FROM A NEW ENGLAND HILLSIDE. 67 



the population which year after year has 

 tended more and more to gather into the 

 cities and great towns. If this may indeed 

 be so, and thereby the congestion may be 

 relieved, which has forced the municipal 

 problem upon us as one of the most serious 

 of the dangers which we have been com 

 pelled to face, we cannot be too grateful, 

 even though there be drawbacks which 

 somewhat temper our joy. The age of elec 

 tricity, succeeding the age of steam, and 

 suddenly developing with an almost blind 

 ing flash, finds us in an attitude of wonder, 

 anticipation, and awe. Is there any limit 

 to the direction and extent of the channels 

 which this delicate and powerful agency 

 will open ? We are whirled from one de 

 velopment to another so rapidly that we 

 have no opportunity to assimilate them in 

 our consciousness, and a new application 

 of this multiform power is old and hack 

 neyed before it has a chance to be even a 

 nine-days wonder. 



And what possibilities of disaster are we 

 laying up for ourselves with all this men 

 agerie of partly tamed denizens of the wild 

 which we are trying to hold in leash ? 

 Chained in great storage houses, sent flash 

 ing through the air or through the ground 



