Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1908-03-16
CIVIC UPL|FT HINTS.
How Any Community Can Be
Made Beautiful.
WHAT A RAILROAD CAN DO.
Erect Attractive Stations, as They Are
the Doors to Town - Beauty
Grounds Around Them - WON en- S
Work For Public Good.

Work For Public Good.
America has long been the country
Of the boom town. The unloeliness
Of our public buildings and of our pub
lie highways has been national re-
proach. But with the quieting down
Of this feverish boom spirit come both
the time and the energy for transform
Ing our ugliness. Unbeautiful America
is no more
These are the days when the trend of
the whole world is toward betterment.
1t is not only in the powerful, over
crowded cities that men and women
enter into a serious discussion of civ
les and follow these discussions with
earnest efforts to improve their sur
roundings Every thriving town. each
peaceful village. the prairie settlement.
the mountain hamlet and the rural
district have men and women who are
1mbued with a strong civic feeling.
says a writer in the Delineator. Near
ly ever. city and town. whether of
the eastern coast, the far west. to the
north or on the gulf, has its clubs. So
cieties and OrganiZat tons the sole OBJ
Ject of which is to encourage the men,
bers to make the municipality Of which
each is factor healthier, pleasanter
and more beautiful spot
Nor is 1t always with selfish mo-
tive that these Improvements are be-
gun. The organizers Of them frequent
ly cannot hope to benefit by their la
bors. often not live to see even the
budding fruit that their efforts are in
tended to bring forth. but there are
men-business and professional men,
farmers and mechanics-with souls so
big that they are willing to give their
time and their wealth in order that
those who come after them may reap
what they have sown.
The men Of this broad country. how
ever. are not the only ones. Women
are lending hand to civic uplift. In
fact, In most sections they are doing
more than the men. At their clubs we
find them earnestly discussing the
smoke nuisance or street cleaning or
tenement house laws. They are learn
ing that IT is important that the eye be
greeted by pleasant sights. that 1t is
not enough that the interior Of their
houses be beautiful. that the out Of
doors beyond the garden should be at
tractive as we'll.
When church Is intellectually fine
1t gives each passerby spiritual up
lift. An office building. a residence or
a bridge spanning river. If 1t Is fine
in outline, form and workmanship,
aids in bringing out the good that is
within us all. A lavish expenditure of
money Is not necessary to make city.
town or village beautiful. Structures
extravagant in ornamentation and dec
Grafton do not always do it. A build
ing devoted to business purposes does
not need to be erected twenty stories
in the air to be a splendid representa-
ton of architectural skill. dwelling
house may be inexpensive in cost con-
structed merely of wood, but If the de-
sign after which the house is built is
one that fills all who see it with Joy
the builder has not lived in vain.
The citizens should act as unit In
seeing as the years go by that their
town or village is growing in beauty.
When federal. municipal or public
building is to be erected they can in
sist that the structure shall add to the
general beauty of the town.
Pride is an excellent characteristic If
used for the betterment of all and is
not without a useful application in ev-
cry community. We all more or less
consciously respond to any activity that
makes this earth of ours lovelier
place.
AS the house having handsome por
tai seems to extend q welcome. so
should the door to a town always be
attractive. Have you not many times
Judged town by it's railroad station?
Dump heaps. scum covered pools of
water. dngy warehouses. poorly paved
streets, the back yards of Shantytown
how often these pictures form the
travellers only recollection of city or
a town, "So-and-so? Oh. yes. | pass
ed through there Once-wretched town.
from what | saw of it, Have you
not heard this scathing Judgment pro
nounced scores of times? How differ
ent would have been the ira veler's i'm
pressions if he had found himself en-
tering the town through a well lighted
viaduct and emerging into station
where blossoming plants and grass
plots occupied every available bit OF
ground!
A great many Of our railroads are
doing splendid work in making their
stations and the grounds around them
beautiful. Where the architecture of
the country is distinctive in character
the station is often built to conform
with that style. Some railroads main
tain greenhouses and nurseries to sup
ply their station parks with plants and
shrubs, for. even IL 1t Is not expedi-
ent to build new station. much may
be done by utilizing the waste spaces
and the unused corners for flower beds
and green grass.
The citizens of every village, town
or city should insist that the road
which steams its way among them
should help to make 1t beautiful by
erecting attractive structures and by