Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1914-04-29
CIVIC IMPROVEMENT.
Paper delivered at meeting Of Green Noun
tain Pomona grange with Bay side grange
by A. E. Chilmap, of Bayview grange.l

tain Pomona grange with Bay side grange,
by A. E. Gilman, of Bayview grange.I
Civic improvements, to my mind, is the
making of our communities good and
pleasant places for ourselves, our children
and ours neighbo to live in, and where
visitors will be glad to come, pleased to
recommend and sorry to leave, which is all
right in line with the teachings OF ouI
order.
Most of us like to re thought of as good
and patriotic citizens, and as such de-
lighted to take hand in anything having
for its object the betterment of the COM
munity in which we live. A live neigh
Dor is a much better thing to make sacri-
fees for than dead grandfather. Some
get no further than merely singing my
Country tits OF Thee, and so catch the
crowd, but there is truer and deeper
patriotism than shouting the patriots
song or climbing up on the band wagon.
In looking over the work and the topics
that have been presented in the grange
the past twelve months, it seems to me
that, as grangers, we ought to be the
best posted and the most progressive
people in the community, and the know
ledge we have gained ought to show itself
in improved surroundings and in leader
ship or alliance with all uplifting meas
ures. Civic improvement, to most minds,
means simply the planting of trees and
flowers around the home and public places.
1t does mean this, and as / have intimated
already, in its broadcast sense, it means
the welfare of the W hole community.
Just as the colleges try to turn out we'll
rounded men, so civic improvement
should mean well-rounded and balanced
communities.
There are families in all communities
that take the initiative in all good works,
and societies hat are satisfied to let the
few faithful ones carry on the work and
bear the brunt of the battles. We see this
everywhere. The good of the many al
ways depends upon the courage and fideli-
ty OF the few.
"On deep-rutted roads that are centuries old
The cart and the piodder will travel, unled
poet, lion, man wise and bold,
Will beat out new pathways for plodders to
tread"
Where the grange is living up to its pos
sibilities, it is doing good work, and a
stranger can readily notice a higher tone
among the people of a community in
which there is a good, live grange, than
where there is none.
don't want to belittle in any way the
good work of the church, although l dc
think the curse of great many small
places is too many churches. At the same
time, do think the grange touches and
develops more phases of family life than
the church can possibly do. One reason
for this is the grange is made up of prac-
tical every day workers, who see life at
first hand, and are not away up in the
clouds most of the time.
Civic improvement is not all pleasure;
just as sure as you start something new or
different, you may count on the certain
criticisms of the nail-keg philosophers of
the store, who are usually busy whiting
sticks and regulations, and the opposition
of those whom one would naturally expect
to help. But remember this: 1.-THE re-
ligion which balks at work, stopping at
prayer and contemplation, is form of ar
rested development"
Now suppose if some OF us here make
up our minds, when we get hone, that we
are going to do something for the common
good. Where shall we begin? / suggest
in the home first; teach the children to
look on the right side.
There are homes here the children hear
continual criticism from their parents,
where the conversation is make up largely
of adverse judgments of every body and
everything, where every character is dis
sected and the flaws, rather than the good
traits, held up to view.
Whether these judgments be just or not,
the effect upon the children is the same
they learn suspicion, contemptuousness,
and denunciation, three things quite un-
natural to the child mind. As result we
have pessimists, made such not by the
harsh experiences OF life, but by the habit
of looking on the wrong side. Parents
should remember that their viewpoints
are in great measure those of the little
ones, and will be theirs until each young
life has had its own experiences.
The sunshine and the shadow of our
lives are not in our surroundings so much
as in ourselves.
Then we can begin outside. Depend
upon ii, that he is no true patriot who
does not love his country or his COM
munity enough to keep his own door yard
and barn yard cleaned up, and he is no
man to criticise the town officers for negli-
gence if his own place is nothing but a
blot on the landscape. You see, the town
officers naturally think that you don't
know or expect anything better than the
examples you give them in your own
places.
We all know that which gives the most