Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1883-07-11
Grand Isle, June 80, So

COUNTRY RoADS.-The country high
way is the connecting link of the Ameri-
can farmers. 1t binds the farms together
instead OF separating them, and furnishes
the means by which neighborhood may
be Il unit in the nation. The common
road" is common interest, and is the
Along it the stranger passes, and from it
sions of those who make it what it is
! If a highway was for travel and nothing
more and travel was simply getting from
one place 10 another, then II good road
bed of The shortest length bclwe, n
connected points would meet the fu |
demands of country road. But people
travel lnrgely for pleasure, and when the
going is a duty, their desire islLe constantly
changing panorama of all who pass along
any highway.
Tue writer knows of two equally good
roads, so far as the road bed is concerned at
equal distances from a village. Oae is KEEP
clean not extensively so, tie grass is cut
and it pays well the owEcrs OF the land for
their work. The other common road has
half finished bitches along the side, which
bristle with Canada thistle and other vile
weeds. The fences are hedgerows of filth,
and propagating beds for Eoxious plants
that each year seed down The whole neigh
borhood with expensive pes's The farm
ers along this portion of the highway
have, with enc accord, turned the road
into II common "slop jar" into which
they throw every thing that is not Il to
be seen In one place is large brush
heap, upon which the trimmings If trees
in the dooryard are annually thrown, ard
become an object of fright to mony 81
horse that passes by starlight. A little
further on is the logyard of farmer.
The roadside is appropriated as place
where the necessary rails are spit from
year 10 year. In this brush the turkeys
build nest, and hind the LOGS httcr
of pigs first sees the light Of day Born
npon the highway these animals hold ali
the claims of their biflhright. The next
farmer has his barn Ion The road" and
with the tumble down piles of old lumber,
interspersed with broken harrows and
cultivators which surround it, the passer
by must either shut his eyes, aad nose too,
or be witness 10 a thriftless, shiflless and
even disgusting scene. Not far up the
road things are even worse, for, instead OF
the barn, the house is on the public
highway, and The carriage track is daily
sprlnkled with the chips that fly from the
slow and M lancholy chopper in his
boundless roadside woodward.
The farmers along the well kept road,
way have no better farms then their slip.
shod neighbors on tie other side of the
ylllagei they perhaps do not make any
more money. But there are some thing S
in which they are vastly superior, They
live on a higher plane, and therefore a
comparison is difficult to make and not at
all necessary. The well kept roads gets
all the pleasure driving; no one thinks Of
going into the unkept district except on
business. The tidy road is double and
mutual comfort TO those who desire TO
take pleasure drive and to the farmers
who dwell along the highway. Nothing
enlivens the common life Of the farmer
and his family like the sight of frequent
vehicles upon the highway.
The difference in the cost OF keeping the
Two extremes of country Dad is in favor
of the one that is neat and pleasing 10 the
eye, There is an increase of hay, and a