The Dupuyer acantha. [volume] (Dupuyer, Mont.) 1894-1904, 1900-05-31
OLD COUNTRY TOWN.
1T HAS GIVEN WAY WITH OTHER
OLD-FASHIONED THINGS
To the Rapid March of Progress and
the Old Scenes of Rusticity No
Longer Exist Even the Church
Affected. a

is like it used to be. The city man
who has been travelling by rail for a
generation or so is in his meanderings
In these present days impressed by the
change. He notices the passing Of the
country town as he whirls across the
land. Invention, discovery and edu-
cation of the people up to a taste in
better things and ambition for con-
veniences are what have led to the
change. The traveller of today sees
the village maiden arrayed in a shirt
waist that would come near taking
first place in a procession in the main
cities. The villagers trousers are
worn over russell shoes instead of be-
ing tucked in cowhide boots. The
~abundantly if not artistically carved
boxes no longer stand in front OF
stores, ready %lounging places for the
discussion of the worlds events. NO
sign extends across the main street
near the tracks cautioning the people
to Beware of the locomotive" Mod
ern gates are let down to prevent col
lisions between trains and teams. NO
tin-started constable in overalls swells
about the station platform any longer.
A uniformed marshal, every bit as i'm
portant, struts there to meet all trains.
The old inn, with it's slanting porch
extending over the sidewalk, supported
by posts off which country horses have
long been dining, has given way to a
hotel with some humming name i'm
ported from some metropolis. Lamp
posts adorn the corners and the mer-
chants display their wares behind
plate-glass windows. All these the
traveller sees-signs of progress-a
great difference to the passing eye.
Twenty years, even ten years, ago
the village store was the spot where
all the earth conferred. In the winter
time the prominent citizens sat around
an %abundantly provided stove. Mes
sengers boarded the passing trains,
pumped the passengers for news, man
aged to pick up any kind of an old
paper and hurried back to the store
to tell the tidings and to join in their
discussion. Between arguments the
!; debaters nipped at dried peaches and
other delicacies from the hospitable
| barrel of the storekeeper, who made
up on the customer by manipulating
the scales the next purchase. A
stranger in the town was an oracle,
reverenced and respected. He had the
best seat near the stove and the towns
: men nursed their knees in their arms
as they drank in from him his re-
citals of affairs in the rest Of the
s world. Then there was the town hall,
with it's spelling bees, it's occasional
t lecture or it's debate.
e In the summer the wise men took
e to the boxes in front of the store, or
: to the hitching rail, on which they
poised, and talked and whitfield"
O They were out in their shirtsleeves be-
I fore breakfast to learn what had hap
g pened during the night. Then they
S strolled over to the old frame station
to see the train go by. How different
t., now is the matter of acquiring in
formation. 1t is. a poor town, indeed
that hasn't it's WI paper to record
d and brightly, too, the local happen
n ings. And as the trains go by they
J. drop off bundles of papers, fresh will
all the news of the earth, all the lates
It periodicals, illustrated papers and thu
If newest books. The village store il
no longer the loafing place for tn
g~ossips, but an up-to-date business es
adjustment. The town hall has de
If veloped into a public library or theater
Ten years ago the country clothing
store, which was also the hardware
store and the dry goods store and tn
grocery store and the millinery es
adjustment all in One-a bucOlic trus
made a speciality of re~advrnade suits
II that were so tightly packed away OF
v tAe shelves that you couldn't get tn
N creases out of them any more thar
YOU could get the wrinkles out of
lie corrugated iron roof. And what won
III derful patterns and styles. Now il
OF front of the clothing store Chaunce,
II. Depew and Mark Hanna and Gen
Miles and Admiral Schley and GeOrg
re Dewey, all in wax, stand in all tn
a glory of blue serge and corkscrew, wit,
g, double-breasted and bewildering vest
n. and a crease down their trousers legs
rn The shoe store is in he next block
ty the milliner is across the way with
fascinating display of daily hints froT
Paris, the hardware man is in bus1
ness for himself over next to the brew
cry, and the grocer occupies the MOD
as ern store-room under the office OF tn
is evening. Tell-Tale, the rattle c
whose linotypes makes a merry rae
tic with the clicking of the keys manipr
d; lated by the enhancing and up-to-dat
-. ar IT@-l