Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1914-04-08
CIVIC PRIDE AND BEAUTY.
1t is a Civic Prescription That /:
Worth While. Dirt and Taudry
Negligence Indicate Decay
and ShiftlessnesS.

The early adventurous birds, the
position of the sun and thousand
less obvious but quite certain signs
Of spring are at hand. Spring means,
or should mean house cleaning, and
not only house cleaning, but yard
cleaning, street and alley cleaning,
painting, furnishing; it should mean
order and harmony and beauty. So
clean up and paint up.
Clean up and paint up. That is a
civic prescription that is worth while.
Cleanliness is akin to goodness. You
have heard that enough to convince
you of it's truth, but we sometimes
overlook a truth the reason of It's
sheer familiarity, or at least fail to
profit by it as we should. Clean
houses, clean lawns, clean streets
clean alleys, clean outbuildings-
that condition means health and
comfort and aesthetic pleasure. Dirt
and tawdry negligence indicate decay
and shiftlessness; they invite disease
they are ugly, offensive, unnatural.
Get busy and inaugurate an early
cleanup week for a starter, then
keep up the practice at intervals as
may seem necessary.
With the coming of the bluebiris
every yard should be thoroughly
cleaned all rubbish should be cart
dispose of things. Be clean outside
the house and inside the house.
Clean up and paint up. Paint des-
troys millions of germs that infest
wood Paint is one of the enemies
with whom the doctor has to con-
tend Paint is the doctors rival.
Paint the house and the barn and
the garage. Paint everything, inside
and out. Paint the pump and the ar
Dor trellis, paint everything but the
dog and the cat and the baby; for
them use soap and water and plenty
of it, being careful to wash the baby
first. No charge for this advice.
Cleaning up and painting contrib
utes to our civic pride, and civic pride
is fine thing; it's the next finest
thing to personal pride and is kin to
it..
Keeping painted up and clean
means a lot of things. 1t means the
adjustment of nuisances, the NOV
ing Of dangerous and offensive bust
ness outside the city limits, SANTA
ton and disinfection, free garbage
removal, the planting of trees, shrub
berry and flowers and hedges for
homes and along streets and alleys;
it means eternal warfare against the
flies and mosquitoes, orderly side
walks, the keeping down of weeds,
clean cellars and attics; it means a
fair chance to diminish or possibly
to eradicate typhoid and spinal men
nights and a lot of kindred disorders,
disorders which thrive under condi-
tions of filth and neglect: it means
looking after the water, and the rats,
vermin and malaria. Big bill, isn't
it? It's mighty important one.
We've had our Everybody-go-to-
church Sunday, and we are moving
grandly along in the matter of NOR
al house cleaning; such agencies as
the Bayard league and the Associat-
ed Charities and the churches are do
ing good work in altruistic direc-
tions, so now let the whole push set
aside a period to be devoted to prac-
tical house cleaning, personal and
public. In other words, as we indi-
Gated at the beginning of this SER
mon, clean up and paint up.
OF course, we all wish to be as
healthy as possible, and we could en-
JOY better health if we would permit
ourselves to welcome it-which we
mostly will not-but there is some
thing more than health in this con-
sideration. Hogs are, as a rule, pro-
yokingly healthy; but clean hogs are
healthier than dirty hogs. The ma
jority of animals are healthy, unless
sick through the ignorance and care
lessness of their owners. But health
is not all. We are partially civilized.
Civilization in its proper sense means
harmony. We no longer run about
in state OF nakedness, but we know
how to read and we are able to ap-
preciate good picture or a noble
anthem. We have learned to love
the beautiful, the pleasing, the pro-
portionate, all the varying values Of
harmony. That is why we want our
homes and our cities bright, clean
and comfortable.
It's fine thing to live in age of
soap and paint, finer thing to live
in any community where these things
are religiously used. 1t pays in many
ways to be clean. About the only
HopuldT lnlHB IeII III tnlS country
that appeals to any one if it happens
to be dirty is a dollar; but the ma
jority prefer clean dollars, though
we can't deny that they may be
tempted. That isn't due to the con-
dition of the dollar, however. It's
because Uncle Sam says it's worth a
! hundred cents even if it's face ism t
washed
In every other sense and relation
cleanliness is a personal and civic
asset.
So, Mr.. Knocker, go chase your
self-no, go and paint everything in
sight except your mother-in-iaw
she probably has learned how to do
that job for herself.
Clean up and paint up, or shut up
II you can't do anything but growl
There is scripture that fits your
case II you want to continue dirty
and rusty. 1t reads:
He that is filthy, let him be filthy
STILL"
That was all right scripture away
back yonder, but in these days we
won't let fellow be that way. The
interests of the public are para