Norwich bulletin., 1921-03-18
WHEN PROSPERITY WILL RETURN
fwr,tt.n sneciallr For rhe Rulletin.l

(Written Specially For The Bulletin9 There used to be such a word as thrift" Dye hear it very often these days?
 Both the word and the old-fashioned virtue it describes are apparent strang- CTS to our modern world They are rarely mentioned to ears soltte. When q reference is forced it is always made sr an spologetic or, worse. a sneering tone. To say that such-a-One is "a thrifty critter" Is about as disparaging, these days, as 1t would have been fifty years sro to say that he was "a slUftless fel- low" The charge carries with it hint of stinginess. of penuriousness, of mean ness in small things. It is meant as criticism rather than as praise. It sug- gests that the possessor is not naturally one of ''the bunch" that he is unfitted to belong to ''the gang that he isn't de sirable comrade among "the boys"
 This Is more than 4re--e. table: Il is discouragin-
 assume tkaat among my renders ticrc may be few other ancient farmers. like myself, who remember .he days of ol,s and are able to draw comparisons. I Go not assume that they, any more than l. look
 
 mixed regret. The strange superstition. that the past was always and in every respect better than the present is one we do not share. Indeed. we have small respect for it. It would be bootles5 and wholly futile task to debate the ad- vantages of the past ever the present, or of the present over the past. taking both periods as a N...!fa. For We all ad- init without question that the world has advanced. It has actually trade some nrocress. We are daily saeir:y with in creasing clearness that its true Golden Age" is far ahead of us not far be- hind us.
 As small boy, I have many times esjoled my father into tellinr me of his own boyhood on this same farm, a hun fred -cars a~o. There wasn't such a thing as a match or a cook-stove in the world. at that time Nor any better form of rural Illumination than a tal- CIV dip or q spe--1-oii lantern. Nor any means of conn, c ~ation faster than a r.age-coach or a CLral-boat. Nor pane If glass in the waole township larger than seven by nine. He never had a whole orange at one time til after he was of are" nor ever saw g bana na til he was past fifty. You're a lucky small 'boy," he used to sav tn ne. "Yor don't have to wade through deep snow to neigh5or's mornings w:i"n the kitch c:f fire mas gone out. to borrow coals tt start 1t m. You have kerosene lamp. n read and study by without danger O rviTing your e-es. You have q n:ce whol orange. every Christmas" Etc, etc
 TIis. bear in mind. was morn tI,a- sixty yePrs ago. To the comforts art iuxuries ha then paia:cd out which had. but which he did not. when he wa boy. have been added for the presen generation a score of others even nor "p1-h-ns; ing in their capacities. It surely a better world to live in. nov than it was before the da.-s of railroad and teiegraphs and teleniones and ele, tric lights and autonn5iles better tha tt was whsn blows had only wooie mouldboards: better than when human slavery spread Its blight oyer half ou own land.
 But. granting all this freely. admi tlng all the progress made. grateful fc Ill the comforts gained anel all the broat CT rights assured We fellows neverth, less can't heip seeing that some real valuable f'atures of the old life ha1 been lost 4 the forward movement. I building t..e new roads we have st .ured better grades and smoother SUI aces. but, sometimes. we have lost otl sr advantages.
 My road to my nearest market tow over high mountai,l Tha fi-st h;g, way laid out hundred and fift-- veal ago, followed the old bride trail
 was steep, narrow, crooked ana roug Moreover, 1t drffted impossible with eyel winter snow-storm- Later a new trst was made, with slightly easier gradient mat. also, was closed every winter I the drifts. So a third was constr;,,., by route which, though Ion~er ar crookeder, experience had shown to nnanected by bl.Nting snows Then. "a Of all, came the state road" If ". Resigned by ski.AI engineers who mai sained for its whole six mics an eay grade; 1t was built with well-dra in. substructure and covered with lasti, eeHeAi; 1t was deeply ditched at Il Sides and protected by substantial ra ngs It cost some s40OOO a mile wna ine one which preceded it cost less fb. t<o0. The same horses which could, pull ton up the old road will haul ty tons up this without worrying. The T lomoolle which cou'Il only make the q hili on lowest speed and with cons,a danger of breaking down shorts up {. new one in high gear and doesn't fet an extra cough because of it.
 It's vastly better road than q, oi the old ones but for one thing, IT Hghiy trained engineers didn't take
 Q account the win . gales and snoy Anc their new hi=nway is hopeless . closed to traffic every ordinary winter 1riits which block miles at stretch, a which renew themselves under the most unceasing mountain gales as [, IS snow-plows can dig through the People who have to venture across f mountain during Snowy winte" hunt ne old. steep, crooked, rocz road. a ma&e their way by it because it i5 CO paratively free from drifts.
 Fren which state of things we , fellows deduce the conviction that tn,