and receive Their earliest and most
enduring impressions from rural surroundings
Even those who are alluIed from the scenes
of their childhood TO "malle their fortune
and pass their best and busiest years in the
stress and rush of city life ale inclined to
look upon all this strenuous activity as
mere preparation for n brief season OF Iepose
in declining age III the quiet and seciuslon oi
n country home. While country life, then,
is a necessity to most people and an object OF
ultimate longing to all the rest, it Is a marvel
that so little effort, individual or organized,
has been Dut forth to make the country
suitable place to live in. 1t Is not IN the
crowded dwellings Of the city only that the
seeds OF disease germinate into poisonous
>,tb. There is death in the country cellars
and in the wells OF faim-hOuses and villages.
J II il not In the streets OF cities alone that
filth and refuse accumulate; but IN remote
rural hamleis with "al out doors at hand
TO receive AMI cover and purify everything that
denl,s. are found in the home yards and by
tbe roadside rocking heaps of all that is
unsiphtly and offensive OF course, IN the
citv al natural beauty is trampled out by the
necessities of its throngng population; but after
all there is an heroic effort by almost every
one TO make the most OF the few square feet of
verdurc which he can command. Too rarely,
IN the contrary, does the thrifty farmer make
IN an11Ca 10 pat, IN
which surrounds him, much less to increase
#. and too often does he wantOnly dis
fcure and mutilate the natural graces of the
land he tIils
That there is q general awakening on this
subject and the beginning OF thorough
defamation, the organization OF SO many
- societies for village Improvement seems to
rrove More than fifty of these associations
b,ve been formed III the State Of Connecticut
alone. END each one will be the centre of a
rodiating influence for good. The general
,h;oct of these societies is to protect the pubic
hoolrh by establishing more favorable sanitary
buttons about village and rural homes to
STIMULATE public spirit in every way to
;n,nrove the roads aud 'beautity The roadsides
-, VOL rs the grounds ABOUT sch0Olhouses.
sh,,rches. cemeteries and public squares to
oJr,ate the public taste for rural
at and adOrnment, and altogether to
mike country homes and country life more
attroc;ive and satisfying. This new born zeal
= certainly kindled in good cluse, ami
Ultimately it viii produce grand results There
'.,u I've humiating failures, but tle people viii
t,o educated 10y the failures Amateur
no;neers will make wild work Ia construct.
,ar svstems of drainage until IL decinatIpg
- will demonstrate the need of training
~ experience in matters of such moment
1n,oteur artists IN landscape decoration will FIN
- ,ownship with incongrulties and deformities
o. The growth of enlightened taste will
:, fine repudiate the mistakes OF Ignorance
G. long "A there is genuine earnestnoss in tbe
80 the rest will follow in time.
AID vet 1t would be well if knowle3,o
I'D NE combined with zeal at the outset nor
onIv because unsuccessful experiments aro
ons,,v in themselves. but because they entail :,
,oss Of wears and the outlay of renewed ex,peuso
Cor the mere correction of blunders which co,,lI
have been avoided. The schemes OF svinayo