AT last the point is reached where the 

 improvement association must "do 

 something/' something that can he 

 seen and approved hy those who are not its 

 members, that will make visibly for better 

 living and that will advance by a step, 

 which even the stranger can see, toward 

 grasping the town's opportunity. Much 

 has been done in seeing the opportunity, in 

 organizing to embrace it, in securing the 

 co-operation of wide-spread support and 

 the co-operation of harmonious effort. But 

 the life of the improvement association is 

 as the career of a man. The child's birth, 

 the lad's growth, the youth's consecration 

 to a purpose, count for little in the eyes of 

 the world. Until the man does something, 

 brings something to pass, he has not lived 

 — in the stern world's judgment. 



With perfected organization, therefore, 

 with a wide-spread favorable sentiment, 

 with a willingness to harmonize individ- 

 ual efforts for the general good, the asso- 

 ciation must look about for something to 

 do in its corporate capacity. It must have 

 ready an answer to the certain question, 

 "What has the association done, apart 

 from its individual members?" It has 

 already secured, wisely, from an expert on 

 this subject, a general report on the work 

 to be done to improve the town's aspect — 

 not in a patchy way, but toward the real- 

 ization of a complete, harmonious and 

 beautiful picture. It knows then how to 

 make every step count. There remains 

 only the choice of the first step. But that 

 is a vital matter. 



Constructive rather than destructive 



effort will be chosen. It will do before it 

 undoes. It will seek praise and friends 

 before it criticizes and invites enemies. 

 Then it will leave off the abstract and the 

 general and will choose a particular, def- 

 inite object. Upon this it will focus its 

 endeavors. 



What this undertaking will be will de- 

 pend upon local conditions. It will, how- 

 ever, be something in which the whole 

 community is interested, in which the in- 

 terest is fairly uniform and the benefit 

 equitably divided. In I^ew England towns 

 it may be the public green or square; in 

 the West it may. be the proximity of the 

 railroad station. A good general rule to 

 keep in mind will be to make the most 

 possible out of the special peculiarity of 

 the town — usually some feature of its to- 

 pography. And another good rule, other 

 considerations being equal, is to follow 

 the line of least resistance. If there be 

 two or three things that may be done with 

 apparently equal benefit, choose the one 

 that is easiest, that success may be the 

 surer. In a failure at the start, far more is 

 at stake than the particular work in hand. 



The association will have done much, of 

 course, in merely obtaining the expert re- 

 port and showing to the citizens what 

 ought to be done ; but even that will count 

 for little unless the association itself makes 

 a beginning at the work. So is the definite 

 undertaking necessary. 



Of the special topographical peculiarity 

 of the town it may be said that the most 

 likely is a water frontage of some sort — 

 by stream or lake or sea, or a hill. The as- 



