The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1905-07-14

1t would easily run OH.
"This original half mile of road
was dragged steadily for four
years before | had single active
recruit in my new crusade. At
first my neighbors poked good
natured fun at me, probably be-
cause the thing was so new and SO
absurdly simple and, perhaps,
also, because | did the work with
out pay or any expectation OF it.
Road making in the country, 1t
may be well to explain, is not
generally followed as a fashion
able philanthropy or a popular di
version.
.'Gradually, however, this little
stretch of dragged road began to
force itself upon the attention OF
the community. From one source
and another | began to hear of
the observation which itprovOked
and some of them were quite as
amusing as they were agreeable.
''If there is a means of study
ing human nature more interest
ing than that trying 10 teach
community a new method of road
making, | have yet to find it. As
| have said, for four years 1 drag
ged strip of road from my front
gate to that of my neighbOr He
had always been a good neighbor,
having the best interests of the
community at heart, but he was
not easily enticed out of settled
opinions or into new ways of doing
things, and, consequently, | re-
Trained from saying anything to
him on the subject of road making,
relying entirely upon the evidence
presented to his own senses to
awaken his interest in putting the
road between his house and the
next neighbor on the way toward
town in the same condition as the
road between his house and mine.
"Finally, however, he made
himself a drag, and started to
push forward the good work.
From others | knew that he had
been a doubter at the outset, but
within two weeks he was a drag
ged road enthusiast and came to
me in state of considerable eX
element. not to say indignation,
because the neighbor next beyOn d
him was not willing at once to
take up the work and begin the
dragging of the road on toward
the village. When my neighbor
voiced his impatience and intimat-
ed that something ought to be
done to push the thing right
straight through without delay, |
simply shook my head and asked
the question:
"'Do yop know how long l have
been dragging the road up to
your gateF
"Why, l guess it must be
about four years, said he.
eyes | answered, and all
that time | haven't said a word to
you urging you to take up the
work. Now the same thing that
convinced you will convince the
neIghbor beyond you. We'll just
let him take his time to come to
the conclusion that he can't az
ford to travel over a bad road to
town when few minutes work
will give him a good one over
which to ride Later experience
showed me that this matter OF
road dragging Is contagious and
catches best where the work itself
is left to spread the conviction of
its own soundness. AS one neigh
Dor after another fell into line,
and the stretch of dragged road
continued to lengthen. the public
comment about it increased until
the road authorities from neigh
boring townships and counties
began to investigate the matter,
with the result that local farmers
institutes asked me to speak at
their sessions and give a personal
demonstration Of the workings of
the split log drag.
''There are few bugaboos that
have to be met wherever this new
gospel is introduced. One of
these is capillary attraction.
This force is declared by 'scien-
tifc experts to be the thing that
will draw the water up into the
dragged road and make it soft.
The only answer to this is, simply,
that it doesn't.
"AnOther popular bugaboo is
the calamity that will surely
swallow up the dragged road
when the bottom falls out in the
spring. Again. the answer Is
that the bottom does not fall out
of the road that has been drag
ged with split-log, because the
dragged road, unlike the other
kind, does not put down lot of
mud into cold storage with the
coming of the first deep freeze.
The thug that plays hob with
the roads is midland mud is
earth and water mixed. | never
realized how it is that wagon
wheels can cut down so deep into
an or1inapu road uufi1 bod =