THE TOV^y'S OPPOBTUyiTY 



23 



Boeiation should obtain as miicli as may be 

 of this most striking site for a public res- 

 ervation. Having reserved it for the pub- 

 lic, it shotild facilitate the public's access 

 to it, and in the beautifying of the tract 

 it should so develop the area as to em- 

 phasize the natural attractions rather ihan 

 trv to remake the site or to copy a treat- 

 ment adopted elsewhere. Every such site 

 is a problem by itself. Xo town can ad- 

 vantageously copy from another; and 

 therein lies the secret of the town's greatest 

 possibility to charm — its individuality. 

 In a narrow sense the town's opportunity 

 is the opportunity of each separate town, 

 distinct and unshared by any other. If it 

 be embraced any rivalry henceforth will 

 result from the comparison of different 

 kinds of attractions, not from a choice be- 

 tween the like attractions in different 

 towns. It would be well if every town, 

 foreseeing the time when its opportunity 

 would be appreciated and held to be a 

 precious obligation, would at once preserve 

 the banks of the stream within its borders, 

 or of the sea or lake at whose edge it rests. 

 It can do this, in some measure at least, 

 without embarrassment to commerce or in- 

 dustry ; and to do so will be to make avail- 

 able for all the people an esthetic asset 

 that is rightfully the property of all 

 and of crreat communitv value for its 



beauty and the civic pride it can instill. 



The Tillage Improvement Society of 

 Ehinebeck, Xew York, a town on the Hud- 

 son Eiver, has compiled, from its own ex- 

 perience and that of other societies, a brief 

 set of recommendations for the manage- 

 ment of im2:)rovement societies. Among 

 them it puts '"At least monthly meetings, 

 in order to prevent flagging interest," and 

 it adds that the custom of meeting about 

 from house, to house will be found to add 

 to the sociability of the meetings. On the 

 latter point each community will do well 

 to be its own judge. A good deal depends 

 on the social equality of the members. But 

 the suggestion of frequent meetings is a 

 good one, once there is definite work un- 

 dertaken; and if there be not enough ac- 

 complished from month to month to jus- 

 tify long reports and vigorotis discussion, 

 it may be well to appoint for each month 

 — that the meetings may be surely held 

 and attended — one or more "readers," 

 whose duty it shall be to select and read, 

 from the large monthly output of period- 

 ical literature on this subject, or from the 

 book literature upon it, such articles or 

 chapters as are of special local suggestive- 

 ness or pertinence. So will the improve- 

 ment society itself be held together, its 

 interest kept alive, and its educational 

 functious performed. 



AN "IMPROVED STREET" IN CALIFORNIA 



