Page 92 - 1931 Hartridge

X X
Elementary Prize Essay
JPROGRESS
CA.OW upon row of cheap grey houses with dingy white trimmings line straight black roads which in their turn are lined with ribbons of grey sicie-
walks. The atmosphere is heavy with soft coal smoke which rolls out of high brick towers in soft black clouds. Trains chug painfully from the station, heavily laden with merchandise. Factory whistles scream out the noon hour. Thousands of men and women pour out of the huge factories and scuttle t'o their respective homes. Even though the town is crammed
X
with human life, it is barren, desolate, painfully desolate. Yet when X X spoken of it is, “One of our most progressive manufacturing towns, situ­ X
ated in a broad valley and surrounded by pleasantly rolling hills.” This
X thriving town is supplied with pure water from a nearby lake. A large X X dam was built and the property surrounding the lake has recently become X
X
valuable.
Once a village composed of neat cottages, two churches, several small stores, and, in the center, a shady green, had nestled in the valley. Midst
X
X green fields in cool serenity large rambling farm houses stood, towered X over by graceful elms and substantial maples. Colts frisked, calves cap­
X ered, and little lambs wobbled about nearby in the warm fresh air. Wild X ducks circled above the lake where slim birches were reflected in the water
and a heron looked about him with calm dignity.
X
X
XK X K Page Eighty-eight
But now it is all changed. is, but
Men call it a progressive town, and it
A. M. R., ’36.
XK X
XK XK XK
XK XK
X