The Improvement of Country Villages 335 



the principle of imitation, which will never nllow a Yankee 

 to be outdone by his neighbors; and the other, the principle 

 of progress, which will not allow him to stand still when he 

 discovers that his neighbor has really made an improvement. 



Begin then by planting the first half-dozen trees in the 

 public streets. "They will grow," as Sir Walter observed, 

 ''while you sleep;" and once fairly settled in their new con- 

 gregation, so that they get the use of their arms, and espe- 

 cially of their tongues, it is quite extraordinary what sermons 

 they will preach to those dull and tasteless villagers. Not 

 a breeze that blows but you will hear these tongues of theirs 

 (which some look upon merely as leaves) whispering the 

 most eloquent appeals to any passer by. There are some 

 doubtless whose auriculars are so obtuse that they do not 

 understand this language of the trees; but let even one of 

 these walk home in a hot July day, when the sun that shines 

 on the American continent has a face brighter than Cali- 

 fornia gold, and if he does not return thanks devoutly for 

 the cool shade of our half dozen trees, as he approaches 

 them and rests beneath their cool boughs, then is he a 

 worse heathen than any piratical Malay of the Indian Ocean. 

 But even such a man is sometimes convinced by an appeal 

 to the only chord that vibrates in the narrow compass of 

 his soul, - - that of utility, - - when he sees with surprise a 

 fine row of trees in a village stretching out their leafy 

 canopy as a barrier to a destructive fire that otherwise 

 would have crossed the street and burnt down the other 

 half of the best houses in the village. 



The next step to improve the graceless village is to per- 

 suade some of those who are erecting new buildings to 

 adopt more tasteful models. And by this \ve mean not 

 necessarily what builders call a "fancy house," decorated 

 with various ornaments that are supposed to give beauty 

 to a cottage; but rather to copy some design, or some other 

 building, where good proportions, pleasing form and fitness 

 for the use intended give the beauty sought for without call- 

 ing in the aid of ornaments, which may heighten but never 

 create beauty. If you cannot find such a house ready built 



