Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1913-05-17
SOUTH DAKOTA. SATURDAY. MAY II, 1919
FEDERATION NOTES.
BY MRS. w. +. HANLEY.


of the Civic Federation to gets its feet
wet, the social meeting set for last Mon
day night was postponed until week
later. As the postponsment was not de-
cided upon nor announced till the last
moment q goodly number of people
gathered at the Gymnasium and waited
in vain for things to materialize. As
the writer stated once before q post
ponement is never or almost never a
wise proceeding and in her hnmble
opinion the statement still holds true.
Of course there are exceptional cases,
but as rule when date for meeting
has been decided upon and advertised,
nothing short of cloud burst should be
allowed to interfere, and even then boats
might be used. However, this social
meeting was to he an unusually good
one, and will be we'll worth attending
next Monday evening, May 10th, at the
Gymnasium. Everybody come and the
Federation will furnish umbrellas.
~
Hurrah for the rain! The blessed
rain! What does it matter if a Civic
Federation social meeting was upset and
thrown into dire confusion? What does
it matter if most delightful afternoon
session Of the Book Club was cut short?
What does it matter if an Aid Society
was postponed? What does anything
matter so long as we have the rain-the
rain that is 80 much needed-the rain
that means good crops in particular and
prosperity in general? Sometimes a
good shower washes clean ones mental
perspective as well as the face of nature
and oftener than sometimes it is more
needed. Let the people in and around
Custer take heart and like the growing
things in the ground, persevere till the
harvest. Both the rain and the har-
vest are sure to come if We work and
wait in the Fight spirit. So, hurrah for
the rain The blessed rain!
~
CONTRIBUTED By Mr.. NJ. j. BAILEY.
Dear Editor Federation Notes:
l think every good citizen has been
interested in your column of "Fedsra-
ton Notes" from week to week as pub
lished in the CUSTER CHRONICLE, and
heartily endorses the suggestions made
therein. The writer is one of them and
begs the opportunity to emphasize your
statements, ifspace will admit of same
in your "sphere of influence"
l shall not attempt to add anything
new. Some subjects will bear mention
ing only seldom, while others need to
be mentioned 30 often as to seem almost
like hobbies. No citizen is good citi-
zen who is not interested in the things
that pertain to the betterment of the
community in which he lives outside of
his own direct personal interests. "The
good roads movement" the Cleanup"
and "beautiication" movements are
evidences of good citizenship so far as
they 60. Is there any one in Custer who
is willing to admit that he does not be-
long to this class? Then whats the
matter with Custer? May I venture to
answer the question? The fact is, we
"Old Timers" including the writer,
have been here so long that we have
become satisfied with present conditions
bad as they are. We are "dead in
the shell" as it were. What we need is
some new blood" to come to town to
set us pace, and ifpossible arouse US
from this hypnotic sleep. Some one
said in defense the other day, that if we
had wave of prosperity sweep over
the town, you would see new sidewalks
and freshly painted buildings all over
town very soon. But not 80. For sew
eral years Custer had volume of busi-
ness scarcely eQualed by any community
of its size in this western country, but
no movement was put on foot for her
Identification. Have we lost all civic
pride? Have we become even indiffer-
ent to our own personal interests to the
extent that we are willing to let our
houses and barns, fences and walks be-
come 80 dilapidated and unattractive as
to suggest to the tourist or the new
conner, that we are already to move out,
soon as we can get some money from
our "wifes folks?" The appearance of
ons-third of the houses and nine-tenths
of the barns in Custer is a positive dis
grace to any village even though it does
not lay claim to being wide awake
Some one replies, it costs money to
make these Improvements. That is
true-anything worth having, costs
money, but very little money in many
instances, properly expended, would
materially improve the appearance OF
many of our places. May l take the
liberty to cite you to an instance or
two, where badly run down and un.
slightly properties have been transform
ed into places that would do credit to a
city? l have in mind the Carrigan and
Henry Raver homes. There are others
we might mention. The writer has
started his paint brush and intends to
wear it out before he quits. Can't we
all get busy along this much needed
line? The tourist season will soon be
here. Lets get ready for it, compelling
every tourist to carry with him bsauti-
ful picture of this little city ensconced
within these hills. One of the greatest
problems to solve along these lines is to
know what to do with our barns when
the outside boards have not been plan
ed. They will take in paint like a
sponge. l am informed that calcimine
will make good filler. Ifso, it would
be comparatively cheap and spread
quickly. Yellow ochre costs but a few
cents per pound and makes good filler