The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1894-08-10
GOOD ROADS EDUCATE.
Great Problems Will He Solved Whso
the Roadmsking Era Begins.

the Rosdmsking Era Begins.
A country road. Overhead the gray
squirrels chatter and frightened hare
scuds swiftly across, like flying shadow.
The trees shoot out long green boughs
that knock of a mans hat as he rides
unwarily, or brush him in the face with
their thick leaves. Here and there q
fallen tree obstructs the road, and marks
Of detour up the bank and through the
broken underbrush of the adjoining
wood are visible. A little stream dashes
over the road in wet seasons, trickling
sweet lullabies as it glides away. In dry
seasons there is an ugly and inconven-
lent furrow left by its overflow. The
road would seem to have been left to
such wayfarers as gray squirrels-who
after all choose the elevated railway of
tree boughs-and wild creatures of surer
foot than man.
The rains have washed deep and rough
gullies; the rocks stand up bare and
sharp of tooth on one side, and deep
mudholes on the other entrap even the
cautious. If two vehicles meet, there
is no room to pass, although unused
land on either side stretches to the edge
of vision. If the drivers are respec-
lively man and woman, the man, with
instructive gallantry, drags his vehicle
out of the way, backing, turning and
taking all risks himself; if two men,
they settle the matter with much strong
language.
The battered and broken vehicles tell
the story, with their long succession of
rude mendings, the harness tied together
with bits of rope or roughly patched,
the horses tired and thin and melancholy
with hard pulling. Truly the gray
squirrels have the best of it,
There are few houses along the road.
A population remains sparse and scat
tered where there are no roads, and there,
too, are found those pathetic households
of the old and helpless. The young men
aye. and often young women-are
gone to the towns-gone anywhere
there is chance for them. If they had
raised good crops, fine fruits, how trans
port them to market? If they had good
horses, the hard wear and tear of the
roads used them up. If they were in
genious or thrifty there were no neigh
bors TO give word or two of wholesome
praise to keep up a friendly competition,
to trade the barter ideas with; there was
worn out thinking in the old grooves as
well as worn out harness. And in the
short winter days and long winter nights
the house was drearily isolated from
other houses by long stretches of muddy
and rough ways, and the sight of a
human face at the door was startling.
Do you wonder that old supersti-
tons and prejudices and old feuds sur
vive in lonely country districts, and
old despairs and fears cloud the brain?
1t has been said that the Salem madness
of witch murder was greatly due to the
slow and infrequent communication be-
tween the towns of old days. There
was time for unhealthy brooding. We
don't hate our neighbors if there is
brisk intercourse; if we have cried over
their dead and rejoiced at their good
luck and been helped by them on days
of worries and hurries. We don't doubt
the divine kindness when we see it re-
vealed in the kindly faces of men and
women about us.
The loneliness and isolation of coun-
try places where no roads, or worse than
none, separate not connect places,
this is the secret of human overflow into
large towns, and when those who go are
mentally and morally uneducated, of
crowded slums and tenement houses
and even viler places. Man needs man.
The best part of education is not in ma
ture, not in books-it is in human inter-
course. The free shows of the streets
and bulletin boards, word flashing to
meet word, the continual presence
where news is made, where life is acted,
getting knowledge at first hand-this is
part of the city's training.
But you will say truly that it is but
poor stuff many of its scholars get-pro-
family, vice, all manner of vileness-and
that they ought not to need to come to
town to get its better elements. Well,
give them, then, wholesome country in.
tercourse, neighborly talk set in clear air,
the spectacular play of shower and sun
set with others beside them to look, too
country with roads and they will stay
content. A nation of roadmakers is a
nation of educators, of civilizers, and
the day when hearty interest in road
making springs up in the country will
be the day which marks the beginning
of the solution of some of our most seri-
Gus social and political problems.-Ell
F. Mosby in Kate Fields Washington.
Massachusetts to Have Good Roads.