Show Ephraim A Grand Place To Livet Live t The following has been received from our daughter Audrey Mrs Richard F. F Perkins 1544 Melrose Casper Wyoming She expresses our opinion arid and the opinion of s so o many others so well concerning Ephraim that that part o of f her h er letter letterI is printed in full I talked with a fellow last week who'd been in EPhraim Ephraim Eph Eph- rai raim n ten years ago and some very interesting ideas or opinions opinions ions came out of our conversation about the town He ha has s been back through Ephraim recently and said he wished hi his his s business would let him make his home there in that pretty i little town Of course my my- feathers ruffled with pride I happened d to mention I was sorry the population was decreasing g an and d people moving away s so so often He said something like Th The e population P decrease is inevitable with our modern day specialization specialization s P e requiring fewer men to do more work and after r all the jobs there are limited I However a good deal of Ephraim's charm chaIm comes fro from m I its being a small town and from the resulting familiarity larity neighborliness and cozy security that comes from knowing knowin g the pe people and the town so well He went on to say that Ephraim certainly didn't loo look k yh like one of those dying small towns you pass so often in in a s k other sections of the countrY countrY- country Then he mentioned just a few fe w of Ephraim's progressive improvements since hed he'd be been n there ther c ten years before These included the excellent new highway y r and new streets I dont don't think 1 Ephraim has any streets a as s bad as some in this cit city of f 36 people the very fine swimming swim swim- ruing ming poo pool the street lighting the new College auditorium and the other new building the tie dorm norm and ana the home nome and lot improvements I thought then of the many new homes in Ephraim and how all of them are fine A l homes not mediocre thrown- thrown together homes like you see in so man many city housing develop develop- tY m ments I 1 was still a little skeptical and said Yes its it's a wonderful wonderful won won- z- z little town but just recently Ive I've read of more of i their businesses closing There just must not be as much trade there as there used to be J His reply to this that small was towns didn't need as many businesses as they used t to now that everyone has w. w automobiles and can so easily reach metropolitan areas for some commodities However he brought out that there are many businesses each town needs and that they will surely remain in Ephraim as long as there are people there Then we the income being generally lower in in small towns but decided other ther advantages would offset I t J that Comparing rent and home prices with those here for instance stretches stretches' an Ephraim income considerably And how important are high wages anyway when they are compared compared com com- pared with the security and well being that come from knowing knowing know know- ing your town and its From people saying hello to all your neighbors and getting that special sense sense of personal importance importance importance tance that comes from knowing they all know as you as a per person son not just another face From having a part to take or at least an interest to take in iIi aU all the affairs affairs' of your community community community com com- and to k know what is going on around you and be personally interested in it not just passively indifferent ferent Yes I have enjoyed living living in in a city and think we are lucky to live in a city as friendly and informal as Casper But it took a a casual visitor to Ephraim to open my eyes to toa toa toa a lot of things about t my home town that make me remember it and think of it with a very great deal of pride and compassion compassion com com- compassion passion and to be just a little bit envious of the families who can find the means to stay there and enjoy it w |