Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1914-05-07
SCENERY A GREAT ASSET
Speaker at Merchants Lunch
con Says 1t Is Not Appreciated.
Farmer and City Nan 10th Inclined TO
Forget That There Is More In
life Tbnn Utiiitnrinn
Aims.

Before a good si2cd gathering at The
Merchants association dinner Thursday,
the Rev. George w. Perry of South Hero
smoke on "Our Great Unappreciated
Asset
Mr. Perry's talk was decidedly spicy
and stimulating. He dealt in matter
of-fact way with a subject which was
not matter Of fact. The plst Of his talk
was that thare Is more In the greater
Vermont idea than unitarian ends, and
he made out a case that was decidedly
forcefui
Mr.. Perry, in his opening sentences,
dwelt upon the large part which utility
plays in our thinking at the present time.
We send our boys to school to learn
TO make a living, and sometimes, If Mr.
Perry Is to be believed, we forget that
thore is more than a living to get. We
tend to forget to teach the boys to enjoy
the living after they get It.
The speaker proceeded to show that
the most enterprislng and practical mon
among us think of more than unitarian
ends. They build houses which are care
fully constructed with regard to how
they look. They have their front yards
which are things of beauty. And the
proud possessor when he returns from n
hard days work looks at the house and
yard and says: My, isn't that slick
And It's mine" If utility were the only
consideration. We should all live in
houses no better than big wooden dry
goods boxes. with no paint. no grass
no flowers.
The speaker then painted the beauties
of our own countryside, He told the
story Of the hanging gardens Of Babylon,
which for centuries were regarded as
among the wonders of the world, and
told of the greater beauty of the hills
and mountains which almost any YER
mont village can boast. And he touched
upon the countless numbers Of people
who arc coming here to share our
riches.
But Mr.. Perry made the hit OF the day
when he described the dwelling of the
most truly unitarian man he knok0 the
unenterprising old farmer. In front of
the house, where the dOoyIyard ought to
be, you Will see the W0od-pile and a
wagon or two with ruts and bare earth
and mud but hardly a sign Of grass.
and across this front yard runs the
drain from the sink to the street. Across
the street cutting off the glorious view
which could otherwise be obtained from
the house is the barn. 1t is all utilitar-
ian. The farmer says: whats the
use? The barn is convenient right there.
The road-bed Is kept open in the winter
and with the barn there less snow has
to be shoveled. The sink drain runs out
through the front yard easiest because
the ground slopes that way. \ man must
Pile his wood where 1t is easy to come
out of the door and get it, and the
wagon-sheds are handler there than else
where.
After Mr.. Perry had painted this pic
ture to perfection until the audience
We're quite elated with thinking how
much wiser they were in their city
dwellings than those members of tn
farming class who lack enterprise, HI
turned the tables entirely by saving
How about city's front Yard" Then
very pontedly, he insinuated that il
spite of all that nature had done to pro-
vide us with the most wonderful front
yard in the world, there We're some
wood-piles in our front yard, and oul
sink drain ran right down through it
He complained that we had not ever
a way to get to the lake unless We went
down across the tracks and between the
wood piles to the steamboat landing
lie said: You haven't place on al
your beautiful lake front where a boy
can go swimming without breaking the
law Then he painted for the mer.
chants what they might do what Other
cities like Springfield, Mass and Tampa
and Chicago have been doing.
Mr.. Perry pleaded for a greater use
of the lake boats. and for a greater
appreciation Of the lake. He closed with
dialect poem IN which a farmer o.
the utilltarian school tells what HI
thinks about an artist who spends the
summers on his farm.