Loudon free press. (Loudon, Tenn.) 1852-1855, 1854-08-23


De- OR W is a physicion residing
three or four miles from manufacturing city
not far from this. He has an extensive and IT,
crative ride, and for twenty years has prescrib-
ed for the physical ailments of his neighbors
and townsmen. A generation have been born
and passed away since he, young man. nailed
'hs shingle' over the door and waited for his
first patient a family of children have been
added to his household, and his eldest son, ar
rived at his majority cultivates fine farm near
his father. The DR.. is accounted a wealthy
man by his neighb6rs, who estimate his real es-
tate and money ia bonds and mortgage at from
ten to fifteen thousand dollars. lie resides in
neat house, and carries on a small farm, the
products of which support his family, allowing
him to invest allthe income arising from his
practice. There is every appearance of com
fort about his residence, and gentlemen from
the city, as they drive past, envy him the quiet
independence which they are sure he must en-
joy.
But the DR.. is not contented. He reckons
his farm care he would gladly be rid of. He
is tired Of his drives about the country, and
covets a city practice. 1t would be so much
easier, he says, to attend to patients residing
within mile or two of each ether. Compared
with physicians, who roll over the pavement in
easy moving phatons, he regards his position
as slavish one. Ia the course of a conversa-
ton with him not long since, of an enumeration
of his hardships, he said, II have one consola
tion,-my lab6rs will soon be over-I an al
most rich enough to Ire IN the cityi" We ex-
pressed our surprise that he should think of ex-
changing his pleasant country home for nor
row house, his broad acres for seven-by-nine
plat of land, the bracing air, the shade Of his
trees, and the perfume Of his flowers, for the
close atmosphere, The shelter of brick walls,
and the doubtful odors of a city. We spoke of
the advantages of his present situation,-how
much more productive the same amount Of cap
ital was in the coantry than in the city-how
much more healthy his Children were and how
much better their prospects for life would be if
happiness he could hope to enjoy amid the
trees his hands had planted and the friends he
had known for so many years.
lie listened in silence, but our argument
ayaied nothing. In few years at the longest
he will sell his small farm, abandon his orchard
and garden, forsake the scene Of his profess
sional toll, and come to the city to seek rest
and enjoyment. His younger children, eduea-
ted in the city, will not have the constitutions
or the ambition they would have had on the
farm, and will make heavy demands on the
Doctors purse. After a few years, it is more
than probable that city life will become bur
den, and at a sacrifice of property, he will sell
again to return to less attractive rural home
than the one he left.
"Amost rich enough to live in this city,
There are thousands living in the city who
hope before long to be rich enough to live in the
country, who sigh for the green fields, and the
calm life of him who owns the land he tills.-
There are many city residents, spreading thou
sands of dollars every year, who might be more
happy in the country on an income of as many
hundreds. Welll this is the way of the world.
No one is exactly contented with his lot. Ev-
cry one wishes to stand in the shoes of some
body else. Every one, did we say? There are
a few persons who are rich enough to live where
they are, who would not exchange their homes
for any other the sun shines on,and whose shoes
be found, scattered here and there, engaged in
the culture of the soil, the mind, and the heart,
owing no man, envying no man, sowing their
own seed, reaping their own harvest, and find
ing the life of Country Gentlemen a perpet
ual feast Country Gentleman.