Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1886-05-08
DRIFT.
II was on seeing louise creeping up the
fine silk ribbons on a fashionable lady's
bonnet in church that Burns penned the oft
quoted wish,

quoted wish,
80 wad some pow the giitie gle us
To see our-el's as ithers see u.s.!
That fashionable lady was fully conscious Of
her stylish bonnet, line dress, aud general
beauty OF appearance. The only thing she
was not conscious of was that which most
attracted the poets attention, 10 wit: Tho
louise on her bonnet. Now 1t has often
struck me how characteristic this was of
most of us. oar excelieuces we need not be
reminded OF We don't often let ourselves
forget them. And we commonly think they
are just ~ clearly seen and fully appreciated
by everybody else. Yet all the while, per:
haps, there is louise on our bonnet, of
which we know nothing, but which Is more
conspicuous TO our neighbors, and attracts
their attention more, than all our oxcellences
put together To know our deiects, weak
nesse@, and tnllies wo must "see oursel's IA
ithcrS see us"
THAT this is true Of communities M well
well ~ OF individuals was proved 10 me only
few days ago. ] was entertaining n friend
from abroad and pointed with pride" To
some Oi our handsome business places and
private residences, buildings ~ fine as any
In the state, when my friend astonished and
almost offended mo by saying, "Why yes,
you have some splendid buildings. But do
you know ! had not noticed them till you
pointed them out; my attention was 40
drawn tn the queer old tumbledowu shanties
aud little, oDe-story, moss.covered houses,
/ see scattered all over. Why never saw
anything like IL in place of this size Look
at that big old woather-beaten frame thing,
right in the heart OF the city, plastered over
with show bills! An affair like that throws
into the shade all the other, handsome,
buildings round IL. And should think it
must depreciate the value of all the proper
ties within block Of it. And the same way
with those other little sheds aud houses that
disfgure nearly every square in your city,
At first felt pretty nearly as unreason-
ably resentful at my friends frankness az
that lady would have felt il Burns had po-
ltely told her, "Madam, your bonnet is
very beautiful but there j. a louso on it,
which somehow attracts more attention than
the bonnet" But why should she bo
angry? The louise was there! And all she
could do was to take it off az soon "a possible
APART from its effect on the beauty oi
city, and on the pecuniary value Of real
estate in it, this matter Of architecture has
yet a further and deeper importance aud
significance which deserves far more atten-
ton than it commonly receives. 1t il well
expressed by a thoughtful writer in a recent
journal of architecture who says "Our archl-
tects are scarcely conscious, ] fancy, of the
happiness or unhappineSS, progress or retro
gress, pleasure or pain, tor which they are
RIOllnttDle IDty 90 not EttllIt "ltl
moral as well as aesthetic influence they
have over the people, ard how responsible
they are for the moral tone OF society. The
planners of our houses have "a great an in
tluence in forming our character as the
preac hers in our churches-a more lasting
influence for while the latter must reach
and move us by too swiftly forgotten words,
the former find expression for their teach
ings in enduring structures OF wood and
stone. bow quickly and accurately we
iulpp nv driving tbrpuph tho streets OF
town, what il the grade of its citizenship"
! wonder what Judgment OF our grade OF
citizenship" this writer would form by
driving through the streets of Lancaster, and
looking, for instance, at our uniformly COM
monplace and utterly unboautful church
| ediGceS, to say nothing of the too numerous
other buildings already referred to by my
| friend aforementioned
WHEN one has once been put on tho track
| of finding defects isn't it strange how easy il
| becomes to prosecute the search and find
ever more and more! At least found it 80
in the case OF my friend. He seemed to ht
| wound up and unable to stop again until M
| had pointed out every possible local defect
popularity, and idiosyncrasy he could find
| many of them such a. the most old resi-
dents would never have noticed, so uset
| have We become to them.
| FIRST of all he put this poser to me
i y
| many 'hotels,' restaurants saloons, grog
| shops ,Sc,, in your city as you have private
| dwellings? Why there seem TO be on ~
| average about six To every square. Don
your people know that degrades all OF them
| You can sec for yourself You have only
two or three real hotels, the rest OF them arr
| nothing but taYerns. And many of you
saloons have pretty lean and shabby ap
| pearance. Why do you tolerate such over
crowding? Why not close up about nine
tenths OF them?"
| told INN to give me an easier one, an'
| referred him meanwhile to the honorahl
judges OF our court They probably viii
have no difficulty in answering him, 10 thei
| own satisfaction II not 10 his
You ought to have heard this fault-iinde
though the day after the circus!
"Was this the first circus that has eve
been here at Lancaster ~ no commenced.
assured him that at least one or two cam
here every year.
"Then what in the name of commo
sense does your city go so wild over 1t Tor
Why there was more fuss and eXctemeI
| and decentralization here in this city OF thlrt
| thousand inhabitants over this ono cIrcl
| than would be caused by hall "A doZon i'll I'll
| town where live, and that doesn't preten
| to the dignity of city but is conieSsedl
| nothing but IA little country town. | mu
: say | never saw anything like the way yo
. | folks went on yesterday. The city W.
| cOmpleteIy uetnOrallIet. u btntNti I'm
| some little rural village -'
"Only that it made good deal ot money
I, | | interposed.
; "Are you quite sure of that ?" no asko
al grant that the coniectioners made none.
and SO did the saloons, for | saw mo
| drunken people on your streets on Monda
| than | ever saw in whole month in NJ
z other place of five times the size OF "a
| caster. But | am not so sure that your cl
; | is any richer to-day for the several thousaI
a ts.a, hot
l took with him. | am sure tho county Is ju
| by so much poorer. And not one OF inc I
II | thousand people who went to his show l
is out of pocket by what it cost, and Ii
- nothing to show for il either. For il
money which il taken clean away neti
il, the city nor county will ever see a cent
IL again.
:, But, my FRIEND" | again veutured
reply, money is not the only considerati
-, our working people don't get enough recr
" ton ~ it il. The annual circus is one
their chief holidays 1t they did lose Il da
nd | wages and tho price of admission, it was
too much TO pay for days amusement a
er | pleasure"
"You are right" he eagerly answer
,st | fnr he seemed now to be quito eNcit
"You are right Money isn't the only q
,cr sideration. Even II your city had made
YOU seem to think il did, and all Forepal
carried away with him besides, it would
ep | have compensated it for the demOrai2
and degrading influence and effects of
'p' day on the rising generation. For its h
and girls to see the hundreds OF ru
An drunkards, the conduct of the roughs
lawd womeD To hear tho prOtane and