Rensselaer Gazette, Volume 2, Number 1, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 May 1858 — A FAIR PROPOSITION. [ARTICLE]

A FAIR PROPOSITION.

The court-house is, generally, the most conspicuous building in a village, and, next to the hotel, the best-index of the character of its inhabitants... It is the first object that greets the gaze ofthe traveler, and the last one that he parts with; and as the court house stands in his estimation, so stands the village. But its range goes out beyond the - streets and lanes df the town: it stretches out its arm and its finger points to every termer in the county; it is a mirror wherein the townsman and_tbe plowman can see his likeness—nay, which blazons his virtues on his deformities, whether he will or not. Moreover, it is an object in which all have a common interest—the great link in the social chain which-binds the rural districts and the metropolis. ,l God made the country, man made the town,” is aa old saying, hut that the people made the court house, is equally true. It was built by all, for all, and should be the pride of all. Fine halls of justjce—we do not mean an extravagant building paraded before the people as an object on which men hang Aheir purses, but a court house comfortably and tastily arranged—which seem, with becoming modesty, to withdraw from public gaze, properly inclosed, shaded by stately trees and decked with lawns and graveled walks, bespeak a town whose citizens possess liberal hands and cultivated taster whose farm-

ers are honest, intelligent and Tefined, and a people among whom the laws are respected and easily administered. Justice, although blinded to every thing elee, is awake to the beautiful, nay, she is herself the beautiful; for justice is the ideal of beauty. We are aware that, to many persons, all this sounds well in speech, but is a Subject only fit for women to talk about; yet we say, in all sincerity, that the man who has no sympathy with nature was never more than half made. God made the world and endowed it and he gave man a soul to enjoy it. We make these remarks in order to pave the way to a proposition which we wish to offer to the commissioners of the county and the citizens of the village. It is this: that the commissioners furnish the lumber to inclose the court house square, and that the people of the village turn out and put up the fence, and not only so, but that each one pledge himself to set out a certain number of trees therein, and to do his share in laying out walks and beautifying the grounds. We think the Commissioners will be willing to provide the materials, for they are men who are alive to the interest of the county; and, surely, the people of Rensselaer will not hesitate to do their part. We trust the simple suggestion is all that is needed. The court house squafe is the nucleus around which centers every improvement made in town. ' That beautified, and we shall have better walks, better streets, better doOr-yards and a far better spirit. Indeed, it is a large angle which measures the arc of its influence; but if it goes on from better to worse, there is no telling what will become of Rensselaer. Public spirit must go one Way or the other, and if it keeps the path which it has had for the last few years, we may expect that travelers will pour out their blessings on our heads in the words; of the old Scottish song: ■' “Men of hard hearts, ye, 7' May the foul fiend drive ye, And a’ to pieces rive ye, For building sib a town; Where there’s neither man’s meat nor horse's meat, Nor a chair to sit down.”