Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1868-12-09

come. Then comes the struggle for years,
with hope deferred. plans frustrated, the
comsummation indefinitely postponed or
| if in moment of desperation or imporvi-
/ dence he marries, there comes perhaps a
.Aife-long struggle with poverty, the dream
! of an independent home exchanged for the
discomforts of clearinghouse life, or the
domestic and social priyations OF the " ten
ement-house," with a toiling wife. who
often pines for the freedom of the old
homestead, and puny children who never
taste the wholesome air of the open fields.
We draw this picture from scores of such
cases that have come under our personal
observation in the study of city life for
/ thirty wears; and when we contrast these
dwarfed and disappointed lives with the
/ free, tidy, and CHEEKY homes of the country.
where hard toll is blessed with ruddy
health and decent competence, where
bread and shelter are sure, and where all
the gentle and beautiful associations OF the
homestead cluster about the growing taml-
/ ", we feel how sad q mistake many
Young man has made in forsaking the soil
for the shop.
This contrast is most telling in the case
of mechanics and artisans, who have to
struggle with high rents and high prices,
and the irregularity of employment. Com
pelled to live at a distance from their
work, and often in narrow quarters and
soualid neighborhood, they can know little
/ of the comfort Of home or the enjoyment
of domestic life in comparison with the
/ farmer. who at his busiest hours is seldom
out of call Of his house, and whose wife
/ and children have the constant privilege
of pure air, and the security and privacy
of an independent homestead.
Nor would we yield the palm to the
city in social and literary attractions
wherein its superiority to the country Is
accepted by many as a thing OF course
/ That the city affords opportunities for
social selection and literary intercourse
which cannot be had in the country is an
obvious advantage of such an aggregation
Of numbers and wealth as a city secures.
All that the country affords IN these res
poets the city has more abundantiy, with
the further advantage that here one may
find in social and literary circles the best
of the best, and also that peculiar tone OF
refinement and culture which is like the
last polish Of the diamond when, through
the attrition of diamond dust, its surface
has been ground to the finest. Here are
gathered the leaders in every profession,
the authors, the scientists, the artists, and
here, too, are men of wealth and leisure,
who have made the city their homes tor
the advantage of culture, and who give to
its society the benefit of their own taste
and travel. But while such precedence
in society and culture is thus freely con-
ceded to the city, there are two consldera-
tions which greatly modify the charm OF
all this for one VINO is tempted to forsake e
the country for city life One of these IS
that the choicest social and literary adVan-
tages OF the city are within the reach of
very few, and to count upon these as an
inducement for resorting to the city Is q
little like counting upon becoming mil
lionnaire. Society in the higher circles
holds itself very strictly upon its own
terms.
The other consideration, arising out OF
this, is that in the acreage Of social and
; literary attractions the city is not at all
: superior to the country, and that one may
rise to a relatively higher sphere of in
fuence, culture, and enjoyment in the
country than in the city. Literature il
the form of books and periodicals. informa
ton in the form of newspapers, instructor
{ and entertainment in the form of lectures
are SO widely diffused, that their advan
tages are pretty well equalized in city and
country. while an occasional visit to tht
, city enables one to profit by exhibition OF
: art, concerts, and other means of culture
; which pertain rather TO city life.
: But in the country one who devotes hi
$ leisure, especially the long CHEEKY winte
evenings, to social and literary improve
: ment, who has his few choice books ant
engravings for the domestic circle, hi
I choice friends for mutual improvement
; who takes an interest in educational mat
ters for his district, in agricultural associa
| tions for his county, in the general i'm
f provement of society, will presently fin'
F that his influence extends to no mean circl
e of affairs, and that while he himself
e growing in knowledge, he is growing int
more of social consideration and more c
t character and position with the public tha
d he could ever hope to attain to IN the vas
e population of the city.
r Here comes in consideration of tn
d greatest weight in the estimate of sue
d cessful life,-the formation of eharaete
II that men will respect, which is ones mora
:. capital in the community, the measure c
d all other values, the true source of IL
e fuence In his own generation. and the bes
a legacy he can .bequeath to his children. l
r the city has attractions, ii has temptation
C also if it has advantages, it has perils
IS if it has facilities for success in business
o it has equal and even greater facilities 70
,. the destruction of health, character an
It happiness Here vice employs her mos
t seductive and most fatal arts here amuse
e ments, that should make one the healthie
S and purer by their innocent diversions. ar
d often framed with reference to the sensua
l. passions, and, instead of quickening th
e generous pulses of the SOUL consume me
? with the fever Of their lusts; here th
It gambler, assuming the guise of friendshi
/ and the manners of a gentleman, watche
Y to decoy some over-curious, over-confdin
!. victim here the saloon, made gay an
Il gorgeous with the decorative arts, an
Y offering the most inviting lounge, lures t
i drinks that poison the blood and madde
It the brain; here woman plies her practise
If arts to reduce others to the degradation t
n which she herself has fallen and to thes
n multiform temptations must be added tha
e magnetic tone of pleasurable excitement i
n the very atmosphere of city life, tha
makes it easy to suppress ones moral cor
# victions, and to follow the multitude
o doing evil. No young man can assur
i der these various, CONSTANT and excitin