The Portland daily press., 1865-10-17
Distance Lends Hnchantment.

Campbell, in his introduction to the "Pleas-
ures of Hope" thus alludes to that passion in
human nature which looks to some place 9th
-er than home, and to some time rather than
| the present, for happiness:
I cat summer eye when heavens aerial bow
Spans with bright arch the glittering hills below,
| Why to yon mountain turns the musing eye,
| Whose cloud-capped summit mingles with the sky?
Why do yon cliifs Of shadowy tints appear N
More sweet than all the landscapes shining near?
tbs distance lends cnchantment to the view, ~
And robes the mountain with its azure hue, 4 !
Thus, with delight we lnger to survey
The promised joys Of life's unmeasured way;
Then from afar, each dim discovered scene
More pleasing seems than all the past hath been
And every form that fancy can repair III
From dark oblivion CLOVIS divinely fair" -
1t may be an infrmity, and yet, on the
whole, it is beneftto the world, that men
are so dissatisfied with the present and so hope
ful of the future. They sometimes, indeed,
make themselves miserable by an indulgence
in the spirit of discomfort, but hope isthe great
motive Of enterprise which has moved therace
ever onward and upward. In its hurried prog
ress it has, indeed, run over and crushed many
a fallen body on the way; but victories every
where are obtained by sacrifices or slaughter
The poor soldier who dies in battle, though he
loses his all of life, contributes to the glory of
his country.
The hard working New Englander sees in
the far off West, a land Of ease and plenty
The earth produces spontaneously, and with
comparatively little sssweat of the face,' he
can eat his DEMONSTRATING bread. i He can no
longe- tolerate the rigors of our "down east''
climate, or the sterility OF our rocky soil; and
SO he packs up alland emigrates to the valley of
the Mississippi. He is quite sure there he shall
find no evils equal to those that had made him
so disconnected with home. But he forgets,
or never knew, that the glory Of a country
consists not in the fertility ofits SOIL There are
other things of vastly more Importance to the
welfare Of individuals and society at large. The
blessings, amidst which he was born and rear
ed, and which are overlooked and undervalued
because of their very commonness, and long
familiarity, are not appreciated or missed till
he Is deprived of them. He forsakes them all
for afancied good. lHaa
There is not happier or more independent
people on the globe than is to be found in
New England, cold as is her climate and ster-
lie as may be her soil. She has commerce and
manufactures playing directly into the lap of
agriculture, and her farmers live better than
the farmers of any other great section of the
American Union. Their farms are better
fenced; their barns are more ample and conve-
nient; their houses more comfortable and beau
tiful; their yards and gardens are more orna-
mental; their neighborhoods are more akin
and sympathizing; their children are better
schooled; their means of intellectual, moral
and religious culture are more accessible and
efficient than pertain to the condition of any
other part of this vast continent. But whilst
living amidst these blessings, we do not appre-
clate them, till, removed to a distant land.
amongst strangers and alien blood-amonest
foreigners Of uncongenial habits, customs, SYM
pathies and language from our own-we then
begin to realize what we have lost, and to dis
cover what we have not gained.
A gentleman of my neighborhood who went
to Michigan some years ago, and settled on
the rich prairies of the Peninsular State, re-
turned to Maine the past summer, in the de-
sire tospend the remainder of his days amongst
institutions which were worth more to him
thai the difference between the soil of the Ken
nebec valley and the prairies of the West
Meeting with friend who was anxious to as
certain the real condition of things in that
country, he replied as follows:
"Sir, the sun never shone on more glorious
land-it is as rich and as beautiful as you can
web conceive; and yet, for all this, it is not
worth living IMP 3
@Why not P"y
There is, neither wood nor water there;
and l have no desire to live in country where
after arise in the morning, / may have to
go out OF the doors to kill lot of
mathematics or copperheads, that are
coiled under the steps, before it is safe to
allow the children or other members of the
family to emerge from the domicil." ID.
We may call these small evils; to us here,
In the distance, who never realized the want
Of water and good fencing-stuiT, and who have
not the venomous reptiles and yermin at our
doors and In our sleeping rooms, such things
may not appear very forbidding; but place us
amongt them, and we shall then relaize where
and what we are.
In most Of the great West the water Is bad;
thee hIIls and fevers prevail, and the state ofsO-
ciety can but be unsympathizing and rude. A
gentleman who removed his family last Au-
tumn 20 Minnesota, and who returned last
wsck, Glad 70 ga back 10 Kennrhec once more,
remarked 10 us, that n a man had zen thou
and doilars tooarry with him, be mighf locate
himself On q prairie, and aG6nd 10 &C. thirty
asiles ioT star viii which % make bis fences
his dwelling house, his oaibulldings &c.; bat
.hea. be Adted, q be bal fhe zen thousand
ieiiars o s'Art uith, b. eauld. win than ample
sam, secure . better hasne in New England
and hsc marc ooafsrsahly hess than there
The elzse ~ fhas coanssy has been and Is,
sha army 81 apecsalai0rs whose operations 81
fAaid are sysiemaiic aud Fainoua. Indeed this
= tiAe 40 general character u lhr country
rhings have such q tendency, that there can
- oniy Two ciAsse4--the yeFy rich aud thc very
,oof Ne miiidiing Interest. which IS ueeessafy
- sustain any country ean act, ioF generations
n clpla, - stfung AID healthy ~ The West
here m New England, the mIddling Interest
pfesails We have lev very rich men, and
seer really Door ones. The prayer Of Aglr
= iel1iied la cur behalf; give me neither pow
etty NOT riches." The ~solden mean" Is as
-a,t NE boon Of New England a. Of any part
=. siie civilized world. True, some men win,
49, ~ ao improve their condition BY going out
sl,,s.. s- 9, uAen loo would improve their con-
-. they remained amongst us AS many
~ Course o. year get decenfly rich In
-..ane ~ "a Illinois or in California. Fortunes
A's n'"oe here and as Ofsen, as there.