Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1921-10-07

HUMAN ohoiiS, ~ may HOl 10 dlllSS dl
this time to call attention to the fact
that our planet has now entered upon
the last lap of the long, annual journey
around the sun. It's course through
the immensely of space has been liken-
ed to a vast, elliptical racetrack
marked with quarter, half and three
quarter posts. Technically speaking,
the earth passed the three-quarter line
for the home stretch, on or about Sep
TENDER 22d. at which date the days
and nights everywhere were of equal
The gradual fading of summe into
autumn and the change then from
autumn to winter has a tendency to
produce a feeling, betimes, of universal
sadness. This phase of our experience
the autumnal period has been
so well voiced by William Cullen
Bryant in his little poem, "The Death
of the Flowers" that we are tempted
to reproduce a few of the verses:
The melancholy days are come,
The saddest of the year;
OF wailing winds and naked skies
And meadows brown and scar.
Heaped in the hollows of the grove,
The withered leaves lie dead.
They echo to the eddying gust
And to the rabbits tread.
The robin and the wren are flown,
And from the shrubs, the jay;
And from the wood-top calls the
crow,
Through all the gloomy day.
Rather a depressing picture, this j;
but another household poet has told us
not to worry, that in the order of
Some days must be dark and
dreary"; and that, Behind the clouds,
the suns still shining" Fortunately
for all of us, the melancholy days do
not last very long; and in the whole
years series, many more than those
are recorded as being filled with joy
and brightness.
Last Tuesday afternoon, October 4th,
the first autumnal meeting of the
City Commissioners was
held at the regular time and place in
city hall. The room is invariably
dark and dreary," and must be illu-
minated by artificial light.
During the melancholy days there is
an added tinge of gloom in the cham
Der; and this was most pronounced at
the first meeting there in October.
Whats the matter with the ticker?'
asked one of the commissioners, as
he entered the chamber and strided
over toward his position at the legis-
lative table. The claim was made by
him and substantiated by others, in
Guiding the Mayor, the plumbing in
spector and the city treasurer, that
the city clock was at least ten min
utes fast that day. The hands of this
humble, u%nresentful public time-piece
indicated 2.10, when its accuracy was
challenged; and when all the COM
m~issioners were in their seats and
waiting for the roll call. The patient
registrar never stopped for a minute
to offer an explanation or make a pro-
test, but kept on ticking and let them
all have it their own way. Thus the
meeting began at 2 o'clock P. M.
(E. S. IT,.
AS a matter of course, the reading of
the minutes of the previous meeting
was ordered first. This is always nee
essary so that the commissioners may
'see where they are at"-get their
bearings, as it were, before plunging
into the ever increasing p~erplexities
Of new business. You a often hear
it said that Wildwood is no longer a
little burg" but instead a bullying,
growing city and that it needs broad
minded men at it's head to steer things
right. 1t was a matter of common
complaint that the other "set" of COM
m%issioners weren't big enough for the
Job: let us see now if our new men
can size up to expectations. Public
office is a public trust" said n OF
our Presidents; and this truism ap-
plies to local management as well as to
national government. Naturally, all
inst powers derive their exercise from
the consent of the people. Trustees
Of the people should always defer to
he power behind the throne, and all
acts by those commissioned to serve
should be performed with due regard
the interests of the patient burden
oearers-the taxpayers. This is the
proper conception of American ideals.
For the week ending September Both,
axes we're paid to the city collector
the sum of $4,479.40; and for water
-ents, S757.S3. The total receipts for
hat week were, therefore, $5,237.23.
rhe query has often been raised by
Interested persons as to what be-
comes of all the money that is taken
n here in the form of taxes and water
The cost of administration
seems to be out of all proportion to
he size of this municipality! The sal
Try list alone foots up considerably
more than $40, 900. Conservatism and
economy are good watchwords for the
,roner kind of a trustee to paste in