The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-01-19

7
the feeling of selhshness The man who Is
willing to pause from trade and pleasure,
to give his counsel and wealth for the pro-
possesses public spirit. What better thing
can be said of man than that ne is public
spirited?"
Mr. CumbacIx on "The Small Town"
1.-THE Small Town" was humorously de-
scribed and discussed by Will Cumback, of
Greensburg. Mr. Cumback said
Il confess to a large degree of embarrass-
ment rigkt at the very beginning of my at
tempt to respond to this toast" said Mr..
Cumback. 1T is very manifest TO any re-
fecting mind that the small town cannot
Ge intelligently discussed, except by one who
has been for at least quarter of a century
a resident of the same. The management
of this delightful banquet have unintenton-
ally wounded my sensitive nature by the
assumption that ! reside in small town. L
generously acquit them OF malicious intent.
To treat the city in which live as small
town is not only humiliating to me, but l
have great fears that it will be offensive to
the residents of our city-my nefghbors-if
the reporters should print the proceedings
of this banquet, as they are apt TO do.
shall therefore in anticipation of such pub
licity being made of what ! may say here
proceed in the first place to make myself
solid with the people among whom l 1--WE,
move and have my being. ! therefore bold
~ assert here, and now, that l live in
city and not in small town, and have
done so for more than forty years-a city
that numbers her people by the thousands
a city that has solennly been declared by
an official bulletin OF the Census Bureau of
the United States of America as the center
of population of the United States-a city
that has a live and healthy tree growing
out of the courthouse tower. No other city
in our great country can boast of such dis
tinction as Greensburg, yet the people of
our city are so modest. and well balanced.
that like the great apostle none OF these
things move them to put on airs.
1T may seem incredible to you, yet our
people freely and without ostentation asso-
0iaf 70 wit mil Of nf6
and do not even treat the country people
with disdain, but make them feel at home
when they visit us. Our people show their
real greatness by making no claims over
their less fortunate neghbors. ! shall hope
that they have grace enough to bear the
insinuation that this programme makes,
that Grensburg is a small town. But she is
city de facto. as we'll as de jure She has
a mayor, and a Common Council, not or
dinarily common, but thoroughly So except
our Council is honest, which regret to say
is not as common as all good citizens might
electric lights. We have no street cars. for
the very good reason that our city is so
compactly built and the country is so near,
and handy on every side, that such trans
poration is unnecessary We have adher-
ents to all. or most of the creeds of rel gion.
do not recall that any of our people, living
as they do in the very center. have ever
been able to corrective that the world will
come to an end can readily see, and so
can you, that people who live in the out
skirts. on the border line. might embrace
such notions, but with there is nothing
to suggest such a dire calamity. In politics
we have all the varieties, the gold bug, the
silver bug and the humbug.
THE WOMAN'S LITERARY CLUBS.
1--WE have womans literary clubs in
abundance. Some of the more conservative
citizens. think and venture to assert. that
the supply exceeds the demand The dear
ones read papers to each other on all con-
ceivable subjects. This has greatly increased
the trade in encyclopedias 1t is an almost
daily sight to see the gentlemanly agent Of
the large publishing houses pulling at the
door bells of the members of these clubs.
AS the books are offered to them on the
seductive instalment plan, the trade flour
ishes. This not only gives our city sort
who visit us, but it adds to the life and
activity of the place, lending verve also to
it's literary status.
THE Transformation from the small town
to the city Is ordinarily slow and to be an
eyewitness to the whole performance takes
a long lifetime Where there is no boom it
takes at least two generations to work out
the problem in even modified degree. The
change being so gradual, the simplicity and
creduity of the town is carried largely in
the life of the city. While the city may take
on some new methods and fashions, yet it
is not so easy to dispense with old thoughts
and usages. In the small town the ndi-
vidual whose capacity to attend to his or
her own affairs is limited, but whose ability
10 manager the affairs of the neighbors Is
extraordinary, to a great extent looSeS his
or her grip when the transition takes place.
All such resent the change that has ruined
his vocation and seek for a town that cam
not grow. The physical conditions are such
that some towns are doomed. They get
left. The environments are against them.
There are cities enough, and more than
enough, in their part of the world without
adding them to the list. And yet they
seem unconscious of their fate. Some years
ago when everything was inflated a corps
of railroad engineers drove some stakes on
both sides of the town and pointed out the
stakes they have fastened their hopes that
some day they too will be a city
I'm another small town on the hillside is
a spring that sends forth stream con-
stantly of pure, clear and cold water but
on the rocks over which it flows may be
seen a yellow tinge. The tradition in the
town is that once a chemist there and
took with him q bottle of the water and
analysed it and declared that it contained
that its use would be a certain cure for
many of the ills that flesh is heir to and
the people. through the spectrum that hope
presents can see great sanitarium on the
hill and can imagine summer boarderS and
a turnpike road from the railroad station
and prosperity and in the end a city. One
town is confident that there is oil in that
immediate vicinity another that the drill
would find gas if put down and another
thinks there is the best fireclay on the other
side of the creek that will some day be
developed ard bring capital. They magnify
their towns OH the possibilities of the flu
tCre ard draw comfort from 1t. The small
town folks may not have cultivated
minds or as broad conceptions of things as
the city people but they have warmer
hearts and more generous sympathy. In
proportion to their numbers they have as
many real earnest thinkers. This class is
not very plenty anywhere"
The last speaker was Mortimer lowering.
president Of the Commercial Club of Lafay-
cite. 1.-The Mutual Interest of Indiana
Cities was his topic. He held that the
State could not hope TO maintain it's ex-
allied position unless the cities were united.
1--WE are proud of the capital" said he
'She belongs to US all. Some cities are in
clined to be jealous because you have a
soldiers monument, a 3-cent-fare street-car
system and an Empire Theater, but when
they stop to consider they realize that they
all belong to US.
1t was midnight before the dinner ended.
The Sessions To-day.
Secretary Murphy, of the State Board of