297 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
domestic sewage. Is not the source of 
water supply for cattle as well as for 
the occupants of the home of great im- 
portance, and in this connection are not 
the sanitary conditions of the stable 
almost as important as the sanitary 
conditions of the home? We need 
country improvement societies to urge 
stable sanitation as well as house sani- 
tation, sanitation in the interests of 
health of cattle primarily and of human 
beings indirectly. 
The economic aspects of country im- 
provement should be considered largely 
in the interests of the dweller of the 
home, the permanent occupant of the 
house, the woman. Convenience in con- 
struction of the house is a factor often 
entirely omitted in the consideration of 
house building. The water supply is 
■often secured with sole reference to 
the ease wdth which it may be pro- 
cured as a supply and wdthout ref- 
erence to the convenience of its ap- 
plication to the home needs. The ques- 
tion of “saving steps’’ to the home mak- 
er is frequently left out of consideration. 
The arrangement of the house with a 
view to lessen labor is a feature more 
notable in the omission than by re- 
presentation. We have onh' to consider 
the position of the woman of the aver- 
age rural home to realize the force of 
these remarks. The position is always 
one of large responsibility. It is usually 
trying, and occasionally beset by such 
trivial and hard workaday difficulties 
that it may become practically intoler- 
able. Much of the so-called hardships 
might he done away with completely by 
a more careful consideration to the im- 
provement of the house with relation to 
economizing labor by the saving of 
steps. 
Perhaps greater improvement has been 
effected on the outside of the home than 
on the inside, with reference to conven- 
ience and sanitation, during the past 
twenty years. The decorative features 
of the home surroundings have received 
considerable attention in the more pros- 
perous parts of the country, neverthe- 
less there is large opportunity for im- 
provement. It is the duty of every civic 
improvement organization or village im- 
provement organization to aid in re- 
moving the stigma w'hich attaches to 
woman’s life on the farm. This op- 
probrium has special reference to the 
loneliness and barrenness and the lack 
of variety. 
There is in my judgement great op- 
portunity for the village improvement 
societies, particularly in small places, in 
reaching out into the country. In this 
way they may encourage a taste for 
the garden beautiful, for the house con- 
venient and for the sanitary farmstead 
three features which are necessary for 
healthful and happy homes in the 
country. 
We are all imitators to a greater or 
less extent. Each of us has seen the in- 
fluence of the example of one good man 
in a community. We have noted that 
such an example is more potent than 
reams of sermons. Let us then be con- 
tent to find the individual and to use 
that individual as a yeast germ to leaven 
the mass. In this way the community 
w'ill soon be affected. 
We have often noted the influence of 
a plant lover in a community. Let this 
man be situated on a street where he 
cultivates a little garden plot or decor- 
ates his home with wdndow boxes, and 
he is soon copied by his neighbors. Let 
him reside in the country and give con- 
siderate attention to his lawn, to the 
planting of herbaceous perennials in his 
gardens, and the setting of ornamental 
shrubs in the angles of his dw^elling or 
stately trees along his roadside, and the 
neighbors soon catch the spirit and be- 
gin to imitate. The community be- 
comes a changed one and it is all to be 
charged to the influence of the one man. 
Towns and rural communities should 
co-operate in this movement. Their 
interests are common interests. No 
town can be prosperous unless sur- 
rounded by a prosperous country. A 
good country unquestionably makes the 
good town. 
The problems of city and country are 
constantly changing. A few remain 
with us as permanent problems, such as 
the water supply, the saloon, sewage 
system, etc. But new factors are com- 
ing in. In the last three or four years 
we have seen one invade and impress 
itself upon our smaller towns, in the 
form of the cheap vaudeville show. The 
question arises whether this effort to 
develop an already eager appetite of the 
American people for light cheap enter- 
tainment is not going to be attended 
with serious results. May it not become 
a first class evil? If so, should not this 
question be considered by civic improve- 
ment societies just as properly as ques- 
tions relating to the physical welfare 
of the people? 
THE VALUE OF BEAUTY IN WATERWAYS 
From ail illustrated address to the Rivers and Harbors Congress, Washing- 
ton, D. C., by I. Horace McFarland, President American Civic Association. 
That w’e are on the eve of a marvel- 
ous development of waterways in the 
Lhiited States is certain. There is 
everything to gain and nothing to lose, 
in such development from the materi- 
al standpoint. We need the additional 
transportation facilities, we need the 
incidental but most valuable hydraulic 
power that may attach; we need a 
knowledge of definite stream depths, to 
force us to conserve and cultivate our 
forests. The floods which waste both 
wealth and water need the restraint 
which will tend toward maintaining 
navigability in streams now fluctuating 
between mere trickles and vast over- 
flows. For health we need these 
steady and useful streams, no less 
than for commerce. 
Argument is not required to prove 
the statements I have made. They will 
be accepted as trite and undisputed. 
But I would call attention to an- 
other need in connection with the 
impending development of our wa- 
terways — the need for beauty. I 
would argue the value of this pos- 
sible beauty of waterways in Amer- 
ica, hot only because of its vital re- 
lation to human efficiency, but be- 
cause of its definite revenue-pro- 
ducing power. 
. If a supposedly civilized visitor 
from IMars were to drop into our 
midst, I fancy he would be perplexed 
at the incongruities he would see in 
these United States. The jostling of 
wealth and poverty he might under- 
stand, if he was human; but how 
could he comprehend the mingling of 
magnificence and ugliness — the 
Washington monument and the Poto- 
mac water front; the skyscrapers of 
New York and her slovenly docks? 
He could not say we were without 
taste or appreciation of beauty, for he 
would see this Federal city assuming 
the form of harmonious dignity and 
elegance as the National Capital, but 
how would the reeking Chicago River 
or the unpleasant Delaware irppress 
him? 
He would see some public build- 
ings of great beauty, shamed by 
near-by hovels or billboards. He 
would wonder what idea of public 
beauty prevailed in a country which 
would rear a superb capitol building, 
and fail to open the way to a great 
river front near by. 
