STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. IO9 



that they went out into their own street and cleaned them them- 

 selves, and that was certainly a move in the right direction, for it 

 set a good example. So that by the time the St. Louis fair opens 

 next spring I think that they will be able, as they say and as they 

 promise, to show us the model city of the United States. 



Besides this work in other states as I have spoken of it, the 

 request came to me a few minutes ago, to say a little about the 

 work in Lewiston and Auburn, to let the people from out of 

 town know that we have been trying to do something of that sort 

 among ourselves. Last spring there was a meeting called for 

 consideration of the subject. It was a small meeting but it was a 

 helpful one and we had addresses from several persons who were 

 interested in the work, and very soon we organized a Civic 

 Improvement League. The work has been done in a very small 

 way both in Lewiston and Auburn, but still we are hopeful of 

 larger results in the future. Every great reform has its dis- 

 couraging beginnings and its day of small things. But here, 

 as in other places, we began by trying to educate the children as 

 well as the older people to pick up and keep clean the streets, and 

 to that end we have caused to be placed several — as many as we 

 were able to — receptacles for garbage upon the corners and upon 

 the most popular streets so that they can be kept clean in that 

 way to a large degree. We have placed rest seats at the corners 

 of the streets where people w^ould naturally wait for the electric 

 cars ; as far as our money would allow us we have done that. 

 Through the influence of the League in Lewiston the park has 

 been very much improved. We have had a large number of 

 seats put out, which the mayor consented to do at the request of 

 the ladies. There was a large stretch of walk upon one of our 

 principal streets that had long been an eye-sore, and that side- 

 walk was replaced that had long been a menace to the public on 

 a dark night. We have improved a little park at the head of 

 Pine street, putting out a bed of hardy hydrangeas there that 

 will grow in beauty and be larger and more beautiful every year. 

 At the instigation of the League there was a bed of geraniums 

 placed around the soldiers' monument. T have addressed the 

 teachers myself on one occasion, asking them to interest their 

 pupils in the work and they have done so and have responded 

 very kindly, and also the superintendent of schools. The matter 

 of offering prizes to the school children for the best essay upon 



