The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1905-08-11

the companionship of ones fellows.
Deprived of this pleasure, as many are
who live i'll the rural districts, they be-
come dissatisfied with country life and
move to the towns and cities. Is it to
be wondered that so many boys and
girls leave their country homes and go
to the city as soon as they become old
enough to break away from home ties
Our bad roads prevent the women
and our young people from driving out
and mingling together as they should
in order to develop the social side of
their natures that is so essential in
forming the most useful and well
rounded life. If the women who live in
the country were to wait for their hus-
bands to take them calling, their calls
would be few and far between. The
long winter evenings should be the
most pleasant time of the year upon
the farm; it should be the time for so
cial and mental Improvement. Liter
airy and social gatherings should be
had, adding both pleasure and i'm
provement that would do much to
make our young people content with
country life. Our bad roads prevent to
a large degree this being done. If the
people in the rural districts were to
have an opportunity of mingling to-
gether frequently, contentment and
prosperity would come to many q
farm home that is now ruined by dis
cord and poverty. Our young people
who live in the country must have bet
ter social relations in order to prevent
this unhealthy flow Of our best boys
and girls from the farm to the city
1t has been wisely said that the
schoolmaster and good roads are the
two most essential features of civiii-
zation." We should instil in the minds
Of our young people that each Of us
has duty to perform; that we owe Il
duty to ourselves and to each other in
that we should always endeavor 70 de-
velop the individual and mold charac-
ter that will make the best citizens and
help to develop the district where we
reside and not live for self alone. Tn
less our young people have an opportu-
nifty of mingling together in social
way they will become selfish and mar
row and will not develop into that
broad minded citizen that is desired for
a full and speedy development OF the
United States.
We should as far as possible get
away from that petty selfishness that
often prevents us from making the
20 L.. "a
noticeable in highway Improvement
All of the roads cannot be made good
at once. Why not help build good
piece of road in one section of your
county and not refuse to work If that
Improvement does not happen to be
necessarily begin somewhere with per-
manent road Improvement If we ever
expect to have any. One reason for the
prevalence Of bad roads throughout the
United States is lack Of agreement and
united action among the advocates Of
highway improvement.
Everybody prefers good roads to bad.
Everybody knows that the roads can
be improved only by the expenditure
Of money and labor, but there the
agreement ends. There is a great va
riety Of ideas and schemes Tor secur-
ing the desired object Some people
would rather travel through mud than
to have the road improved by any
-Wher plan than their own pet scheme.
Holding conventions Of this kind will
not In themselves build good roads.
Wemust unite,ip. support of few gen.
eral principlQ md go to work upon
some general plaf1isg Withxa united eff
fort we shall be able to accomplish
much good in highway improvement
but In order to unite some of us willl
have to give up some Of our pet prof.
ects as to how the work should be done.
Better roads will enable us to have
better schools. If we were to have
better roads, we could have larger
school districts, better schoolhouses
md have our schools better graded and
run for less expense per capita than we
now do. One OF more school districts
might be consolidated and have. two
or more teachers In the same building.
Better schools will cause our state. to
ill up with a better class of people
and at muclf more rapid rate than 1t
will without them.