In cities a good deal of attention is usually given to such matters, and laws exist, with government officers to administer them, for the protection and promotion of community beauty.  In rural communities these matters are left more largely to individual initiative and voluntary cooperation.  It becomes a matter of public interest and spirit on the part of the individual and the family.  It is true that some things are done through government authorities, as in the improvement of the roads and the building of bridges and culverts that are of pleasing design as well as serviceable.  In some New England “towns” there are “town planning” boards, which carefully plan for the laying out of streets and their improvement, the proper location of public buildings and the style of architecture to be used, the location and development of parks and playgrounds, the enactment of suitable housing laws, and other matters pertaining to the beauty of the community as well as to the well-being of its citizens.

COMMUNITY PLANNING

Systematic planning of rural communities with a view to making them beautiful has not been carried very far in this country.  In fact, as one travels over a large part of the United States one is impressed by the monotonous and unattractive character of the towns and villages.  This is not true everywhere, for in some parts of the country, usually those that have been settled longest, one sees beautiful villages that fit harmoniously into the landscape.  But over large areas of the country it seems that wherever man has gone he has marred the beauty of nature.

INFLUENCE OF EXAMPLE

There is nothing in which the influence of example is so quickly seen as in matters relating to appearance.  People are prone to copy their neighbors in matters of style, whether it be in dress or in architecture.

In one rather wretched community a few boys who were studying civics sought permission to lay sod in the dooryard of a tenement house.  Having obtained permission and laid the sod, it was not long before some one else in the neighborhood did likewise, and soon people all around were sodding their yards or sowing grass seed.  Then they began to repair and paint their fences and otherwise “tidy up” their places, until the whole neighborhood was transformed in appearance.  It is interesting to note, also, that as the community improved in appearance, it also became less lawless than it had been.

This is one phase of community life in which it is easy to establish leadership, and in which young people can perform valuable civic service and contribute materially toward “transmuting days of dreary work into happier lives.”

Investigate and report on: 

The natural beauty of your community.

How natural beauty has been destroyed in your community.

How natural beauty has been preserved in your community.