Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1898-10-28
W0MEN'S GOOD WORK
RESULT or ORGANIZED EFFORT IN
NEW JERSEY TOWN.

a twelvemonth's test Of the ability OF
women TO plan and bring to pass public
improvements has recently been com
pletcd in the town Of Crawford. n. ].
Before the Village Improvement as
ISOLATION was formed, says the New York
evening Post, Crawford was comparative
ly clean and ordCrly-as much so, per.
haps, Us any other suburb of New York.
There was nevertheless an opportunit,
of making better what was already
good, and 80 ladies, realizing the fact,
determined to organize for that purpose.
The Village Improvement association
came into existence in January, 1896,
and was duly Incorporated on Feb. Of
that year. Its object, rs set forth in the
constitution, is TO aid i'll every way all
efforts to improve and beautify the town
in its moral, sanitary and artistic as
poets.
The work to be done was apportioneo
to the following standing committees
Finance, streets, sanitation, public
cNlltOit lilNNNilNANll Va w hhihAolSf
prevention of cruelty to children, rail
roads, station, etc beneficence, chill,
dren's auxiliary, public grounds anC
outlook. Having decided upon and for
INFLATED its plans, the society proceeded
to put them into execution. The ques
ton of garbage disposal was taken VI
early i'll the season.
Formerly residents had got rid OF
their ashes and kitchen refuse by EN-.
ploying men to take this material away
on wheelbarrows. Questions were sci.
dom asked as to where the barrOws were
unloaded, but the curious might have
found that i'll many instances they were
dumped i'll the nearest vacant lot. Con
sequently, while the lawns in front Of
Crawford houses were delight to the
eye, the vacant plots were frequently
unsightly and at times offensive.
To remedy this the Village Improve
ment association employed man with
team to make daily calls for garbage
and ashes at residences, and the material
is now hauled out Of town at a cost Il
kdCu uOuStHOlu vi 50 NtuIS Ntth
Commodious boxes for the collection OF
papers and other litter that would else
have been thrown into the cutters vert
placed by the society in all tho principal
streets. Neat baskets for newspaper
wrappers, circulars, etc, were fastene,
to the walls of the pOstoffice. The prac.
ticc of injuring and disfguring trees by
lacking posters upon the trunks was
vigorously opposed by the society-sc
vigorously that it has been almost en-
tirely abandoned.
Every member of the Village I'm
provement association is pledged to pre-
vent, so far us she is able, inhumanity
toward animals. Storekecpers on several
occasions were notified of acts of cruelty
committed by the drivers Of delivery
wagons. Kindness toward horses is now
regarded in Crawford as sound bushes.
policy as we'll as moral obligation.
The sanitary committee, as its nam,
! implies, is the avowed enemy Of every
sort of nuisance. and it has done excel
| lent service in freeing the town Of il
smelling drains, outbuildings and othei
menaces to health. An important branch
Of the associations work is that done by
the committee on railroads, station, etc
For many years Crawford has had ont
! of the ugliest and most uncomfortable,
stations on the railroad line. The Vii
lage Improvement association tried las
year to induce the company to build {
new station in Crawford, but the etfOr
failed. Undismayed, it did the mex
best thing-namely, brought pressur
to bear that resulted in displacing witt
electric lights the dim, smoky ant
malodorous kerosene lamps and in rid
ing the waiting room of loungers WIN
had long enjoyed the privilege of smok
ing and splitting there. Crawford station
today is quiet and clean If nothing else
The triangular plot between the oper
house block and the railway is the mos
conspicuous bit of unoccupied land il
Crawford. Until the association took /
in charge it was a blot on the beauty o
the town. One-half of its small area
belonging to nonresident, was over
grown with bushes in one corner wa
an ugly real estate signbOard and in an
other corner a drinking fountain which
owing to the stoppage of its drain pipe
kept the surrounding soil constantl
muddy
This condition of affairs was radical
ly changed. Permission from the OWL
ers being received, IA man Ill the assocl
atoms employ grubbed out the bushe
and regarded the plot. The center wa
laid out as a flower bed, and on the res
grass seed was sowed. At the society
request the township committee repair
ed and painted the fountain. Thus wa
brought about the change into an orna
ment of what had been Il blemish to th
town.
Perhaps the most useful and promi'
ing of the society's undertakings ha
been the formation of children's aux
Hilary. The Crescent branch, as it
called, has a membership at present
81 boys and girls, who are taught sy'
tematically to appreciate the value
tidiness and kindness.
So much for the kind and scope {
the work done in one year by the vi
lage Improvement association. AS
methods, much reliance was placed VI
on influence, and needed work of cha
acter unsuited for ladies to do was al
complished by means of appeals to tt
township committee, the board
health and the Society For Preventio
of Cruelty to Animals. The associ'
tons disposition has always been
aid and cooperate with the town go
eminent, never to NEEDLE with or al
tagonize it. Consequently it has di
armed criticism, and its roll of homo
airy members which is made up OF gel
tlemen who approve of the work an