Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1857-05-21
For the Yorkville Enquirer.
WHAT NExTt


WHAT NExTt
1t must have been very unpleasant task for
Dogenes to sit in his tub and sneer at everything
good, bad and Indifferent. 1t Is even unpleasant
to 'hold the mirror up" for the improvement Of
those we think wandering off into shoals and quick
sands, and attempt by gentle remonstranoe to win
them back again. But we will venture no apology
for the startling question-What Next We don't
care to be always carping on intemperance, forwe
know that many good fellows have proclivity
that way and ne would not like to hurt their feel
ings by insinuating that hell was made of good
.tellous just as truly as it is paved with good in
tentions. Besides, Intemperance is not the only
vice of the age.
A contrast for instance, between town and coun-
try life, would exhibit prevalent evils in hoth and
give the satiris an excellent opportunity for read
ing useful lesson-if listened to. It is really
amusing to hear the judgment passed upon each
other by the advocates Of town and country life.
"Impolite, il-bred, verdant!" This comprises the
bill of exceptions which the overfastidious city
coxcomb brings against the artless, unsophisti-
Gated rustic. And after all what does it mean?
By these three terms so often found on the lips Of
ezquisitss, they simply mean that the man raised
in the country is not acquainted with the formal-
ties of etiquettc-that he cannot enter drawing
room in certain prescribed manner, and that he
understands not the ,uapiter in modo Of dangling
n graceful rattan, or, of repeating for the thous-
andth time some stereotype bon mot or stale COM
pliment of Chesterfeds. And this is the entire
sum and substance of the charge. They mistake
simplicity of manners and genuine. unaffected
feeling, for ill-breedlng, and seek to wrap the
whole world in the stiff formalities which reduce
them to mere mechanical beings. When we do
the countrymnn justice this is his most commen-
dable quality-the chief beauty of country man
ners and life
More serious charges can be brought to his
door, In the first place from being secluded from
the world, he is apt to become narrow and con-
tracted in his views, If he does not take paper
and cannot borrow one, he finally becomes so far
benighted as to be perfectly uncompanionable.-
A bountiful supply of assurance-the irons ur-
6anus of Horace-and certain amount of polish
a portion of the benefcent gift Of the boot
black-is oil that is necessary to make respecta-
BILE appearance in town. In fact the whole myste-
ry of town life consists in keeping up appearances
But in the country the case is different.
Books and information are absolutely necessary
to the farmer, supplying as they do, the place Of
company, beguiling the tedium of leisure hours
aud giving zest to the long winter nights, which
the coxcomb spends at the theatre or at some
other respectable place. True, the rustic can live
after manner, without information, but there is
wide difference between the happiness of the
man, whose cultivated mind contemplates, in the
spirit of philosophy, the various phenomena of
nature around him, and of the dr!l clodpate who
goes on in incorrigible stupidity, failing to draw
one useful lesson from the flowers that spring be-
side his path, and from the brook that murmurs by
exists. We're education not neglected, country
life offers the stronger inducements to the man
who desires to live, morally, happily and socially.
We say socially, because it is difficult to conceive
of more unsocal state than the daily routine Of
dull formalites in town. Everything is stiff and
affected-if you make a call of ten minutes an
hour must be spent at the eti-you ore ushered
into parlor finely furnished perhaps. yet cheer
less and comfortless ;-instead Of neighborly chit
chat or matter of fact conversation, the evening
passes away in frivolous inanities, diversified oc-
casionally with delightful strains on the we'll
thumped piano.
But even this faint attempt Mt sociability is
confined to small portion of the population of
cities and towns. Chilling formalites freeze up
all that flow of social feelings which renders home
so attractive, and in the midst of the noise,
the dust from flying carriage wheels, and the cease
less uproar and confusion on every hand, the heart
sighs for companonship, and turns from the ex-
ternatics of fashionable life to the artless feel
ings and sympathy of rural society. The virtues
some times found in the country are very rarely
to be met with in the poisoned atmosphere Of the
city. You will find limitations of all the virtues
and blessings of life; of charity, benevolence,
friendship, religion. But like
the cxotics to be found in the t.house, they
of little service and refresh not the SOUL like the
natural verdure of the woodlands, or the flowers
of the meadow. JUNlUs.
Italian onJ Nav IN 1877