The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1893-03-10
Wards Words.

Inc Dill tor improvement of country roads
met the defeat in the House recently that
might have been expected. Men who never
travel country roads are not supposed to be
over anxious respecting them, and though
the bill was perhaps second TO none in inn
| pOrtance that has been noticed this winter,
it is safe to say that not one in hye OF the
honorable gentlemen who voted on II knew
or cared anything about its merits. Everyone
who knows anything about the matter at all,
knows that the average country road work
is slouched, sOldiered avoided and frequent
ly absolutely harmful through the utter ln-
competency of pathmasters, but there Is
nothing like sticking to the old LANDMARKS.
When mans plough which is used nfteen
minutes and then thrown up into the corner
of fence, counts dollar, and his wagon
another and his team another and his boy
another, he can soldier out the present tax
of 25 cents on a hundred dollars easier than
he could pay cash assessment of nickel
on the hundred, perhaps, but the roads SUI
fer for 1t and frequently there will be no
work done in district during the entire
season. There are mud holes right in the
center of the road around in this vicinity
that are 35 years old to my certain knOwl-
edge. They are so old that they are bald
and have to be revered, respected and
turned out for when man, plough, team
and scraper could bury any one of them for
ever in two hours time. And still there
are old Solurians who never use the roads
except to go to mill and to meeting-'fune-
raj meetins" at that-who will lean back in
their arm chairs and declare that the present
law is all right. Heaven help us if we have
to depend upon those old back numbers for
support. The rising generation however
will soon catch onto the idea that every dol
| lar laid out on the roads i'm front of a farm
adds two dollars to its value. and surely no
| one wants farm without road to it.
The old saying that when a man has
useless boy he makes doctor of him, isn't
| always so. They sometimes make preach
erS of them. There was notable example
| of that kind in the recollection of some
| people here, and it has recently transpired
| that the lad who left here years ago and
who was really trfie off, mentally, has
| pronounced himself failure and retired
from the field. His parishioners abso-
| lutely booed him off the track, and he got
weary in well doing under such narrowing
circumstances. 1t is rare thing for fool
| to find himself out and rarer still to acknowl-
edge it when he has made the discovery in
any profession. The young man is too far
away and his identity too uncertain for this
q
people who have useless boys and for young
men who are generally useless, to keep
away from the professions. They are
crowded now-not with good men however,
but with ne'er-to-dowell tribe of shiftless
wretches, too lazy to labor, too honest to
steal and too imbecile and ignorant for any
brain work.
Our village is in the throes OF Its annual
| election, and the average voter Is putting
stone in his mtten to thump the candidate
of his dislike. We are peculiar people.
Honest above the normal village. generous
/ to a fault on certain occasions, but our lead
ing spirits from way back have been won
derfuly lacking in public spirit enterprise
and village lore. The needs and necessities
of the town have never been fully compre-
hended, or il so, there has been want of
willingness to foregO the frequent nickel
for the future dollar Another legacy
which has been handed down to us is a
chronic disregard for close observance of law
and general looSeness exists with no posi-
! tive infraction of any especial Importance.
This further has been pandered to by men
i'll power frequently with no stamina; no
backbone, so TO speak, who either lacked
| the moral courage or feared business disas-
Ter i'm case they performed their whole duty.
Consequently matters have run by guess
largely and when an offender is snapped up
he kicks like blind mule. The gradual
growth of the vllage--and it is having a
healthy growth-requires stricter attention
to corporation officers and the sooner we
get infused with more spinal columns and
less clam the better. AS there are two
tickets in the field and an ardent desire to
stand from under on the part of some of the
names on them, at least, the result Of next
Mondays election will be looked for with
some curiosity. There is variety enough of
names to please voters who wish to work
for the church, the world or the devil-my
nome is on one Of them-and man can
throw himself in as many directions as the
wind blows.
Laingsburg, March s.