Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1904-11-11
Roadside Beauty.

home and the same may be said of patriot
ism. True love of country is not manifested
by shouting and Boosting and worshiping the
flag, or even peculiarly by fighting 1t is
shown by deeds that benefit our neighbors, by
the desire to render service to our fellows, by
a general disposition to improve the conditions
under which we exist. The man that calls
himself patriot and that does nothing to
better the community in which he lives, is an
impostor. II he were sinee,e he would con-
slider that his influence could be most effect
lively exerted on that small fraction of his
country where he is physically present; il he
takes no interest in keeping his own house
and grounds clean, if he does not lift finger
to improve the roads and walks in his own
neighborhood, if he does not bcstir himself to
make his little world more beautiful, his pat
riotism is not genuine. Whoever would
serve his country, let him look close at hand
and see how he can make his own grounds
AMI NJ street and village more attractive. If this
1, done everywhere, 1t Is clear that the whole
country, being the sum of all its parts, will
show the effects of it.
1t is true that in a community like ours such
results as we see in the old towns of the
Connecticut and Housatonic valleys, for in
stance, cannot be attained. There is not the
wealth that is requtite. A perfect lawn is a
very beautiful thing, and a very expensive
thing-it takes 400 years to make one, they
say in England. But it is not very expensive
to keep the grass by the roadside trimmed, or
to remove litter and rubbish and filth, or to
keep wagons and tools and boxes of the side
walks and highways. 1t is not very expensive
to drain the mud puddle at your own door
way, or to refrain from destroying the wild
shrubbery with which nature tries to make our
roads beautiful. What we suffer from is not
SO much lack of money as lack of interest
and lack of taste. The rulers chosen by
popular suffrage are frequently ignorant; and,
what is worse, think that they know more than
: they do. Judging from the operations on Our
highways, it seems doubtful In many cases
whether the men in charge ever think OF the
possibility of making road beautiful, or even
Of leaving it when nature has done the
work. Do you love particular spot where
the fierce wind is checked by thick wall Of
verdure, made up of many kinds of trees and
shrubs whose foliage is beautiful in its shades
of green, and gorgeous in red and yellow
, and bronze and purple when autumn comes?
f Let not your heart cling to it, for when you
, next come there you shall find your shubbery
reduced to vile heap of dead leaves and
branches and unsighty stumps There will
the grewsome remains of the trees you loved
lie like unburied bones, while few that have
been spared have been shorn of their lower
, limbs and made into dismal wrecks of their
| former selves. No longer shall your horse
: refresh himself in the shade in summer, nor
shall YOU pause in winter to seek shelter from
, the biting blast. The spot has been desecrated
and dehled, and you mournfully turn away
1 from it, and thereafter avoid it. Bury its
1 memory if you can, for "a sorrows crown OF
= sorrows, remembering happier things
Our fellow creatures who carry on the bust
ness of destroying the beautiful and annihilat-
ing the picturesque, explain their action
when they condescend to offer explanation
as caused by desire to make the roads dry.
The trees and shrubs keep off the wind and
sun, forsooth, whereby the mud would be
S dried up If they were troubled with water
5 in the cellars of their houses, would they pull
' down the houses? No; they would drain
: their cellars; and from the time when men
l began to build roads, the whole lesson of ex-
a parience is, drainage. Keep the water out of
the roads, and there will be no trouble from
the trees. A ride over a mountain road, if
properly cared for, will convince anyone that
the trees are not to blame for mud. They
. stand by the roadside as friends and protectors,
. not as enemies. Their sturdy trunks guard
:, :, our TANKS as we march, and their mighty
, limbs weave more beautiful roof than human
= skill can frame over our heads Truly, they
! keep off the sun and the wind, and withal the
6 road is ideally perfect. 1t is neither muddy
: nor dusty; because it is properly drained and
. properly protected. Such roads are the
= magnets that draw people to our country; and
:, our bare, bleak roads repel and disgust many
= who would gladly dwell with us. No doubt
: it is easier to swing an axe than pick. 1t is
an agreeable amusement to lop off limbs and
slash bushes, and it is hard work to dig bitches
to lay drains, and to fill hollows. But this is
q good work; patriotic work, if properly consid-
cred, and the other is often nothing better than
e wicked waste and mischievous cheating. For
II it is a sad truth that when men work Tor the
public they often seem concerned to get as
l much and do as little as they can. We hear il
" said that the Americans are patriotic people,
a and certainly there is talk enough of patriotism
II But will anyone maintain that the ordinary
citizen, when employed on a public job, is
y anxious to do his very best, and unwilling to
e be paid for what he has not honestly earned
Let those who assert this produce their evil
b dence
e There are others beside our rulers who mar
the beauty of our scenery. Our tradesmen
daub their names on our rocks and plaster
v our trees and fences with puffs of their wares
e Doubtless they think they gain by it, but they
disgust many that might be their customers
but who will have no dealings with men that
seek their profit by such methods. In some
4 states it has been made misdemeanor to dis
4 figure the face of nature, so far as it is nndel
4 public control, with advertisements, and il
4 might be found that the better class of mer-
4 chants in our own state would welcome such