The old highway still runs through Springfield, and the neighborhoods strung along it change what they need twice a year without ever changing their pace. April to October it is mowing on the week, trimming tight to the mailbox posts and the porch steps, edges cut so the front walk shows its full width, and leaves cleared once the maples give up. From December the same drives get a blade at four in the morning, the walks opened to the door and the ice worked at the turn where a car swings out. Two kinds of work, one measure: whether a family can leave the house without giving the weather a thought. Driving a street you keep — in July or in January — and finding nothing that needs fixing is a good feeling.