Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1900-10-11
:OUTSIDE POINT OF VIEW.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Written for the Times 1.epnplica,

Written for the Times Republican
Certain good souls leave comforta bic |
homes, and the rsfinenents and enNi- !.
comment of friends and society, for a
Year OF. more residence iii the slums of
some city. ii is called social settlement i
Work. The idea is for the one or two
thus engaged 10 uplift their immediate
HeiEhpcfs by force OF precept and cx
ample Any one who .las listened to:
Jane Adams OF has read magazine ar
ttcies. showing results, must admire the
mission as q good one. and the good
accomplished much. And all this .slg-
gests 70 ;his scribe another field ;na
work along thesstIne Inc BY all meas
extend the social settlement work to thu
small town. Here Jane .Aadains Mil
Itino the ten commandments in fairly.
good condition, t,ll the little command
ianents scarS.A.}a iii vogue. AS there are
50 many lii.ie LOVES. il is perfectly safe
TO proceed. knowing that the reader will
locate ali this il the other town.
~
l First9and foremost in the little town
rs IN, curse Of tittle-tattle, of the small
iialk, Of the gossip frequently tainted
with malice. OF course everybody
t knows everybody,s business; and to-
such an extent Is this knowledge. that
| what their nNlghbors have to eat and
jdrirk is a most common subject Of con-:
yyersaton. The village postmaster or
ipostmistress not only knows who letters
tare sent to, but from whom letters are
freceiyed. And it has been claimed that
such knowledge extends from the CEN
Liter to the whole neghborhood If a
family has a few friends to spend the
1 evening, verbatim report is all over
town he next day. Christine Nelson's
young man comes every Saturday night
and actually the light was burning in
4 Nelson's parlor till after. midnight. Per-
1 haps that was a case Of ginger ale that
4 Mr.. Merchant got by express last Tues
i day. but they do say he keeps beer in
1 the house all Of the time. How Henry
Highfyer can dress his family as he
i does on his salary beats me. Why. Mrs.
i Highhyer paid sl2 for a new winter
hat. It's none of my business, hut IL
i Thomas Jones brings up his family to
I.attend club dances he needn't be sur
l.prised if some Of his children go wrong.
And so on. ad infinitum, ad nauseam.
4 But this isn't all. 1t is surprising the
i demoralizing effect the small town has
4 on the language spoken. The words
4 USED by the men congregated in the
4 corner grocery for filthiness exceed
those OF the city saloon. Words that
are entirely omitted in the conversation
j Of men in business circles In the city
are here rolled out az sweet morsels by
4 the crowd around the railways depot
Istore Individual experiences OF the re-
4 lations Of the sexes are mentioned In
d Language the brothel would not tolerate.
This is not sensational writing, but an
a account Of more than one experience Of
4 the writer In the small town, country
q depot. II goes without saying that IL
the line Of vugar profanity. Of the dirty
story. the railway depot. when 1t IL the
town loafins place, as It frequently 10
no place on earth equals Il. An army
& camp is a r. M. C. a. meeting beside &C