I
To-day it is a common sight to see the street cleaners. Many men are at work from sunrise to sunset, cleaning away the dirt and helping to make our city healthful and pleasant to live in.
From whom does the money come to pay these men? It is not from the mayor or those who are in charge of the work. The money really is paid by the people who own property in the city. The men working for the city are public servants. They are working for every man and woman, for every boy and girl in the city.
There is a word much in use nowadays. It is “coöperation.” It means working together. Have you ever seen a group of men help push a heavily loaded wagon? They all push together in the same direction, and the horses pull at the same time, and so they get the wagon started on its way. This is coöperation, or working together.
Everybody should want clean streets and well-kept sidewalks. They mean a more beautiful city, and what is better, a more healthful city.
We know there must be a successful coöperation if we ever are to have a clean city. Now, coöperation means that every one must do his or her share.
Hundreds of boys and girls used the streets this morning on their way to school. Many of them will play on these same streets this afternoon.
Children are entitled to clean streets, but they must be willing to coöperate with the Bureau of Street Cleaning in order to get them. Do you know how they can do this?
II
Two kinds of dirt soil our city streets—that which is the result of daily traffic and that which comes from carelessness.