The aegis & intelligencer., 1902-01-24
CLEANING UP TIME.

CLEANING UP TIME.
The lengthening days give enotice of
the approach of spring, which will
soon be here in allits opening beauty.
If the almanac is correct, winter is
now more than half over and it is
not too early to begin plans for the
annual spring cleaning up, repairing
and the beautifying of our homes
both inside and out as we'll as their
surroundings. No doubt the thrifty
housewives have already been con-
sidering the spring improvements
and the male members of the house
hold could we'll take an example from
the better sex. There is nothing
that adds so much to the general
reputation of the town as the tidi-
ness of it's neighbors. Well-kept
premises always indicate thrift, and
strangers are attracted by communi-
ties which seem to be in hourishing
condition. The town of Bel Air is
naturally a beautiful place and as for
its people-well we had better leave
that for some one else to say. The
sanitary condition of the town as
we'll as its general healthfulness is
very good and number of its in
habitants realize the necessity Of
keeping their premises in good order,
both for the personal regard and the
reputation ofthe place. Some Others
however, do not seem to realize that
it is more than a personal matter
how their properties appear to the
public. This, however, is not the
case, as each one has a personal re-
gard to general appearances and if
we wish to attract strangers here
we must make the town look at
tractive. 1t does not necessarily
mean much af an outlay of money.
All it requires is the little extra work
at odd times. Many of our citizens
find it a pleasant recreation after
their days work is done to do odd
Jobs which contribute to the beauty
of their houses or the surrounding
premises. Some of our people have
seen the wisdom in removing insight
" yard fences. This we think is a
most excellent plan. Now that the
ordinance, prohibiting the running
at large of stock, is strictly enforced,
there is really no use for the en-
closures and they detract very much
from the general appearances. In
some cities, yard fences are prohibited
by law and while we do not think
that it would be wise for our city
fathers to go this far, yet as fences
rot down it would be we'll to en-
courage the open yards.
The Town Commissioners too
should imbibe a little of this fixing
up" movement. Now that they have
the lighting question settled, it would
not be amiss for them to discuss,
some little, the improvements of our
sidewalks. Many of them need
Strengthening up very badly. This
was brought forcibly to mind by the
suggestion of a stranger who was
recently sojourning in town. He re-
marked that it would be an excellent
idea to have our pavements hung out
on a clothes line to dry. This sug-
gestion was an excellent one fgura-
lively speaking. The Commissioners
could without a dollar of extra ex-
pense have the sidewalks raised so
that the water would drain off of
them. During and after every rain
puddles now form in the walks of
the pedestrians and stay there until
succeeding suns and winds dry them
up. 1t would only require the ex-
ercise of little gray matter to avoid
this. Ofcourse, our fellow towns
men who are in the present board
will understand that this is just
kindly criticism and we feel sure that
they will take it in that manner.
With our broadguage railroad and
convenient time table coupled with
the contemplated lower rates of fare,
there is no reason why large num-
ber of Baltimoreans could not be at
tracted to Bel Air tor at least pOr-
tion of the year. Our people must
do their share towards making the
place as pleasant as possible and we
feel sure that the "city folks" will
show their substantial appreciation
by spending portion of their sum-
mer vacation in our midst.
REPUBLICANS SPEAK OUT.