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PROGRESS Marian Emery

P The street we live on is dead end. It was ended by
rogress in the form of a new road a highway which will

bcut thoef tiirne from Suffern to New '0BrunswIck i.n half. A

eautr ul product of man's mind constructed for the more efficient
Use of another of man's products--the automobile.

o ~ut the street we live on was not always dead end.

Nnee It was the direct road from Suffern to New Brunswick.
o matter that it wound through beautiful woods and fields, it

Was11a wa I'm an d fr-0ieridly road--but I0 t was too soIw, too
sma for all the people who wanted to use it.

o Progress takes time. First the homes and woods in
Its Path must be destroyed.

t Behind our house we had some woods. We came home
B the woods and the fields in search of the well-worn paths.

ut ~he big oak with its majestic swing was gone; the dog-
wo~ s that used to turn the woods into a sea of white each
Sit pnrng had diis appe er-ed ; the apple t.ree w i0 th the hut hiIgh m0
~hs branches had vanished. An army of machines had taken
f em all away. Only the bare earth remained--not clean and
~esh like a newly plowed field--but cold and rough. Only the

oulders and an exposed foundation were left to haunt us with

memories of what had once been there.

In the spring new machines came to prepare the barren

eBarth for Progress. Suddenly the topography between New
run SW0ICk and Suffern began to change. The river bed was

moved to accommodate the new road. A chasm grew before
OUr eyes. We discovered that instead of living on the side of
a oh0I11 We were now at the crest of the rise. A whole new
v~e",,w: as opened up for us: the inn nestled in a distant hill;
t e hghts from another highway on the horizon; the railroad
along the river. New bridges grew over the chasm. Old

roads were rerouted around the neW highway.

Finally all was prepared for the birth of Progress. The

~arth was smoothed. A network of steel flowed through

f' e roadbed. The cement trucks brought load after load to
IIIthe endless lanes. The island and the sides of the chasm

~ere plowed and sown with grass. Fences rose up between

e houses and the chasm.

Progress is beautiful new and efficient. People think
how wonderful it is to get' from , Suffern to New BrunSWI0 Ck
S? quickly. They don't remember the trees that fell; they
dIdn't see their playgrounds being destroyed ..• all to make

way for this broad open highway.

p The street we live on is dead end. It was ended by
. rogress. -43-