Their commerce and allied industries destroyed, the inhabitants thought they would encourage manufactures, and, having neither money nor knowledge of such business themselves, they invited others who were willing to invest their skill and capital to come within their borders by allowing them special privileges in the way of remission of taxes, etc., thus increasing the burden of the resident population, who soon found that in these rich corporations they had masters to whose control they must submit, and whose burdens they must bear. All sorts of expenses that conduced to the comfort or profit of these companies were imposed on the town, and no returns were made for the outlay. The newcomers had no use for the old inhabitants, except as taxpayers or laborers. They preferred to introduce a foreign population with all its attendant evils, for they did not live there, and, caring only for what brought profit to themselves, they were utterly regardless of the morals, prosperity or appearance of the town. True, a little more money was at times put into circulation, but it did not get into the pockets of the Americans, and it is doubtful if one family originally in the place is worth a dollar more than it would have been if no outside industries had been attempted there.

These are now in a failing condition, and the population is steadily decreasing. Those of the original people who have not already gone from the place look upon their mortgaged grounds and can think of no way of lifting the load. Land that paid a handsome profit in the days of their great grandfathers does not now pay the expenses of cultivation, with no market for the crops. They think of Newport, which has flourished under a narrow but discreet policy, and wish their immediate predecessors had done more to attract desirable guests. Once the traveling foreigner visiting America was attracted to this place by its elegant society; but he cares not to come now to encounter vulgarity. The mild and healthful climate attracted people from many other sections, but now they go elsewhere, seeking places with a better reputation where annoyances will be less, while those who are not so welcome in the surrounding towns resort to this place and become a reproach to it.

I must maintain that had the original plans and policy of the town been adhered to, it would have retained its old standing and still be sought for its beauty and climate, even more than formerly, in spite of the drawbacks to which society is also subjected in other places. To cite some instances of neglect and maladministration: although the taxes are many times higher than ever before, the roads were never in a worse condition. Good road - building material is abundant, but drainage is entirely neglected; gravel and crushed stone put on the roadway often form only a dam to obstruct the natural drainage, until the overflowing water, perversely obeying nature's law in seeking its level, soon gullies out the roads so as to render them unfit for travel. Per-haps a few loads of gravel are put on to make the places passable, but it is only a question of time when that will again wash away. More money has been spent on these wretched roads than would be needed to macadamize every road in the township.

The early inhabitants planted trees - elms that now arch over and shade the noble streets, lindens, ashes and other hard-wooded trees - but the few trees planted by this generation are mostly soft-wooded things that when loaded with leaves break in the summer breeze, and cannot, like those planted in earlier days, go on increasing in beauty. If little that is commendable in the way of tree-planting, now occupying so much attention in wide-awake places, has been done by the present generation, it is deplorable to see the indifference with which they treat their beautiful inheritance. Crowded trees are allowed to remain, broken branches are not removed, but often a huge limb is hacked off to permit a view of what is passing in the street, leaving, in defiance of all principles of correct tree pruning, an ugly stump, the decay of which often causes the death of the tree. The bean-pole seems to have been the ideal sought by the average tree butcher. It is too much to expect that every one will have a just idea of the worth of trees, but not too much to expect that a people claiming to be civilized should show that they possess some notion of their value.

A good but ill-advised lady, desiring to benefit her towns -people by giving them a building for a public library, having a large and beautiful lot, affording ample room for the seclusion and quiet so appropriate to studious uses, erected the building so nearly on the street line that too little room was left for travel on the sidewalk between the structure and the huge trunks of two noble elms that had shaded the people for generations; so the trees were ruthlessly destroyed, and to gratify an unrefined taste one of the town's most beautiful landmarks was obliterated forever. But the culminatian of barbarism was a recent organized attack on the ancestral trees by direction of the town council, in the interest of an electric light company and against the rights of property owners. This venal body decreed that the trees should be robbed of all but their topmost branches to allow the inefficient lights to be seen, and in place of verdure and grace, hacked trees and ugly shapes remain to excite among visitors ridicule, pity and contempt.

While other towns are burying the dangerous wires and getting rid of the unsightly poles that render them unattractive to people who can choose their own homes, this backward place sacrifices its renowned trees for the benefit of a company of speculators who care nothing for beauty or the preservation of rare traditions or the adornment of other people's homes. It is no wonder people no longer seek to make their homes in this once admired place.

It is not, however, to trees alone that Boltonians have devoted their destructive energies; the principal road in the southern part of the town skirts a beautiful bay, whose shores were once lined with picturesque rocks that gave an interest to every part of its graceful curves. "More money than brains" has been spent in destroying these beautiful formations and forming them into long walls and hideous lines. The encroaching waters have in some places rendered protection necessary to the banks, but a rough "rip-rap" wall would have been more effectual than the heavy masonry that has been put up. Part of this is finished by an ugly cement-coated wall, shutting off the view of the harbor and preventing the escape of water after rain. A light iron fence would have afforded the protection required without being a blemish on the shore. Why certain individuals have built heavy, expensive stone walls along the high-water mark, where no one ever crosses, "passeth all understanding," unless it was done for the benefit of the small boys who amuse themselves by running along the tops.

In some places the owners have destroyed the green strips of grass between their sidewalks and the road and covered the space with coal-ashes or tar walks, and wonder why everybody does not admire their handiwork as much as they do. The beautiful old houses look weary in their incongruous settings, as if the time had come for them to abandon the vulgarity of their surroundings. The most conspicuous of these, from its size and position in the center of the town, is one of those beautiful creations of our early architects - adaptations of the French renaissance - that are admired by the ignorant and cultivated alike. Built before beauty of proportion was ignored, the elaborate details are all so subordinated to the general effect as to present a scene of classic beauty. Finely situated upon gently rising ground, the surroundings are disfigured by neglected bedding plants in the worst style of the modern florist. Beauty of form and plant life are unknown, Monstrosities in the form of rustic baskets obtrude themselves before Corinthian columns, and the attempt in other ways to combine rustic grace with classic beauty and simplicity is an utter failure.

The delicate fence that guards the place from encroachment on the front affords one of the best examples of old wrought-iron work to be found in the country ; yet the latest addition to the grounds is a heavy stone wall, built with an affected roughness, showing the broken stone and lines of mortar, and two circular piers that are barbarous compared with the delicate finish of the older stone work. The impression is one of cost and pretension. Vulgarity is stamped upon all that is modern, refinement upon the work of the past, despite the vaunted progress of the century. The two latest additions to the expensive houses are not lacking in pretensions, but those in the line of horticulture are absurd. The fine trees on the road in front of them have been hacked to permit a view of the buildings, and the lives of the elms have been shortened by scars that invite decay. Shrubs, disposed at regular intervals or in straight lines, are clipped with the shears, which gives them round leafy heads and a few sparse flowers.

The owners of both places are ambitious of so-cial advancement, but are unsuccessful in their efforts to attain it. Those who accept their invitations are sometimes ill-bred enough to ridicule their host's pretensions. Both these men are of the "know-it-all" order, and would not consult an architect or landscape gardener; neither would they listen to advice or suggestions from others, and they are surprised that their expenditures do not secure universal admiration for them. Truly may it be said of the Boltonians, "Ye may know them by their works," and if their glory has departed, may other places avoid the evils of their ways and thus escape the consequences thereof.

John De Wolf.