e. So you say. When other folks all about you are goin'
to clean up, you say you won't be driv' to it. Wa-al! I'll tell you
what's going to happen to you, Bill Jones: We wimmen air goin' to trade
at stores that are decently clean. Anyway, they're cleaner than this
hovel of your'n. Don't expect me in it ag'in till I see a change."

Mrs. Marvin Petrie marched out of the shop without buying. Several other
ladies followed her and distributed their patronage among the other
shops. Old Bill hung out for a few days, "breathing threatenings and
slaughter." Then the steady decrease in his custom was too much for the
old man's pocketbook. He began to bleed _there_. So he signified his
intention of falling in with the new movement.

There were householders, too, who had to be urged to join in the general
clean-up of Poketown. Dr. Poole wrote a brief pamphlet upon the
house-fly and the dangers of that pest, and this was printed and
scattered broadcast about the town. To the amazement of a good many of
the older members, like Elder Concannon, Mr. Middler read this short
treatise from the pulpit and urged his hearers to screen their pantries,
at least, to "swat the fly" with vigor, and to remove barns and stables
so far away from the dwellings that it would be, at least, a longer trip
for Mr. Fly from the barnyard to the dining-table and back again!

The Board of Selectmen, stirred by Mr. Cross Moore and others, cleaned
the gutters of High Street and used the scraper on the drive itself
fully two months earlier than usual. Sidewalks were rebuilt, and many
painted tree boxes appeared along the main street to save the remainder
of the tree trunks from the teeth of crib-biting horses.

Before most of the shops--the general stores particularly--were
hitch-rails. Many of these were renewed; some even painted. Store
fronts, too, were treated to a coat or two of paint. Show windows were
cleaned and almost every store redressed its display of goods.

Trees were trimmed, and some of the tottering ones cut down entirely.
There were still plenty of shade trees on the steep High Street.

It was Janice who urged Hopewell Drugg to refurbish his store--painting
it inside and out, rebuilding the porch, and erecting a long hitch-rail
to attract farmers' trade.

"Of course you cannot afford it, Mr. Drugg," said the girl. "That is, it
seems as though every dollar you spend is putting Lottie back. But
'nothing ventured, nothing gained.' You must t