The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1907-07-28

Certainly man must have loved the
country we'll to ride seventeen miles t(
house in it after the business of the
day How lovingly Pliny describes tht
house: the terrace before the gallery al
perfumed with violets: the gallery itsel
SO placed that the sh:.:iow of the build
ing is thrown on the terrace N the lore
noon and at the end Of the gallery the
garden apartment, which he calls his
sweetheart looking OIL one side 20 the
terrace, on the other to the sea: and
then his own bed chamber carefully con-
structed for the exclusion of noise
There he exclaims, Il hear nothing that
| repent to have heard; | say nothing
that | repent to have SAID no hopes de-
l,'Ae no fears modest me.
,eacn patrltism in the home, love
of country, its legends, traditions and
heroes, and hearts and hands will strive
to beautify and pl otect it.
How to go to work to improve vii
lage or neighborhood without adequate
funds is the question always asked. I'm
prove your immediate surroundings
first; teach others to do by doing your
self Let your doorway be inviting,
your back yard beautiful with vines
trimmed into bowers of beauty, ami a
border of sweet old fashioned flowers
that will bloom until frost. Make your
home the most attractive place in the
neighborhood. an object lesson for
others. Paint and prosperity go to-
gether; freshen the interior as well as
the exterior, and things will somehow
come your way, life will seem better and
brighter in the cheerful home surround
ings. Then take the barest, bleakest
spot i'll the village and transform it. 10
do this there must be united effort. Or
game an Improvement society. Have
membership dues. and some form of en-
tertainment The social feature will adj
vertise and popularize the Improvement
PLAN The result will be gratifying ::
somebody's home will be the most beau
tiful and all more attractive: and the
neighborhood given prominence
throughout the country.
We are living iii a wonderful age
There are demands upon us unknown
even a decade ago The village must
respond to the town, the town to the
city The close connecting link between
country and town is the public highway ;
good roads passable at all seasons. The
facilities afforded by the electric rail-
way, the bicycle, d automobile, the ru-
raj mail delivery and the telephone,
make life in the country more desirable
than ever before
Our most successful public men. who
were country bred, love to refer to the
fact 1t is true that the breadth and
beauty of field and forest. the strength
of the hills give an independence, stur-
diness to character not easily acquired
in the close pent-up habitations of the
town. But the country home only one
mile from the court house may be far
Their removed from the town by Rubi-
con of mud or sand, and more cut Oft
from social intercourse. than was Pliny 5
villa seventeen miles from Rome
Today there are as remote and Sc
cluded neighborhoods. where people are
privileged to let weeds grow rank. and
unthrifty conditions prevail Seclu-
sion and isolation come only from I'M
progressiveness. from inability to real
ize the relations existing between town
and country. and the true social instinct
of communities. The problem of good
roads concerns our police juries chiefly,
but the citizens themselves can either
be passive and take whatever is given
or demand the best All roads lead to
Rome-the good road leads to the beau
tiful village, or rural home, embowered
in setting more charming than smoke
stacks and roofs-the. beautiful trees.
The improvement Of railway stations
is a part of the good work going on
the country. Some CT Us
have had the unhappy sensation OF re-
turning home from trip where beautiful
things in public and private grounds
were seen, and of being dumped Oh a
dark iil-smeling platform at the home
station--the station itself looking Xix:
an immigrant depot. Railway companies
are awake to sense of their respons;
bility in this regard, and will respond
to requests from citizens to beauty their
grounds. And here at Calhoun, the
home of our North Louisiana Expert