Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 150, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 July 1917 — HOME TOWN HELPS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

HOME TOWN HELPS

BAD HABIT OF UNTIDINESS Cities Spend Much Money on Parks and Then Tolerate Junkheaps and Refuse-Piled Alleys. The other day we walked by a particularly attractive suburban residence. The house was good and the broad lawn showed both taste and care. Like a pretty little girl In a becoming Sunday school dress, with her hair curled, the premises made you think pleasantly that somebody’s affeetlon was centered upon it. It was so attractive that we turned Into the cross street in order to walk along that side of the grounds. A garage stood at the corner of the grounds abutting on an alley; and fairly tn the> mouth of the alley, unavoidably catching the eye of whoever passed down the cross street, lay a heap of junk and offal, evidently thrown out from the garage and the house. The alley itself looked as though It might lead to a pigsty. That is strictly typical. The alley, of course, did not belong to the householder, and he did not care a rap how it looked; so, with one ha nd* he offered the passer-by s a rose, while with the, other he hit him in the eye with an old tin can. We do litter up the landscape abominably. It is a national habit that ought to be broken. Cities and towns should not only have ordinances forbidding unnecessary litter, but enforce them. Anywhere you will find a city spending SIOO,OOO or $1,000,000 to make a beautiful park, and then tolerating all sorts of needless ugliness. - Any woman -will tell you there Is no use in wearing a fine dress along with a hat that has been fished out of a garbage can; for the 'dress simply emphasizes the hat. The more we spend on parks and front yards the less tolerable Junkheaps and refusepiled alleys become. What cities and towns are upon reasonable sightliness?—Saturday Evening Post.