Sunbury American. [volume] (Sunbury, Pa.) 1848-1879, 1874-07-24
Miscellaneous.
CD
Why Do the Young Rush to the
Towns and Cities ?-.-HOw
to Prevent il.

why Do the Young Rush to the
Towns and Cities ?---HOw
to Prevent il.
Many newspapers, especially those of the
cities, are always doing good work, the
value (which can hardly be overestimated,
in warning the youth of country homes of
rushing to towns, and especially large
cities, where they too often have to exc ou:
miserable existence, or suffer absolute
want.
BY way of preventing calamity, it is
well 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 contrasts 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 poorest drayhorse.
Now, it won't do for Press and Pulpit to
preach to such people that their condition
will be injured by coming to the cities for
in fact with some of them it is much i'm
proved: yet, it is well known that the
youth of the country have rushed to the
cities till various kinds of trades and pro-
fessions seem likely to be overcrowded, and
hence come want, poverty, hunger and
dirt" suicide, and other crimes too horri-
ole to mention. The reader may now ma
turally ask, What is the remedyp The
answer is simple enough. Let home be
made attractive by culture of mind and
heart, rs well 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
country, have harl work and great priva-
tions To undergo, which unfit their minds
for effort but there are the winter even
ings, when the the farmer and his family
surround their own fireside TO cultivate
the affections and improve the mind.
Health, temperance and well directed in
dustry, soon secure to even the poorest in
our favored land, comfortable compe-
tence. 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 comfortably, but
also pleasures to gratify the most gifted
minds. They, of all others, who till the
soil, como into closest relations with Ma
ture. All the sciences are more or less
intimately connected with the soil. There
is no lack of food for the mind or body.
Thus, while we have not an enlightened
cultivation of soil and mind, SO long will
the young men of the country flee from the
music of nature to the cities din, to drag
out perhaps miserable existence in the
exacting toll of traders, who are but the
agents of the tillers of the soil. Let Us
have enlightened agriculture, and more
equal distribution of wealth must neces-
sarily follow. The producer and the con-
sumner will then shake hands i; the farmer
will wear as smooth a coat as the merchant,
and be at least as well educated and,
above all, his relations will be directly with
the Giver of all good, who never cheats his
children; thus his home will be enriched.
and made happy and beautiful.
If all this be true of those with little
means, how much more quickly can it be
reached by those who are better off
Many hard-handed farmer has his land
all paid for, plenty of money ut interest,
and yet not only denies his family, but
himself the necessaries of life. Such peop.e
are not the benefactors of their race. 1t
is they who drive the young men and mai
dens to the cities who rob the soil Of Gods
bounty, taking all they can get, but put
ting nothing back; and who ring from
their offspring their very hearts blood, ,and
thus exile them from homes-if such they
can be called--to whittier they know not.
While these hard handed farmers squeeze
out the life-blood of the young, and culti-
vate neither mind nor soil, so long will the
young flee from the homes of their fathers.
Through this bright, good land-the home
of the weary and oppressed of all nations
many people, especially in the Western and
Northwestern States, have already not only
the necessaries, but the luxuries of life.
Few, if any, till the soil intellisently.
For the most part the soil is robbed, but a
sad day of reckoning will come if this thing
lasts. 1t has already come to Virginia,
and it will come to her sister States, il the
application of useful knowledge to agricul-
ture be neglected. We look for better re-
suits. General education will settle the
question and if the tillers of the ground
will be true to it and themselves, all that
heart can wish will follow. The young
will then stay at home. enjoying all the
J blessings that can come from fruitful soil.