White Cloud Kansas chief. [volume] (White Cloud, Kan.) 1857-1872, 1858-04-08
Misttllalttolts,
From Life Illustrated.
THE WEST AND WESTERN MEN.
BY U. B. SHAVER.


Very few Eastern people have a correct con
ceptiOn of Western society, or the rapid prog
ress Of the West. The exultant [" Eureka -
springs from the lips OF the selfexiled wander
er from bOyhood's Eastern home when he treads
the hOrizon-bOund prairies, or roams along the
Father of Waters or some Of its swift-roll-
inc tributaries, but it dies away unuttered as he
uinges in our society, or compares our works
Of improvement with the time in which they
have been accomplished, for then his soul is fill
ed with emotions of wonder and surprise to find
that the West is so unlike what his day-dream
iancies had painted it. The prairie with its rich
soil and prOfuse vegetation-a wide expanse of
Natures garden plot us like what he had
conceived. The forests, the rivers, the lakes,
the mounds-these are somewhat like his fanci-
inl ideas. But the characteristics of the people
VI The West, and the works they have perform
ed are totally unlike all that the Eastern peo-
pie have imagined. ,li1
In immigrating to the West, men have come
here not to be conquered by nature, but To make
hef laTish beauty subservient to their wants and
ASPIRATIONS. -
Therefore, in our Western homes, rudeness
and rulgarity are rarely met. The father re
members the gentle courtesy that gave such a
charm 10 the intercourse which made his earlier
years long session of almost undistursed hap.
pness; he remembers how, in his former home
The priceless boon of education raised men far
above the common level, he-IOOks forward h
s sns when his children will jostie throue
acrowded city, or dwell in a country whose ev.
cry acre of rich soil shaSl yieId ,o Industry ii.
peei reward-zapd he builds shoolshouses. pat
ronisss OOE4eilers, and introapces into Ii.
'anily all the refining influences that endear hi
memory to his old home. The mother has Els
hopes in the future Of the West, and shares her
husbands wishes, and encourages and aids him
linus rs that pleasure, comfort and intelligence
Tree perhaps, from any of the restraints o
Z. most invariably TO be found n
Western homes. - -
In Western life the trials ana obstacles bcfor,
" carly settlers arouse his dormant energies
an ne becomes active and persevering. Natur'
eP'Es ms toll with abundant harvests, and BIZ
"e4r' warns with graiituaes and grove grea
',n generous impulses. Around him are cities
images and farm houses, built up with rapid
:, " 0vslfns the fabulous wonders of the "a Ara
o'an Nights and he drinks large draughts o
me spirit of enterprise which does all this. H,
sees men whom he knew in the East as onlr
=, ,oou'es'" aspiring to be " somebodies - Il
h. y est-heading the van Of political parties
= ''s debating in the councils Of the people, O
.'sOroOsly labOring to advance new and gigan
eh'erprises-and he forms A more exalte,
- correct estimate of mankind; perhaps h,
s.i ambitious, too, and enaeavoss himself t
Ie leader instead Of a.fOllewss. He tin
'''a us own hands more than his fathers owned
gathers larger crops than they did; he ha
'sa'er antieipatiOns of the future; and all NJ
80 impulses, and sentiments, in proportion
tn. eu and enlarged. And thus it is that Yves
H ~rn people become, in the extreme. energetic
sFins, ambitions and generous. -