WAY-SIDE HINTS 



ject to their keeping? Dram-shops, and oys- 

 ter-shops, and slatternly land-offices, will 

 doubtless, under our present civilization, 

 have position somewhere ; but must they needs 

 be foisted upon the area about the village 

 station ; Must we always confront a town with 

 its worst side foremost? Suppose for a mo- 

 ment that the old Village Green were trans- 

 lated to the neighborhood of the station, or a 

 companion spot of rural attractiveness estab- 

 lished there, around which the waiting equi- 

 pages might circle in attendance — suppose a 

 pleasant shade of elms spreading itself upon 

 that now dusty area — suppose the corporate 

 authorities keenly alive to the aspect which 

 their town and its approaches may wear in the 

 eye of the world which looks on, and forms 

 its judgment every day by thousands — sup- 

 pose an inviting inn, duly licensed, swings its 

 sign under some near bower of trees, will all 

 this count nothing toward the growth, the 

 reputation, the dignity of a country locality? 

 I know I am writing in advance of the current 

 practice in these respects; but I am equally 

 sure that I am not writing in advance of the 

 current practice fifty years hence, if only the 

 schools are kept open. The reputation of a 

 town for order, for neatness, for liberality, or 



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