Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1867-08-09
EASTERN Ignorance of the
West.

y
"I should think she'd better school
her children first,n curtly said a good
old fashioned lady not long since, as
she was told that friends--was about
to remove from n staid old Massachus-
etts neighborhood, to the State of Ohio.
In her idea of the West, this good
old lady may be taken as the type of
large class of eastern people, includ-
norant, but the tolerably we'll educated
and well to do. A western man re-
turning to visit his friends of by gone
days, Is astonished and amused at the
questions asked concerning the land
of his adoption, and the erroneous
ideas, or the nc ideas, entertained In
regard to its extent, fertility, population
and general developement. He must
labor hard to convince them that the
settlers are not in constant danger from
bloodthirsty Indians or that every
tuft of grass does not conceal Blue RAJ
GERS or Rattlesnakes, and that the
dreaded fever and ague and "milk
sickness do not lurk i'm every pool,
and lurl< in every dew-drop. 1t seems
not hardly possible that otherwise gen.
orally intelligent men and women of a
section so intimately connected with
another by commercial intercourse,
and the ties of blood and friendship, as
the East Is with the West, should re-
ally be possessed with 80 much igno-
rance concerning IL.
We should not allude to this state of
affairs, at this time, but for its recent
acknowledgment in two high places
at the East. and prominent evidence OF
1t in O third. Ila in4 ~
i The editor of the horticultural, IN.
W In recent number of that period
zeal, devotes his leading articles to the
subject endeavoring to correct the erron-
eous estimation i'm which our section OF
country is held, and enlightened his
readers as to its true magnitude and
Importance in every point of view.
Theodore Tilton, of the New York
Independent, who has lately concluded
a lecturing tour of the Western States,
pays, upon his return home, through
his widely circulated journal, q most
eloquent and glowing tribute to the
West, bringing 1t in striking, and far
from unfavorablc contrast with the
middle of New England States. Lis.
ten to him, as he says:
IA trip of four thousand miles
through the heart of the West awakens
o kindling thought of the greatness OF
the Republic. The West Is the Em-
pire; a fact acknowledged ut the East,
because the East knows not the West.
But an impartial traveller soon per-
ceives that the East Is not the country.
New York and New England are but
the thumb and foreflner; the West is
the rest Of the hand.
A western visit in summer Is best for
seeing the country; winter, best for
seeing the people. And are they not
the heartiest, friendliest, most hospita-
BILE of the human race? What a
Scotch welcome may be. we know
not; but If better than O western well
come, it Is better than plain man de-
serves. Jostle westerner I'm the street,
and at once you are acquain tances !;
meet him the next day, and you are
old friends. A shake of the hand in
the West has more grip in 1t than be-
tween New York and Bangor. Child
of the East, the West Is the chief crown
of the parent. The universal New
England element westward is not only
the best part of the West, but the best
part of New England; for only the
courageous, the energetic, and the con-
qnering have had the will to quit East
ern homes for Western prairies. Thus
the early Pilgrims of New England
have their truest sons I'm the latter Pill
grims from New England. A Yankee,
therefore, does not come to his fullest
stature i'm Yankeeland the grown
Yankee Is the westcrner. At the East
he IL a geranium In pot thrifty and
prime; ut the West, a geranium in q
garden, where he grows rank, exuber-
ant, and generous. New coun tries
greaten mems souls.
Docs the West seek heraldic sign :?
Let it choose shock of corn. o boun-
teous land of small houses and big
barns! So fertile is the Great Valley
that, rs Gcrrold said of Australia, aonly
tickle the earth with hoe, aud she
laughs with harvcsty' Though
beaten down from their full height by
SHOWS, cornstalks are yet standing I'm
January so high that one riding among
them on tall horse, and rising I'm the
stirrups, cannot touch the tops! The
commonplace, sad and sub
Iime--are the garden Of the world!
May they ever make farmers rich, and
cattle fat!
Western churches, Sunday-schools,
md day schools thrive like saplings.
An eastern man, hearing habitually Of
western churches as "feeble,n seldom
hears of any as being strong. And yet
many, like young lions shake their
ocks for very strength. In st. Louis,
IN single Sunday we saw two church
iebts killed, each ut a stroke--a Meth
,dist Church paying $4,000, and q
Presbyterian 100000. No other city I'm
he Union cancelled $45, 900 of church
1ebt on that day. The largest Sunday
school I'm America, judging by attend
lnce, not the roll list. is west of the
Mississippi-founded hy Brig. Gen.
Fisk, who equally well commands an
army, administers o department., or
conducts children's meeting. In Chi
ago, a mission school, originating i'm a
.ailr0ad car, Is now larger than any in
New York. And the largest depository
,f Sunday School books Ia neither in
nor New York but Chica-
20. OF two millions of population I'm
illinois, half million are IN day
,chools-a larger population Of school
going children than In Connecticut or
~
After Robert Morris had proved for
the truth of Ten Acres Enough, 2
md so charmingly told us OF It., what n
pity it is that he, so facile, interesting
anu Instructive writer, before attempt
ng to tell How to get farm, and
where to find one,n had not turned his
'eet westward, and better informed
of what actually exists In this
western empire, and come to a full re-
llization Of its progress, its present and
greatness. Had he done so
We are sure that neither 1.-THE Wild
Lands of New Jersey 1.-the neglected
Lands of Delaware nor the "Long
Island Barrens," would have been giy-
IN more pages In his book than the
'ntirc great West; neither would. lie
rave been dependent on the circulars
II the Land Department on the Illinois
CENTRAL Railroad Company for the
,reater share of the information about
be country that he seems to possess.
But this ignorance at the East.that
We now depIore must pass away under
he potent agencies that are now at
work. The press and the railroads ara