OUR COUNTRY VILLAGES. 239 



their own property, and shown the influence of even two or three 

 persons in giving an air of civilization and refinement to the streets 

 and suburbs of country towns. There is not a village in America, 

 however badly planned at first, or ill-built afterwards, that may not 

 be redeemed, in a great measure, by the aid of shade trees in the 

 streets, and a little shrubbery in the front yards, and it is never 

 too late or too early to project improvements of this kind. Every 

 spring and every autumn should witness a revival of associated 

 efforts on the part of select-men, trustees of corporations, and persons 

 of means and influence, to adorn and embellish the external condi- 

 tion of their towns. Those least alive to the result as regards beauty, 

 may be roused as to the effects of increased value given to the prop- 

 erty thus improved, and villages thus rendered attractive and desi- 

 rable as places of residence. 



But let us now go a step further than this. In no country, per- 

 haps, are there so many new villages and towns laid out every year 

 as in the United States. Indeed, so large is the number, that the 

 builders and projectors are fairly at a loss for names, ancient and 

 modern history having been literally worn threadbare by the god- 

 fathers, until all association with great heroes and mighty deeds is 

 fairly beggared by this re-christening going on in our new settle- 

 ments and future towns, as yet only populous to the extent of six 

 houses. And notwithstanding the apparent vastness of our territory, 

 the growth of new towns and new States is so wonderful fifteen or 

 twenty years giving a population of hundreds of thousands, where 

 all was wilderness before that the plan and arrangement of new 

 towns ought to be a matter of national importance. And yet, to 

 judge by the manner in which we see the thing done, there has not, 

 in the whole duration of the republic, been a single word said, or a 

 single plan formed, calculated to embody past experience, or to 

 assist in any way the laying out of a village or town. 



We have been the more struck by this fact in observing the 

 efforts of some companies who have lately, upon the Hudson, within 

 some twenty or more miles of New- York, undertaken to lay out 

 rural villages, with some pretension to taste and comfort ; and aim, 

 at least, at combining the advantages of the country with easy rail- 

 road access to them. 



