The Bourbon news. [volume] (Paris, Ky.) 1895-19??, 1912-06-25

of the Paris High School.
Down in Old Kentucky" in the
heart of the bluegrass region, lies a
historic town. surrounded by rich fields
and rolling meadows. Through thriv-
ing. agricultural center. like many
Kentucky tnwns, its streets are poorly
constructed. according to modern CIVIC
| ideas. When the town was laid OFF. III
1889. the settlers lined short and narrow
streets in memory of their old nome to
| town in England. modelling here in the
wilderness an English hamlet OF log
huts and narrow mud lanes. AS the
west became more open to settlement,
the population of the little commu-
nifty increased and the original log
huts were replaced by more substan-
tial structures of stone and brick, but
the streets were left in the original dl-
menslOns.
Main street, the principle thorough
fare. was a portion of the state road a
decade ago, when it was purchased by
the city and paved with bituminouS
macadam, tarry substance combined
with broken stone. The streets and
crOSs-streets IN the resident part are
macadamlzed. Unsystematicaliy ar
ranged naples, though relieving the
monotony of the pavements. give a
ragged, rather than beautiful effect
to the whole length of the street.
The wide spread of civic reform has
recently reached the "town-people, ="
andsthey are beginning to realize the
! fact that unclean streets are menace
to their property. 1t is a debatable
question whether the best and most
efficient methods for a desirable sani-
tary condition have yet been selected.
! The bituminous macadam street Is
swept in dry weather and heavy de-
posits of mud, formed by rains and
thaws, are removed with a scraper.
| This is necessary, as the compressed
stone composing the street rapidly
wears into dust. The macadam streets
are oiled in summer, destroying the dis
agreeable clouds of dust ard acting as
a germcidal deodorant of the air.
b.1he bitumlnious street, although
more substantial than the others. is
I greatly damagedb bv the heavy traffic
to which 1t is exposed. 1t is swept at
four, being sprinkled at seven the
night before. The sweeping machine
has large revolving broom of cyiin-
dric form, which brushes the dirt out
wards to the gutter The dirt is then
gathered into small heaps by a man
with a hand-brush, shoveled into an
open cart and carried to the public
dump. On gala occasions, or when
summer heat renders it disagreeable
to traffic and pedestrians, Main street
is flushed in the early morning. The
sewers are SO constructed that the dirt
does not clog but IS carried along by
the water. This sweeping system is
faulty, as the sprinkling is done sc
/ lightly that large cloud of dust and
/ fine manure enters the open houses
and penetrates the noses of pleasure
seekers on the sidewalks.
The system of flushing is, undoubt.
eddy, the best, were it not tor 10 sing
the stone IL btuminous structure.
An ideal street would be one paveC
with brick, the points filled with con-
crete, so that it could be flushed every
night. If vacuum cleaner were
used tolsuck up theSdust and dirt Of the
street in the same manner of the vac
Z uum carpet cleaner, ,then any kind OF
street, whether bItuminous, macamam
lied or brick, would be sanitary.
If more time and money were spent
in enforcing the laws against eXpectO
rating on the sidewalks and sweeping
the refuse of public houses upon the
street, the nation would not have t.
spend so much money in trying to pre-
vent and cure the White Plague.
Another consideration of the town il
the six or seven towns" on tbs edge
of the town proper. Here the negro
citizens live in cheap houses, bull
right on mud lanes, which. in we
N hnnOnln ho6C n
small streams. Chickens. geese, dog
and occasional pigs are the only ''scav
engers" of these mud streets. Thu
rest of the dirt is left to 'mingle Will
the elements" Melon rinds in sum
mer and tin cans in winter adorn thu
mud and dust of the we'll worn lanes
These unsanitary conditions arenevel
conside ed unless some disease become!
epidemic. Then families stand in drea(
OF their cooks and washerwOmen bring
of white people are washed by negro
women at their homes and dried upOr
lines hung in narrow back yards where
they blow dry, absorbing the dust o.
rotting animals and vegetable matter
in the street. These places should b'
cleaned out and owners of the tumblet
UOWu " IS
build them. The streets should b'
properly paved and the negro resident
should be required to keep them clean
The negroes are not the only one
who neglect to properly dispose @
their kitchen waste. The majority o
the families keep their waste in al
open receptacle until the negro mai
drives around with his bucket and bar
rel and emptying it, returns to hi
home. splitting it on the street at ever.
jolt, until he pours it into his own o
his neighbor's pig trough.
There should be a law requiring tn
people to use covered garbage can
to be emptied daily by a public scav
enger. Because of the unds sirable 10
cation OF the city dump, it would b
better if the garbage and street refus
were consumed in a town crematory.
The old adage that a town is KEEP
clean by leach man sweeping in from
of his own doorstep" has Cied wit