New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1873-08-18
TOWN OR COUNTRY9


the pent-up city goes inland to investigate
and, if he can, to enjoy the peculiarities OF the
rural districts. He sees the hay cut and the
cows MIXED; he sleeps perhaps in stubby
little room upon a murderous and smotherlng
feather bed he lives upon salt meat and
badly cooked vegetables, and is laughed at or
pited for his depraved taste if he does not
devour them with the appetite of plow-
man. He fancies that he is extremely happy
but none the less is he delighted to get back
to his cool, perfectly and comfortable
house and to exchange the solitude OF green
leaves for the hustle of Broadway. Two men
could not be more differently constituted than
Dr. Johnson and Charles Lamb, yet they
agreed in thinking London to be the true
Paradise From one point of view they were
right. Whatever may be the disadvantages
of the city, it is usually a concentration OF
the conveniences of life while there are
simple as well as creditable tastes which III
the country it is almost impossible to gratlfy'
at least without inOrdlnate trouble and ex-
pense. Some Of these tastes, it is true, are
artificial, and yet, by long use, they have
become secondarily natural, and are not
to be lightly disregarded. The poet said
prettily enough that "GOd made the coun-
"try.n Yet, in spite of the antithesis, it Is
equally true that God made the town; nor
is it to be supposed that all the blessings Of
Providence stop with the grassy fields and
the cabbage gardens. 1t is in the city that the
man who has money, much or little, to spend
can spend it according to his tastes;-can buy
books, pictures, handsome raiment, and be
nice and curious in his diet. 1t is in the city
that he can see what it is quite out of his
power to purchase can at cheap rate
enter the galleries and carry away
memories of the best works of
art can hear music and refresh himself
with the best presentations Of the stage; can
always get a newspaper-THE TRIBUNE for in
stance-when he wants one; can command
service when there is.need of it, and, above
all, through the competition of tradesmen, can
lay out his money to the best advantage. He
does not grow stagnant, lumpish, and somnO-
lent, for he is kept upon the Qui riue by con-
| slant contact with his neighbOrs and by fresh
reports coming almost hourly, through post or
| telegraph, from all parts of the world. These
| are the things which the city-bred man misses,
when he goes into Summer retreats,
and their want to him is real one. He
! misses also the artificial manners of the town
| the suavty, the comfy, and the simulated de-
| ference to which he has been accustomed, and
which, however wanting in sincerity, are not
altogether without a genuine value.
| On the other hand, there is great deal to
| be said for the country. Rural life now is not
| at all as it is painted by Theocritus and Bon,
by Virgil, or by the English imitatOrs of the
| ancients. All tho conventional pOetical as
meets seem to have gone out with the sheep
| TO have disappeared with the shepherds play
ing upon oaten pipes for the amusement of
| blushing maidens in short petticoats. The
| bucolic joys of Greek or Italian farm are as
dead as the minstrels who sang of them-they
| are inconsistent with steam reapers and APP
piled chemistry. Damon and Alexis would
| not be very useful in picking up stones in
Massachusetts, meadow. Daphne and Della
would be very much in the way In Vermont
dairy. We have sweet and fond traditions of
the golden age of rustic innocence, but we
have quite Outlived the buttermilk enjoyments
| of the eclogue and the bucolic. Still, even in
these days., degenerate or regenerate, but,
| in either case, days of the railway
and the telegraph and the newspaper, the
country keeps something of its genuine value.
| A paragraph before us thus sums up the
| merits of hamlet in New Hampshire /:
Thrift and prosperity are noticeable in -;
"rum is scarce, land good, women pretty. and
farmers happy" We are glad to hear so
good a report of the rum - the gay viii
layers encountered by Horace upon his jour
ney, literally up TO their eyes in the joys of
the vintage, would have made frightfu faces
at the modern tipple of some OF our hay
makers. Pretty women are pretty anywhere !;
aud if we can tind be- uncontaminated by the