The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1910-05-11
TO REAUTIFY
HON M SDAL E.

The other has to do with the re-
moval of nuisances besetting the com
munity. whether of a single smoking
chimney or of a plague of disease
carrying flies.
The individual may first of all cast
his civic eye critically about the
home. Is it clean, back and front
Is there a forgotten heap in that back
yard which he would hate to have at
the front door step in view of all?
First cast out the beam of thine
own eye, and then shalt thou see
clearly to cast out the mote of thy
brothers eye.
Once clean how does il look?
Could the approach be a little more
pleasing if Gods first aid to the
civically injured, the green of the
shrub and the vine and the plant was
applied? 1t is so easy, so cheap to
plant the humblest home into the
beauty that shames all mans archi-
lecture that ! must propose it as
among the first things to do And
how the virus of green will spread!
| take daily happiness in seeing
how certain African citizens of
street | pass upon have initiated their
neighbor, who put out on his curb
tub planted with cannas and calad-
INNS. SO now one sees a long row of
such tubs all summer, and, while the
taste is not the best, the impulse
back of the tub display is fine.
Consider now the highway-tne
street Do loose papers fly about?
Is it the habit to throw fruit refuse
into the roadway? Is the street both
neat and slightly? A little bit of con-
sultation and a little more of a col
lection you can install some neat
trash cans into which the thoughtless
will be invited to deposit the uncon-
sidered trifies, that make unkept the
highway Right here look out for
trouble; do not allow some insidious
suggestion of advertising to propose
economy" by making the trash cans
worse nuisance than that they are
to remove. In Cleveland these cans
grotesquely shout of whisky, gin and
vaudeville on three sides, to the
shame of a city that can afford better
things.
Now, how about the trees on the
street? Have they been butchered
by trimmer" If so, begin to call
attention to the sacrilege of an at
tempt to improve on Gods design of
tree symmetry. Insist that most
trees do not require trimming most
of the time. In case of doubt dom
trim" But do see to it that the
trees are cleaned of decay and scale,
and that they are protected from the
gnawing of the horses and the biting
of insects. If | may interpose here
| suggestion of organized action, it
is that an attempt be made to put
all the trees of the town in the con-
| troll of the park or shade tree com
mission. Twenty-Five New Jersey
communities are growing into tree
! prosperity and beauty under bene-
ficent law, which Pennsylvania also
| has. The federal city, Washington,
has more than ninety thousand mum
icipally planted and controlled trees
making the finest tree showing on
the continent. l can't tell more about
tree work here but / will write about
it to any one who really wants to
know, and applies what he learns to
his own town.
Perhaps the street is wide enough
to include one or two grass plots
one in the center or one on each
side. We haven't yet begun to know
about proportioning our street widths
streets with an unkempt roadway OF
mud or macadam forty to fifty feet
wide not infrequently fianked by just
as unkempt sidewalks twelve or
| fifteen feet wide. Yet London
Bridge carries an enormous traffic