Edwardsville spectator. [volume] (Edwardsville, Ill.) 1819-1826, 1821-07-03

the mind must have some nutrim.nt
and if it cannot feast in the elevated re.
glons OF science or enterprise, it will
sieze with avidity on the lower object
within Its grasp; and in its ravenoB
hunger will Craze the poisons with tie
verdure OF the plain. Hence fema,s /
are noted for their extreme suscentibi-
ty 10 the impressions of love and p.ef
and the passions generally; and heice,
more particularly to our purpose, kavej
they generally been characterized as the
vehicles OF SANDER; and hence ola maids
cap the climax of this vice by having less
occupation than the wife and the mother.
In cities where there is full scope for
the mind to expand in; where an in
Vulnerable variety of objects perpetual
ly obtrude themselves on the attention,
even the most rude have little time to at
tend to the private concerns oe their
nelghbors indeed the names of next
door residents are frequently unknown
to each other. The mind of the merchant
is wholly engrossed by purchases, sales,
shipping, &c. and the foreign or domes-
tic news relating to them. The profess
sional or scientific man has a field to
tread in, too expansive to admit of his,
casting single look into the pryacies
OF domestic life. In smaller towns/a
cursory acquaintance with some promi-
nent circumstances will furnish a mo-
mentary topic oil conversation, but soon
becomes merged in more general sub.
jects. But in villages, where less bust.
ness and less intelligence exist, tie pri-
vate affairs OF some principal person be-
come the necessary food for mental ex-
istence. If the name of Alexander has
not visited the babbling circle, thai of the
Judge or Schoolmaster must occupy its
place. For want of Chalmers and Phil
lips, the Parson and the LAWYER must be
arraigned before the august asselnblage
at tea party or tavern-and found gull
~; and as Davy will not appear the
chemist (apothecary,) mus, be analyzed,
and as Cooper stays at home, the surgeon
(doctor) must be dissected without hope
and without mercy. In proportion to
the scantiness population, and the re-
moteness OF the settlement, will the op-
portunities for information and converse
ton Oh general subjects be limited, and
hence local circumstances will furnish
the principal subject matter of frontier
settlement, and with them the evils we
deplore will exist IL their greatest de-
gree.
There is one circumstance not un-
worthy of remark, viz. that the more
scattered the population, the more do
men perform the Offices of tattlers, and
the less are womensubject to that charac-
ter. The women have not the same OPP
portunities Of congreg eating that they
formerly enjoyed, nor do they possess
the same disposition on account of fe-
male pride not having the same oppor-
tuni,y of qualification in the display Of do
nestle comforts and decorations their
duties, too, from the want of many do
mestic facilities, have become more la
borious, exercise more time, and call
more mental ingenuity and energy into
action. Men on the contrary, having not
the daily interviews with each other
which are the constant result of popu-
lous settlement, feel very forcibIy their
comparative seclusion from the world
and its news, and therefore long for the
hustle of a muster or a court 10 remind
them of the times that are past. A visit
to mill or store, furnishes, in lesser
degree, the same species of enjoyment;
and at such places of coming together,
for want OF their former resources, they
eagerly impart and receive the topics
that were formerly the share of the wo-
men. Furnished with an hours CONVEX
sation at home by the result of that days
ride of 90 or so miles, he may the next
day, in neighborbeod of so miles dis
lance in an opposite direction, amuse his
inquiring auditors for news, with the To-
cal circumstances and scandal of yester-
day; and bring back all belonging to
them in return.
In this way. the quarrels, the business,
and every circumstance connected with
few individuals, are carried from one
extremity of the state to another; and
the diffusion of SANDER is thus accom-
plished with an energy always proper
Toned to the badness OF the cause. "1n
very populous states the sphere of alter
cation is very limited, and on account Of
distance, constant residence, and long &C.
quaintance, the opportunities therefore
of preventing and correcting misrepre-
sensations are much greater; here, on
tho contrary, individuals froln every por-
ton ola state, are correctly or incorrect
ly, made acquainted with circumstances
connected with some of its most distant
members falsehood flies every where
more readily than truth, but the oppor-
tnnitu of rehuttinp il which is enioYed in