Partly Practical 87 



clothes at church, and if there is anything 

 in the way of a show at the village hall, or 

 the Odd-Fellows' room, or the school-house, 

 attend it by all means, for the audience 

 will be the best part of it. 



In nothing is the growth of taste in the 

 American people more obvious than in the 

 change in their social amusements, for 

 rustic delights must always be measurably 

 the same. The enjoyments of town, on 

 the contrary, being artificial, are capable 

 of improvement, and changes for the better 

 have been hastened by co-ordinate ad- 

 vances in building, lighting, heating, venti- 

 lation, plumbing, decoration, and mechan- 

 ism. Whether or not the theatre affords 

 as good an art as it did to our grand- 

 fathers, there is no question that it is a 

 brighter, pleasanter, safer, and more com- 

 fortable house than it was in their time ; 

 and even churches and schools may be 

 kept clean and warm without exciting a 

 dread lest this should be interfering with 

 the decrees of Providence. 



Much is done toward getting town 

 folks out of their houses and into the air. 



