THE TO\YN'S OPPORTUNITY 



213 



der memories to the old home^ and are 

 glad to help an undertaking so obviously 

 for its benefit. The town improvement 

 society may as safely count upon financial 

 help from outside its own membership as 

 upon that outside assistance in labor to 

 which it looks with confidence for success. 



In enlisting this larger interest, both 

 of labor and of money, there is clearly a 

 need of broad good-will. The directors of 

 the improvement society have no task at 

 once more delicate, more urgent, and 

 withal more delightful, than the cultiva- 

 tion within the society of that spirit which 

 draws to it good-will and kindly feeling. 

 It is not enough that the object be worthy. 

 One may love a cause and hate its workers 

 if their methods be unpleasant, and many 

 a righteous cause has had to suffer by 

 reason of this. The "holier-than-thou" 

 attitude has injured innumerable reform 

 endeavors. Efforts to improve the town 

 that begin with the criticism and abuse 

 of your neighbors will never come to much. 

 Realize that the town does not belong 

 to you any more than it does to your 

 neighbor, that he has the same interest 

 that you have in its betterment, that 

 you are after his friendship and help — 

 not his hostility, and that you will gain 

 only the latter if you begin by criticising. 

 There may be, indeed, a great deal that 

 urges your condemnation; but a little 

 band of carping critics is ever at a loss 

 for friends. Wait at least until you have 

 enlisted on your side a good proportion 

 of the toAvn, and then your criticism may 

 be milder, because it carries the weight 

 of public opinion, and it will bring things 

 to pass. Praise of good things encourages 

 to good things, while fault-finding invites 

 timidity. "Laugh and the world laughs 

 with you, weep and you weep alone," is a 

 good rule for an improvement society to 

 keep in mind. And it is proper that the 

 members should be happy in their work, 

 for the work is one that blesses widely, 

 and that is beautiful in itself. Why 

 should there not be pleasure in it? 



In conclusion, there is one other word 



of caution or suggestion that may be given 

 to those who are directing the policy of 

 an improvement club. Let them keep in 

 mind that, while the results they seek 

 will bless individuals, the object for which 

 they are working is the betterment of the 

 community, and that communities are far 

 more long-lived than individuals. Re- 

 membrance of this important fact will 

 influence their action in three ways. They 

 will, first, be more patient. There will 

 be in their hearts no sense of failure if, 

 in six months, or even in a year, or two 

 years, they do not succeed in radically 



ONE OF DULUTH'S "IMPROVED CORNERS" 



changing the aspect of the town. If they 

 are advancing by sure steps, they are suc- 

 ceeding, though the steps be slow. Second, 

 they will seek the permanent rather than 

 the temporary effect ; the lasting and solid 

 instead of the brief and showy. They will 

 prefer, for example, to encourage the ar- 

 tistic planting of home and public grounds 

 with perennials instead of stimulating to 

 garden displays dependent upon the fleet- 

 ing brilliancy of annuals. Though in- 

 terest flag, perennials are lovely season 

 by season and year after year. Finally, 

 this remembrance will incite respect for 

 age. Mere newness without esthetic merit 



