years, as regards its water facilities. 
NORTH SHORE BREEZE 9 
MANCHESTER'S Harsor DEVELOPMENT is getting to 
such proportions that it is attracting outside attention. 
One of the large yacht clubs recently notified its mem- 
bers of the improvement and set forth some of the ad- 
vantages. It seems as though Manchester could do more 
itself to let the outside world know that the town has 
been placed on the map within the last two or three 
The entrance to 
the harbor, with its circuitous and snake-like narrow 
channel, has given way to a t1oo-ft. channel straight 
across Glass Head flats from the outer to the inner har- 
bors. Instead of a small channel on the inside, a basin 
is now provided large enough and sufficiently deep to care 
for a whole fleet of yachts or vessels. One bad obstruct- 
ion still remains—the treacherous point of rocks at the 
entrance to the inner harbor, opposite the Manchester 
Yacht club. Last Tuesday night the selectmen held a 
session with Engineer R. C. Allen on this matter. The 
board intends to make a formal request of the Federal 
government at Washington to have these obstructions 
removed, and Engineer Allen is preparing the data in 
view of placing the matter before the proper officials. 
There are about 33 yards of rock and it has been es- 
timated it would cost $40,000 to have them removed. 
The state has very willingly helped Manchester dredge 
the harbor for some years past, but it does not feel like 
undertaking this bigger proposition. The state will 
probably keep up its work ot dredging next year and 
another big slice will be taken off the basin near the 
park and also near Beach street. It is to be hoped that 
any of our readers who have influence with the “powers 
that be’ at Washington will exert it toward getting a 
slice of the annual appropriation for use in Manchester 
harbor the coming year. 
THe Brverty Farms IMPROVEMENT SOCIETY is 
active in its good work and under the leadership of Mrs. 
Robert S. Bradley of Pride’s Crossing and Boston is sure 
to make still other gains in the future. The organization 
is furthering several projects, all of which will beautify 
the town. A systematic tree-planting scheme has been 
suggested, which at the end of a period of ten or twelve 
years will have cared for every street from Beverly Cove 
to the Manchester line. The city government has been 
interested in a sidewalk plan of systematic construction 
and the organization will petition for a continuance of 
this annual appropriation. Tihe street corners, particular- 
_ly in Central square, are narrow and the dangers from 
automobile accidents are great. The society has com- 
mitted itself to the task of obtaining, if possible, .from 
the city, a small appropriation for marking all the dan- 
gerous corners as has been done in Manchester. A police 
officer should be placed in Central square during the sum- 
mer months from the first of June to the last of Sep- 
tember. Marshall’s corner is more dangerous than many 
a city crossing. The city of Beverly has been very care- 
ful in its street cleaning arrangements and the society is 
in hopes that the city will continue the work in the com- 
ing season. An Improvement society has its place in a 
community and it is evident this organization has some 
work to do and is going to do it. 
“Spucs’—Wuat A NAME! But the organization of 
Spugs grows. Christmas has meant and should mean 
cheer and happiness. It affords a day in the year when 
one may bestow upon friends or the members of one’s fam- 
ily little gifts in discharge of obligations that money can- 
not meet and which give expression outwardly of kind- 
ly feeling within. The real joy of Christmas is spontan- 
eity and good will. Unfortunately the grace of giving has 
degenerated to the debi of giving and the most joyous 
of all the holidays is robbed of its blessings by its com- 
mercialism and greed. Barter has laid heavy hands on 
a good day. A Spug is one who means to throw off the 
thraldom of such a spirit and make Christmas-giving an 
affair de coeur rather than a matter of give and ‘take. 
It is so foolish and heartless, but the exasperating 
“basheesh” of society has made the day one of misery. 
It is well know that people will buy and: give “truck” for 
Christmas that they never would be led to: purchase in 
the sober, thrifty thoughts of other seasons. The debt 
is there. Something must be given and straightway it 
is disposed of. Something is bought and given without 
thought and with much waste. ‘The priceless spirit of 
good will has gone. It was not a gift, but debt paid: -The 
Spugs have a mission. More than one would like to join 
the Spugs and have always been Spugs at heart, but there 
are those gifts and Christmas is coming. Reforms are 
possible and it will be well to refuse to give any gift 
without good will. Decline to give with the expectation 
of return and purchase only that which is useful. A 
well-chosen gift with little money is far better than an 
extravagant gift purchased thoughtlessly and without 
judgment. 
“ANOTHER Tract oF Manchester’s beautiful wood- 
land is to fall before the lumberman’s axe.. M. E. .Gor- 
man has decided to turn into lumber an unbroken tract 
of timber starting from Pine street and extending a-milé 
and a quarter, nearly to West Manchester, including 
what was known as the Flax farm. He estimates two 
million feet of boards the result of the cut. .A» New 
Hampshire man is now setting up a saw mill to begin 
operations.”—Manchester Cricket. 
It is a wretched shame the way Manchester’s wood- 
land is being made the prey of the lumberman’s axe. 
All summer-long loads of lumber were being hauled 
from the back-woods to the local freight-yard and ship- 
ped away to some box factory—for that is all the timber . 
is good for, the cheapest of commercial use. The beau- 
tiful Cathedral Woods so often spoken of are fast dis- 
appearing. Year after year some new lot is felled and 
it will be only a few years when the whole of our mag- 
nificent wooded hills will be bared. Manchester’s chief 
pride is its shore line and wooded hills. It can ill afford 
to lose any of these attractions. The saw mill has no 
place in Manchester, or anywhere else along the North 
Shore, yet year after year the practice is kept up. Why, 
last year the magnificent pine grove on Powder House 
hill, right in the heart of Manchester, was about to be 
cut. off. A saw mill was all but set up on the hill, when, 
at a special Town Meeting the citizens voted to buy the 
property in order to save the trees. We do not put 
much faith in the insinuations that the people who are 
cutting off these woods all over the North Shore, Man- 
chester in particular, are doing so for the sake of awak- 
ing the public to the urgency of buying this back land 
in order to save it from the woodman’s axe. Already 
our summer residents have bought ‘hundreds of acres 
of land for this very reason. If there is any such at- 
tempt it is the meanest kind of business, and comes pret- 
ty near to bordering on blackmail. 
Tue Tsxt of DAMAGED Goops has not come to the 
editor’s desk but the theme is one that cannot be neglect- 
ed in life. The tragic dangers of certain diseases cannot 
be too widely known. 
