The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1875-12-23
TOWN AND COUNTRY.
II is Not Where we Live but the Manner
of Our Lives thnt Tells the Story.

trade, and depression in stocks, mar
riages are reported as unusually numer-
GUS this winter, and crowd faster on each
other in these weeks which precede the
holidays. Not marriages of the snowy
sort, either, where point lace and pres
ents OF plate and diamonds argue q
foundation of comfort and ease, at least
for the present; but quiet little we'd
d1ngs, where the bride wears muslin and
the bridegroom his one Sunday suit,
and there are no rich kinsfolk, and no
money in bank, and nothing but love
and hard work to depend upon for the
future. Whether Tom and Amelia are
wise in marrying at oil Oh such founda-
tion is a matter safely to be left for the
gossip of their friends it is one which
will settle itself by the amount of love,
common sense, and ability for work
which each takes into the partnership.
Next to this general question comes,
now that they are married, the point for
decision as to where they shall live.
| Will hard work, economy, and affection
bring them comfort and happiness soon
er in the town or the country2 In such
question the chances end advantages
for probable family are always to be
taken into account. II Tom is free
footed as to business engagements, his
prudent friends are apt to aruge him to
go West, take his little capital or skill
in business to some new settlement and
"grow up with the town."
Health, wealth, virtues of every
grade, he is assured, will be promoted
by such change. There will be over
powering arguments, based on purer
air, purer morals, the lack of tcmpta-
tion to display, and the cheapness of
living, winding up with the general as
| sertion that God made the country after
the vely best model of Arcadia, and
left the towns tC the making of man or
the devil Now the Tribune has always
urged this side of the question, found
ing its arguments, however, on the
plain facts that the cities were over
crowded. that the markets for small
capital, for ordinary skill or kno Wedge
lay in the half-settled tracts of the West
rather than in large cities; that, simply
from the vast amount of competition in
town, the amount of intelligence,
pluck, endurance which would give
young trader or professional man Ger
tain success in Il growing village would
not carry him through the first year in
New Ycrk. We do not retract these as.
sertions. If Tom has neither secured
position, money, family, nor political in
fiuencc, here is not much chance for
him this winter in New York; while
without any of these he may make
fair success il :, Western town.
But let US suppose he has what he
calls "fair start " in this city he is a
,,,n ,nol,an;n 1n,tni,, of Al
small pay; doctor, clergyman, journal
ist, wi h n very moderate but sure in
come. Tom and Amelia weigh this in
come in their minds necessarily, and it
appears such miserable little sum If
they measure If against their actual
needs, it is small enough, but if Gas is
most common) against the income of
Toms employer or that of the million
aire whose carriage wheels throw mud on
them at the crossings, it shrivels and
withers quite ont of sight. On half the
sum, Toms cousin, out in Smith City,
lives in double brick house, drives his
wagon, and as Amelia cries ecstaticllly,
has farm of ten acres, for the vege-
tables, hens, cow and children . Still,
the present income Is q bird, though
small one, in the hand, and it is not at
all certain that there are any in the bush.
Therefore they resolve to stay in town,
at asst until the times lift little"
Having so resolved, We have word or
two of consolation for them. To sensi-
BILE, genuine people the scale of expendi-
lures is very evenly balanced between
New York and Smith City. Toms work
or services, to begin with, command one
half as much more wages in the larger
city; rents and provisions are double or
treble the price in New York; fuel and
lights about equal; the wages of servants
of the ordinary sort, as Amelia will prob
ably not require skilled cooks, buffers,
and other masters, range very nearly
even; if she chooses TO do her own work,
it will cost half the time and strength to
do it here that it will in the country;
clothing of all kinds, including shoes,
are treble the price i'll the village, and
more costly in proportion as it is distant
from the seaboard cities.
"But," cries Tom, "ths temptation
to outlay here ! Society, dress, amuse-
ment-all these are exigent in their de-
mands in the city. And the children
if God sends them-I don't want to
bring them up III community where
they will be reminded OF their inferiority
at every turn. | want them to feel as
good as the best" Tom, in short, re-
CARDS Smith City as a Utopia where he
shall find the sublimeI virtues and a
Spartan simplicity of life. 1t is nothing
of the kind There is no such place in
the United States. If you should go to
the top of the highest peak and find
cabin there, woman shall come out of
it with her calico skirt pinned back after
the latest fashion plate known to her,
and judge of you by your clothes. In
fact, in small towns there is more
anxiety to follow " the STYLE" more
blind, idiotic subservience to fashion in
dress, furniture, and habits of life, than
in the metropolitan city. Amelia, in
her third floor fiat, can do her own cook
ing or washing, if she pleases, dress
herself in her waterproof and old felt
hat, and nobody but Tom will either
know or care whereas in Smith City, a
new gown, an idea different from her
neighbors', a way of cooking potatoes
unauthorized by public opinion, will
bring on her the cackling of The whole
community. Snobbishness, vulgarity,
love of display, lie in wait for her in one
place as much as in the other. Her
boys will be made to feel their in
feriority to the squire's sons. The vii
lage, as we'll as New York, will have its
grog shop ready for them, its gambling
table, its other and straighter roads to
ruin.
The sum of the whole matter is that