The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1894-05-17
MEN OF OAKLAND.
Here is Something for you to Read,
Ponder and THINK About.

induce other industries to locate
within the corporate limits and
wholly neglect to give proper en-
couragement to home talent. The
famous western novelist, E. W.
Howe, hits the nail on the very
head in his novel, 1.-The Story of a
Western Town. which made a
great hit few years ago and re-
ceived theenthusiastic praise of such |
eminent literary men as W. D.
Howels and Mark TWAIN. Read |
the excerpt that follows and when
You come to the "quiet man that
was building a wooden mill down on
the river" stop and consider wheth-
er the circumstances such as are
there described does not exist right
here in your midst. Then let your
thoughts travel in the direction of
where your patronage should go
with reference to the "quiet indus
tries" which are springing up or
have sprung up. In a chapter head
ed 1.-The Pecularities of a Country
Town." Mr.. Howe says:
"There was one thing | noticed
of Twin Mounds which was prob
ably true of every other country
town i was constantly threatened
either with great prosperity or
great danger, but whether the
event threatening the prosperity or
the danger came to psss the
town progressed about the same.
There was no perceptible effect from
any of the events the people were
certain would prove either very
disastrous OF Of great benefit, from
which | am led to believe that no
one is familiar with the art Of town
building, although I haYe never
known man who did not profess
to know all there is worth knowing
about the science.
Clowns seems to be the natural
accretion Of years, and although
the people in Twin Mounds often
related how desperate were their
struggles with adversely the facts
probaly are that the place would
have been fully as large without the
great number of public meetings
for public purposes and the endless
worry of individuals with reference
to it.
"There was a very general i'm
preston that manufactures were
needed, and this was talked about
so much, and so many inducements
were offered, that the people became
discouraged, believing that the aver
age manufacturer had wicked
heart and hollow head to thus wrong
Twin Mounds in the face of his own
interest. Therefore we were very
much surprised to learn once, after
all hope had been abandoned, that
a quiet man was building a wooden
mill down the river, which he com.
pleted and afterward operated with
out the help Of the committees which
had been appointed to aid in such
matters of public veal.
"The trouble was that the man
lived in Twin Mounds, whereas we
had been expecting a man and
money to come from distant point
for that purpose a1d had never
thought of looking about home,
but spent great deal of money IN
sending committees away to make
arrangements for a wooden mill.
This circumstance, though humil-
iating, proved good thing, for it
laugh the people that if the town
were to be built up at all it must be
by its own citizens, which know
ledge was afterwards used to good
advantage.
""The people were always miser-
able by reason of predictions that
unless impossible amounts of
money were given to certain enter
prise the town would be ruined, and,
although they always gave, no soon
er was one found exhausted than it
became necessary to raise another.
1t was said during the collection of
each amount that it would never be
necessary again to give to this sort
of charity, as the enterprise then in
hand would insure the fortune of
Twin Mounds, but there was never
an end to the ridiculous business,
and we were always in a state of
dreariness on this account, as the
men demanding the charity for in
significant enterprises threatened
to go to the rival towns and permit
the grass to grow in our streets.
"In thinking of the matter since |
have though that Twin Mounds
would have been a much better
town but for the fact that it was
always expecting improbable disas-
ter, but which never came, for the
people were thus prevented from
exercising their energy, if they had
any,"
Although the above excerpt is
from a work of fiction, it is so true