The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1879-01-11
LETTER FROM BALTIMORE.
Correspondence of the Democratic Advocate.
BALTIMORE, JAY. l. 1879.

, =
upon which / desire to express some
thoughts that have been some time strug-
Cling for utterance. Warmly admiring
country people and intensely loving coun-
try life as / do, | beg that no word of
mine be understood as meant to depreciate
either in the slightest degree.
Let me, then, say that it has sometimes
seemed to me that country people fail to
properly recognize the vital relations ex-
isting between rural and city life; that
there is a tendency among them to sepa-
rate their sympathies from city people;
in short, that outside of the city there is
a fancied antagonism of some sort between
its interests and those of the country.
Now, it is precisely because there can
be no such antagonism in fact, however
much antagonism of feeling may occasion
ally be caused by the accidentally distor
ted views Of individuals, that yielding to
what believe to be a patriotic impulse,
! venture to use this means of journalism
to throw light upon the subject. aHear
me for my cause" II is true that
God made the country and man made the town"
but this affords no basis for comparing
man and man. If some men had made
the country, aud other men had made the
town, the relative merits of their skill
might by this means have been tested
Not having made the country, man at least
deserves credit for having made the town.
Ii country people would see this in its
true light, there would be little room for
the growth of any feeling to bar thorough
enjoyment Of city prosperity, and thorough
sympathy aud fellowship with its multitude
of inhabitants, in whom beat the pulses Of
common humanity.
How were cities originally made
Simply by large numbers Of country peo-
pie collecting in permanent settlement.
Smaller collections constituted towns, or
villages, or hamlets. The plain truth OF
the matter is, take the farm-houses Of a
county, with their inhabitants, place them
side by side, and you have a city. Are
the people thus brought together less wor.
thy than when separated? At this late
day, Of course, new cities are made in large
part Of former inhabitants Of old ones, but
it is equally true that the important ones
are steadily increased in size, and morally
and mentally invigorated by accessioni
from the country.
A large number of persons thus closely
united can do what the same persons widely
separated could not do. There is here op.
portunity for continuous associated effort
for the accomplishment Of common objects
such as the exchange Of country products
the manufacture of needed wearing ap.
parel aud household furniture, the impor.
tation of desirable articles from abroad
the gathering and dissemination of intelli.
gence, the inexpensive education of Their
children, and many other things requiring
aggregated capital and united labor. The
people of the city must live, and their
capital buys the neccssaries of life from
the country. The people Of the country
enjoy more independent position, aud
could live without the city, but, with all
the charms Of their natural scenery, they
could only do so in primitive state. The
progress of the race has added to what
were in the beginning the necessaries OF
a comfortable existence. There are deli.
cacies of taste and re6nements of habit
that have become second mature in the
country as well as the city. 1t needs but
moments reflection, therefore, to see
that the country could not continue the
adoption Of the city's progressive civiliza-
tion without the city's money and manu-
features. Here, where deft mechanical
fingers ply in unceasing competition; where
the devotees Of the fine arts strive to sur
pass each other in giving expression to the
beautiful; where mems thoughts are offer.
ed by the press for general inspection and
are subjected to the scalpel of criticism;
where mind wrestles with mind up the
rugged sleeps of ambition; where small
aims and unjust prejudices give way be.
fore the colossal plans Of society and the
multiplying evidences Of the brotherhood
Of man; here is the very pivot of the far.
reaching aud thrilling interaction Of hu
man energies, and here are wrought out
and recorded the worlds grandest achieve
ments.
So much for the general question, which
| have sought to reduce TO its simplest
philosophical elements As most Of the
foregoing remarks are proportionately ap.
plicable to this city in its relation to the
State, it is only needful to show, in few
words, why the growth of its intimacy with
Western Maryland was slower than witt
the lower counties, the Eastern Shore anc
Virginia. Though different nationalitie,
were represented among the settlers Of tn,
old thirteen colonies, the English were tn,
founders Of most Of them, and soon were
the controlling spirits of all. The Isle o.
Kent and the county Of St. Mary's were
first settled in Maryland. As the popula
tion increased other counties we're formed
the order showing that the southern anc
eastern sections of the province had the
priority Of settlement. st. Mary's, Kent
Anne Arundel, Calvert, Charles, Balti
more, Talbot, Somerset, Dorchester ant
Cecil, were all organized more than two
hundred years ago Though the leading
founders Of the province we're Roman
Catholics, it must be remembered not on
ly that Protestants were not excluded from
it, but that they soon got actual control o.
its affairs, the General Assembly havin,
about the close Of the seventeenth centurl
declared the Church Of England to be tn,
established church Of the colony, aud re
moved the capital from st. Mary's to tn.
Protestant town Of Providence, which wa
in 1908 chartered as the city Of Anuapo
lis
Baltimore county was seventy years ol,
and was quite populOus when, ia 1929, al
act was passed by the Assembly for layinl
out the town Of Baltimore eon the norti
side Of Patapsco." A sketch Of the tow
as il appeared in 1852, made BY Mr.. Johl
Moalc, shows that It then had but on
church, which was St. Panls, Of tn
Church Of England
Not to multiply details, let me say tina
the history Of the colony gives clear eyi
1a..r.. tI.f -. ~.