Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1899-04-16
.sJASsss.ss .s.s.s ssJsssSs&SsSs
- A Preacher
= Among the People. r
THE "vILLAGE IMpRovERs. ;


lighted when the business interests OF
my employer made 1t necessary for me
to pay ,the place visit. Boarding a
train one beautiful spring morning, !
started On my coveted trip. 1t was
nearly three o'clock In the afternoon
when the brakeman passed through
the car calling out L. Although the
train was due there at that time, and
the name was called with unusual
clearness, everything was so changed
that / could scarcely persuade myself
that serious mistake was not being
made.
The o. city that l had known was
gone, and a new one had sprung up In
its place. The streets were the same
only in location and name. No longer
objects of neglect, they were we'll
paved and so carefully swept that un-
like most paved cities, it was not nee
essary for one to shut his eyes and
walk ny faith and not by sight, and
stop breathing whenever the wind
chanced to blow.
The unsightly fences that had been
so common when l lived in l.. had
nearly all disappeared, and the beau
tiful lawns bordering the well-kept,
tree-fringed streets indicated taste and
care rarely equalledand never excelled
on the part of the inhibitants of the
city. The parks, most of which were
simply vacant spaces of ground and
some of which had been used as dump
ing places few years before, had all
peen most wonderfully transformed
Although not overcrowded, they had
been ornamented with monuments,
statuary, flowers and rustic seats, all
of which were so tastefully arranged
that in passing through the parks or
sitting on one of the numerous seats
that had been provided and looking
about him, one could almost persuade
himself that the garden of Eden had
ben restored. One of the things that
impressed me particularly was the fact
that there were no papers and hand
bills flying about or lying in heaps
where thewind had chanced to drop
them, and so marring the beauty of
the place The bill-boards, too, had
undergone transformation. Instead
of rough aggregation of posts and
boards covered with pictures better
calculated to superinduce a nightmare
than to create a desire to attend the
entertainment thus advertised, they
were neat affairs wisely located and
the instructive and attractive bills
they bore, showed clearly that the edu-
cation of the city in the matter of
public amusements had not been neg
lected.
The school houses and al other pub
lie buildings had been touched by some
magic hand, as their improved condi-
tlon, both internally and externally,
showed.
marveled at the change that had
been wrought and hurrying to the Of
fee of a friend, bade him tell me how
it had been brought about. He look
ed at me and smiled, then pushing
back from his desk, told me the fol-
lowing interesting story:
"As you know" he began, 1.-The old
town was going on in very pleasant
yet sleepy sort of way when you left.
Business began showing some signs Of
the following year, and
soon after that we began making ex-
tensive preparations to celebrate our
anniversary. The celebra-
ton proved to be great success and
somehow seemed to serve as a great
awakening to the city. From that time
On we made long and rapid strides for
ward until we reached the point at
which you find us today, and now that
we have a strong and favorable public
sentiment bcak of us, l have no doubt
We shall continue our rapid advance"
did you have any trouble creating
hat public setniment?" l asked.
"Oh, yes" he replied, "a great deal,
and it is due to the persistent efforts
of the ladies of the city that we Sc
cured it at all Noting our natural ad-
1antages and believing that with the
same enthusiastic and earnest work
hat was being done in other places,
)ur city could be made one of the most
beautiful in the country, they organic
ID a Village Improvement Associa-
ion and set out to realize high ideal
n our municipal life. They did not
meet much actual opposition, but there
vas a great deal of indifference to be
Some looked upon them
s agitatOrs and disturbers of the
'eace, and occasionally they were
poken of somewhat derlslvely as the
Village Improvers. Once or twice
hey may have ben denominated "a set
4 impracticals,' and it was intimated
" John Shortsight that it would be
much better for the town If they would
ct public matters alone and take bet
er care of their own homes. Billy
'leareye, who overheard Johns insinu-
ting remark, Immediately replied that
,hile he believed ones first duties
yere always at home, that there are
lso common intrests that cannot be
eglected without detrlment to the life
{ the community as a whole. Then as
D the charge that these village i'm
rovers should give more attention to
heir homes, he said he knew their