The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-11-02
VILLAGE IMPROVEMENT.
It Should Not be Undertaken Without
 a Settled Plan.

It Should Not be Undertaken Without
 a Settled Plan.
 have in mind an improved" vil- lage common which was, in it's unre- generate state, a triangular plot having short cut paths leading directly from one much frequented point to another, all but two of which had been planted with rows of, trees, though most of them had become broken and discontin- uous., The older trees were all elns, and along one side of the common there was d double row sufficiently complete to form a fine mall; but "im- provers of the last generation; seeking for variety, had replaced gaps among the elms with naples. They interrupt ed the sweep of the arched avenue of eln1s, and weakened it, without reu1ov- ing the impression that an avenue of el1ns was intended. Imperfection, not variety, was suggested by the naples, because they were introduced in a com position the chief characteristic of which was the ordered continuity of re- peated forms.
 The rough turf on the common was
 
 lnowed, for the absence of cows for }1nerly allowed to graze here left the grass weedy and rank. Considerable patches were worn in the grass where the boys of the neighboring school played ball. A good deal of litter lay about the grass, and in one low corner water frequently stood in a stagnant pool. There was also a wooden pump, but the water had become of doubtful quality.
 Now came an energetic spasm of vil- lage improvement. First and best, 1it- ter and paper were cleared away, bar rels for such rubbish were set out Gun- fortunately of a bad color), lawns were systematically moved, and the people consistently educated in neatness.
 Next, the areas worn bare were seed ed, but the boys. promptly wore them out again, a difficulty that might per haps have been met by frequently shifting the diamonds, to distribute the wear, without closing the common to ball playing, as was strongly urged by some of the improvers.
 The next year a distinct embellish- Inent was undertaken by excavating the, objectionable wet spot, supple- nenting the uncertain natural water supply by a. pipe discharging through a powder rockery at one side of the pond; the rocks very prettiIy covered with ferns and nasturtiums, with wa ter lilies planted in the pondlet, with shorts enlivened by iris and other aquatic plants, all surrounded by. a curving path, and wire fence to keep the dogs away from the flowers. An other year Towering shrubs were in- troduced back of the rookery, making strikingly picturesque. if somewhat ''gardenesdue," composition.
 The well having been condemned, a wealthy summer resident gave a drinking fountain, the design for which was made by a clever Boston architect, based on an Italian fountain of which the donor gave him a photo graph. This, too, was a very pretty thing, although it's character had no more connection with that of the com mon at large than had the picturesque water garden. The architect, feeling the need for some appropriate setting, prevailed upon the committee to grade little terrace about the fountain and border it with a privet hedge, krovid- ing also a seraight walk leading in at right angles from the nearest path, and continuing in the same line to the path on the opposite side. The two old paths to the pump had led in slant ingly from the most convenient points, and another piece of fence had to be put up to keep people from breaking through the hedge and reverting to one of the old path lines. The old lines had looked reasonable enough with the old pump, but the architect was cer- tainly right in feeling that they were quite too casual and informal to har- n1ontze with the new fountain.