I noticed a major expansion of graffiti on walls bordering the Amtrak line today as I went to New York. Did the public-works folks run out of money to clean this up, or don't they care?

As a longtime advocate of James Q. Wilson's "Broken Windows'' theory, I found the mess depressing.  Ignoring it leads to further anti-social behavior. Maybe making such defacement of public space a felony would help.

But the beauty of the train's route along the Connecticut shore is quite something, even if we take it for granted. The marshes along the sound and the woods beyond were golden today.

--- Robert Whitcomb