Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1874-05-18
THE TOWNS AND CITIES9
HOW TO PREVENT 1T.

the cities, are always doing good work,
the value of which can hardly be over
estimated. in warning the youth of coun-
try homes of the risk they run in rush.
ing to towns, and especially large cities,
where they too often have to exc out
miserable existence. or suffer absolute
want
By way of preventing calamity, it
is we'll to look at its cause Now, what
is the attraction to young men in the
large cities They are simply dazzled
and bewildered by what they see and
hear. Dress is one of the first things
that attracts and secures attention; then
comes all the fascination of places of
amusement, and the possibility of great
wealth, which so few, after all, win.
These things contrast strikingly with
the life of many country homes, where
young men and young women (who, till
experience teaches them, can see only
the bright side of city life are mere
drudges -'hewers of wood and drawers
of water" Yes, We say drudges, whose
lives are no better than that of the poor
est dray-horse.
Now, it won't do for Press and Pulpit
to preach to such people that their con-
ditlon will be injured by coming to the
cities for in fact with some of them it
is much improved: yet, it is well known
that the youth of the country have rush
ed to the cities till various kinds of
trades and professions seem likely to be
overcrowded, and hence come want, "pov-
erty, hunger and dirt" suicide, and 9th
er crimes too horrible to mention. The
reader may now naturally ask, What is
the remedy ? The answer is simple
enough. Let home be made attractive
by culture of mind and heart, as we'll as
soil. Daily and steady toll, without any
relaxation, breaks down body and mind.
| But it will be said we have to work like
slaves to live. No doubt, many starting
with little if any capital in new coun-
try, have hard work and great privations
to undergo, which unfit their minds for
effort but there are the winter evenings
when the farmer and his family surround
their own fireside to cultivate the affec-
tions and improve the mind. Health,
temperance and well-directed industry,
soon secure to even the poorest In ouI
favored land, comfortable competency
Then by degrees, home can be made
beautiful by the proper management Of
a fruitful soil. 1t will yield not only
what is necessary to sustain life com.
fortably, but also pleasures to crafty
the most gifted minds. They, of all 9th.
ers, who till the soil, come into closest
relations with Nature. All the sciences
are more or less intimately connected
with the soil. There is no lack of fooC
for the mind or body. Thus. while W.
have not an enlightened cultivation O.
soil and mind, so long will the young
men of the country fee from the music
of nature to the cities din, to drag ou
perhaps miserable existence in the ex
acting toll of traders, who are but tn,
agents of the tillers of the soil. Let u,
have enlightened agriculture, and NOR
equal distribution of wealth must neces
sarily follow. The producer and con
sumer will then shake hands the far
mer will wear as smooth coat as tn
merchant, and be at least as we'll educa
ted and, above all, his relations vii
be directly with the Giver of all good
who never cheats his children thus hi
{ home will be enriched, and made happ
and beautiful.
If all this be true of those with littl
means, how much more quickly can
be reached by those who are better off
; Many hard-handed farmer has hi
land all paid for, plenty of money at il
terest. and yet not only denies his fam
ly, but himself, the necessaries of lif
Such people are not the benefactors
their race. 1t is they who drive ii
young men and maidens to the cities
who rob the soil of Gods bounty, takin
, all they can get, but putting nothin
back ; and who wiring from their Of
spring their very hearts blood, and thI
> exile them from homes-if such they ca
: be called-to whittier they know no
While these hard-handed farmers squee;
out the life-blood of the young. and Gu
tivate neither mind nor soil, SO long wi
the young fee from the homes of the
fathers. Through this bright, good Ian
the home OF the weary and oppresst
of all nations-many people, especial
: in the Western and Northwestern Stat
have already not only the necessarie
but the luxuries of life~
Few, if any, till the soil intelligent
For the most part the soil is robbed, b
: a sad day of reckoning will come if tn
" thing lasts. 1t has already come to vi
: ginia, and it will come to her sIst
States, If the application of ,tset
!, k,ao,cLedge to agriculture be negiecte
> We look for better results. General c
Z ucatiOn will settle the question and
= the tiIlers of the ground will be true