Grand River times. [volume] (Grand Haven, Mich.) 1851-18??, 1857-05-06
For the Grand River Times.
WESTERN VILLAGE.


the frontiers of civilization, had variety of
elements in its composition. There was some
of the piety, and large share of the intell-
gence of New England. You found there
the industrious Scotchman, the frank, jovial
Irishman, and the plodding Dutchman; but
the preponderance of wealth, and enterprise,
and intelligence, was American. The COM
mingling Of all these elements could not help
but give some degree of roughness to the
popular surface; but this, like the variety of
colors in picture, or the diversified scenery
of an extended landscape, without destroying
the beauty of the moral picture, only pre-
sented it to the minds eye in more prom-
nent though shaded outline.
Josephus was devout admirer of nature;
he loved to contemplate her in her rough un-
dress. The mountain with its rugged, frown-
ing brow, the undulatng forest, untouched
by the hands of the axman, the meandering
brook, the roaring waterfall, the horizon
bounded prairie, and even the lonely, dis
NAL swamp, had for him, not merely charms,
but zest, poetry, which struck chord,
down deep in his emotional nature. Nor did
he less love to contemplate man in the varied
phases of society. He had been abroad, he
had been educated in one of the first Euro
pean Universities-he had seen life in its diff
ferent aspects, amid the polished as well as
the unrefned classes of different countries of
Europe-he had travelled through several
States of the Union, and for some years pre-
viously to the date of our narrative, had been
tumbled about over different fields of western
society-and all this gave an openness to his
manners, frankness and freeness to his exte-
rior, which, to the inexperienced mind, would
have led to the suppostion that he had new
er been beyond the bounds of western civ
ilization-that like Topsy, he had "grow'd
up" there-that instead of being an exotic,
he was indigenous to the soil. Yet there
was a little something in his enunciation, and
even in the dress in which he clothed his
thoughts that bespoke the foreigner, and at
the same time told of mind not left uucul-
tivated.
Who that has tried it but will freely adj
NIT that there is something very pleasing in
Western life, and manners-and to the man
who has not tried it, we are ready to extend
our pity-we say to such man, you do not
yet know men and things; your education is
unfinished; you are not yet of age; the law
should appoint you guardian; you are unfit
to be trusted with the proper management of
your own affairs. Come ont West, and we
will show you how to spend money to advan-
tage-and if that be your main object, we
will teach you how to earn it, too, and that,
surely, is worth something, even although we
do shave you contoundedly in the operation.
We are not sure but that the Eastern Cole
ges should make it a part Of their course for
their students to spend at least three months
in every year in some remote western village;
they should know something Of men as we'll
40 oOoho. We uOilONS, CoPCSlaiiy, ohlo "ouiu
be Of immense advantage to students for the
ministry. We could tell of some numbering
villages where few months sojourn would
do good-provided they would keep them
selves free of the disease called money mania
"a disease which is remarkably infectious,
and to most minds is by no means considered
dangerous-still, others haye great doubts
on the subject. A very old medical author
ay, of great value, for tho soundness Of its
opinions, declares that this very disease is
"Me root Of all evil." 1t is peculiar to this
disease that its attacks are entirely upon the
interior of the man; it works by slow and
imperceptible degrees until the whole vitals
are destroyed; and strange, too, the man
himself does not perceive this. You may
see him busly engaged in his every day du-
ties; he may seem as we'll as usual, but you
examine him inwardly-you will find the
whole interior eaten up with the disease
there is not vestige of his heart left; and
there he goes a walking mummy Invested of
intestines. Now, could our young students
fortify themselves against this disease-and
we know that from the remedies laid down
in the good old book referred to, the disease