The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-02-16

Sloth cover 81 stamps.
not do for us. She cannot lay the dust
on our streets nor rid them of offal;
and we will not. The other day, be-
tween the Boston Store and Elm street,
counted fifty-siX bits of rubbish, and
just behind Mr.. Longlys store l no
ticed as a stOpgap for an empty space
pile of ashes, waste paper and old
clothes. Thus we let rubbish accumu-
late in our streets and still more in
our alleys. In Paris the streets are
sluiced down every morning with
hose, the offal washed away and the
dust laid: and we walk amid dirt and
speak of the Europeans as the nations
without cleanliness.
eff nature cannot help us clean our
streets, before our disregard of plants
fresh air she is quite powerless.
In the business part of a city, there
fore, there should be opened between
every two or three blocks, a small
space with grass and trees and flow
ers; and the main street should be
lined with trees as thickly as may be,
without shutting out sunlight. How do
we respond to this need? We have. |
grant, a good system of parks on the
outskirts of the city; but from Frank
| lin square, where the post office up
raises it's sugar loaf towers, to Court
hill where the new Temple of Thems
intrudes on the scenery and crowds
out Vegetation, we have one tree. be-
wailing it's loneliness in front Of the
| city hall; and behind that building is
cramped a small back yard, the only
| breathing space in the business part
! of the city, the remnant of the COM
mon.
| But we are told that the city cannot
afford frills. that we must put up with
what we have got; nay, even our po-
lice department must be stinted. and
our two inspectors, cut down, that we
may economize.
How then do we lay cut our savings?
Far away upon June street there runs
| a stretch of road between some wood
ed heights. Here the roar and hustle
of the city do not penetrate; but the
| birds sing unaffrighted and there are
| few feet to brush the morning dew from
the grass and flowers. Now
our embryo statesmen and pro-
fessional politicians have re-
solved to turn this road into a
speedway--a smooth stretch where a
man with a good horse can trot two
or three heats of an afternoon.
| Doubtless this notion is very pleas
ant. IT will perhaps give an hours en-
| joyment to three or four hundred people
| twice OF thrice q week. But meanwhile
one hundred thousand people are
breathing bad air walking over dirty
streets and getting cheated in food and
drink.
| Such conditions are absurd: they do
not merit discussion. Yet they form
the custom and precedent in one OF the
best governed cities of the country.
They would move the mirth of any
school boy who knows that two and
| f,rrO ,oIrn ,,,1 4
without comment by a people who
pride themselves on nothing so much
as their shrewdness and common sense.
| They are imposed on us by fellows
who either do not know their business
or else have an axe to grind, and we
bear the imposition without question
or complaint; and if any one dares to
stand up and tell the truth he is
called noisy and superior and "un-
| American"
"Our destinies are more a question
| of healthy and happy living than of
what may occur in the Malay penin-
sula or in Polynesia Let us learn to
cleanse our walks and ways and
breathe fresh air and hear and tell
the truth. Then we may be able to
construct a CITY government wherein
sloth and greed viii not be given ten
chances to the one chance for an up-
right purpose. When that millennium
comes, when sewer inspectors know
about sewage, when gas inspectors
know about gas. when city engineers
know about engineering when build
| ing inspectors know about architecture
| and when shop keepers sell what thew
pretend to sell-when. in short. we live
| in cities that are good to live in-then.
perhaps, we can afford to talk less of
! American progress. for our civilization
| VIII have learned to speak for itself
At the forenoon session a most in
! teresting PAPER on the "Curfew'' was
read by MRS. Alexander II. Chamber
lain under the auspices Of the current
events committee. There were to have
/ been three papers on tho subiecr Of the
day. but although Mrs c. Van d. Chen
0weth. who was 10 have spoken on
| Municipal housekeeping abroad :"
failed to materiaize the remainder of
the afternoon was fully and pleasantly
occupied. Mrs. G. ". Riaelow read the
other paper a thoughtful one on "Mu-
nicipal ownership" in which she pre-
sented both sides Of the question. al
though herself evidcntly CONSIDERING
the difficulties in the wav of municipal
ownership insuperable. In the absence
Of the president. Mrs. Nathaniel Sea-
yer. who was weatharbOund i'm Leicee-
ter. the vice presidents, Mrs. G.. W.
| Kent and Mrs A. y. II. Sprague, pre-
sided The day was certainly one of
the most stimulating the league has
/ known