WAY-SIDE HINTS. 145 



bery, to declare by graceful type the rural pride of 

 the place. He would be counted a sorry curmudgeon 

 who should allow all visitors to make their way to 

 his entrance-hall, through wastes of dust and piles of 

 offal ; cannot the corporate authorities of a town be 

 taught some measure of self-respect, and welcome the 

 outside world with indications of orderly thrift, bloom- 

 ing and carrying greeting to the very threshold of 

 the place ? 



First impressions count for a great deal whether 

 in our meeting with a woman, or with a village. Slip- 

 shoddiness is bad economy in towns, as in people. 

 Every season there is a whirl of citizens, tired of city 

 heats and costs, traversing the country in hah hope 

 of being wooed to some summer home, where the 

 trees and the order invite tranquillity and promise 

 enjoyment. A captivating air about a village station 

 will count for very much in the decision. There will 

 be growth, to be sure, in favored localities, in spite 

 of disorder. I could name a score of little towns 

 along the line of the New Jersey and Erie and Hud- 

 son Railways, with their charming suburban retreats 

 near by, to which the occupant must wade his way 

 through all manner of filthiness and disorderly debris, 

 making bis landing, as it were, in the very dust-heap 

 of the place, and smacking with a relish, it would 

 eeem, these prefatory incidents of his country home. 



