The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1845-02-10
" G DING W est"

Our yankees almost insane in their yat sion
for worlds us ever Alexander was willtnu, in
fact the merit which he might boast OF having ycl con
quered the old While the very great proportion Of our
settled territory is yet in the infancy of the arts Of
life, feeble in political strength, oppressed with tho
burdens Of government, aud dr.tin'o in many parts
ofeven the comforts Of civilization the people are
wandering after new lands, the wds Of the West,
the shores of the Pacific, Nebraska, Texas, the Rio
Grande, and all tlnt. We find some very judcious
remarks, on this point, in an article some time since
published in the National Tnelligencer worthy
to be repubshed at this time
The remarks Of Col. Taylor hold as true applied
TO Vermont TO Virginia. The same labor expend.
ed the old lands Of this State, as is required TO
clear and fence the lands OF the West, would
make them vauab!e-the products Of the year on
the Vermont farm would sell for 5 much money rs
the products Of the number Of oCWesern
lands. The writer SAYS
"l'o confess that the oldest part OF our conn
try yet seems TOO young. We want more, and not
less Of what an ad nnced society besows. As there
can, in the fluctuations OF population, be but little
refinement, little of the better and softer judgments
of life and little Of secure social order or public
liberty, where every mans house is on Wheels and
each family may, at a weeks notice, trundIe itself
off where it will never he heard Of again, wo would
gladly were it possible people tied to their birth
places that the grave Of their Joreathers may al times
Gdmonish them; would have them live upon the
old homestead, that they may Improve it, and under
the same laws, that they may be forced to see that
they good
At present. the very freedom which is our only
compensation for the absence of wha, more fixed aud
cultivated communities is b,,
this want oral cohesion among the parts Of our soci-
ETY.. Where the very foundations of civic life are
thus loose, the Government itseIrcan be good no
any longer much caring what it is so that il he
can serve his individual selfshness by inurng it, he
is ready. Where The lies ofhome and kiadrei are so
trcak that Of country, ,chich is but an enlargement
Of them, can hare no force No settled opinions grow
up,no permanent feelings formed; nothing is dear
nothing isssucred but selfshness, and nothing sure
but confusion and the love of chunge.
These are truths which the attention Of the coun-
Try has not been directed because they do no; auer
it, they do not profit those who tell them 1t is easier
and safer to magnify the fancy Of the day. however
Wild to run with the prevailing humor, however
mistaken, and 10 sing the wonders of each new Land
Of Promise exactly If the strain had not been
chnnted Of each successive paradise that land specu
luaon has opened, and us f,when men got to il they
would not still have to do just what may be usually
done without budging as if in it they were not to
be quite much poorer in nearly all the better things
OF life richer in wild lands.
After all, it strikes US that TO the most selfish
view only, it is worth while to be a member Of an
elderly community, where one has sprung into life
and has around him all his native affections, all the
instructive feelings that he cannot transplant 10 wag.
gon to "A strange and savage region, TO which are
gathering people that he has and no small
part Of who only fit to be dreaded. Half ones
possessions and nearly all ones attachments are to Do
sacrificed in merely Ceiling 10 The neV and remote
home There,ong privatons of every sort await one,
and Iabors, which, employed the spo, he has left,
would probably have made equally rich. Col Tay-
lor Of Caroline, Va, who taught agriculture TO his
region of Virginia ncucuted always along with il the
idea that 'any might make his faFm rich as a
Western Nth the time, SELF Denial and TOLL
that ne,c settlement costs; for that manuriag an old
soil is as cheap as clearing and improving neu
one . '' ..' .."'..". .-'. '."