Licking Valley courier., 1921-01-20


and that they would not have been at
all If there had not been some good
reasons for them The weed-grown
allies, the spaces of alternate slush
and dust about the depot and the
courthouse, the unpainted, at-harbor-
ing old firetraps that persist in stand
ing. the brazen unsightliness of ''busi-
ness fronts that might have been made,
tasteful-all these to this type Of
mind are necessary because they are
and must therefore continue to be.
Every town has in it men of this
type, aud these men are often among
the most substantial citizens of the
town. But no town has been built
by men with such minds. The men
who have founded towns and. made
them grow have been men of vision
dreamers if you will. They may have
regarded themselves as the most prac-
tical and least visionary of men, and
they probably have been abundantly
, practical for all business purposes
but they dreamed dreams and saw
visions none the less. 1t Is the men
If this type to whom the world owes
all Of its material and progress and all
of its spiritual advancement and men
Of this type may well ask themselves
IL country towns need to gather unto
| themselves so much that is diSpress-
ing to look at and undesirable to live
With. They may ask themselves. as
practical men, IL weeds and mud and
Iith and tumble-down buildings and
debauched architecture and hideous
advertising at towns front door-or
its back door, either-are good bust
ness propositions. They may ask
themselves, as men who can see things
hat are not yet visible to the bodily
eye, If there are not possible changes
That can be wrought to. the great adj
vantage of their own towns. They
may go bit further, If they are real
" and truly practical in a big way.
and looking to the ultimate results of
things, ask themselves if there is. ipot
| something radically wrong with the
The industry, that produces such
ah0unding ugliness, If not as its main
output, at least as regular by-prod-
uct. They may even ask themselves
what effect these tasteless and sQuai.
id things have OH the children who
grow up among them, or the men who
do business in and about them, even
on the civilization unto which they
seem so permanently to have attach.
ed themselves.
Once asking these questions, thers
Is little doubt of the answer the prac
teal business men of our towns will
give to them We Americans are al
intensely practical people, all right
but all the world knows us now as It's
most confirmed idealists, as drea mers
of the most daring dreams, seers OF
the most impossible visions. The
world might have so known us, We
might have s0 known ourselves, before
this time If II or we had but pauset
Il little to think over the muteria
Thugs this country has wrought, tn,
hitherto untouched goals it has reach
cd. IL Is only the dreamer wh0 see
the new thing, aud the man who doe
the new thing is by that very proc
either himself dreamer or else
follower of some dreamer's lead. Ma
tions and cities and little countr!
towns are built by men Of imagina
tiOn.
Let us, then, dream Il little abou
the country town that might be, i'm
agine for IL little while what our tow
would be like If il were made fai
where 1t Is now umslghtly, invitin
where II Is now forbidding.
80 to dream, so to imagine will
exercise of most practical sort fo
some thousands of town officials
town business men, town fathers an,
moiherS. 1t will be practical exer
else because things tangible will com
OF It,, No small town has to be ugly.
II will not. be hard to redeem an,
of them to beauty and wholesomeness
once its citizens make up their min,
to do 1t. All that 1t may cost il
thonght and labor and money will
be wellrcpaid, even though the imbroy
ment he considered only from Il purel
business standpoint. Hog-wallow,
and mosquito breeding grounds an,
aud unsanitary back alleys are no
money saving possessions. Unpaintcd
unpatched, unsteady old buildings d,
not bring business to town or lowe
the expenses of the men doing busl
ness in il. A desolnte-looking front
age TO the station and the railruat
does not impress the traveller with tn,
towns advantages. 4 ragged firing,
of disreputability between the town
aud the couptry does not help then
to feel closer together or help then
To work together. Bare land wher,
grasS should be, blank walls wher,
vines should cling, mmorally colora,
signs where sheltcring he,lges shoulj
grow. ap neither money makers nel
J money slyers,
Each town has its own particular
: needs in * of village improve
| ment, eacl lrk ont iN own ar
~ r