The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1880-07-28
August Magazines.
Selections From Their Columns.

AN ENGLIsHwoMAN IN THE NEW ENGLAND HILL
COUNTRY.
The love of home is less developed in new
than in old lands; nature appears rather in
the disguise of an enemy to be subdued than
mother to be loved, and her obstacles to the
outward signs of civilization make men impa-
tient of her beauties. Forests and precipices
have no attraction for the man whose chief
thought is how he can grow corn and pasture
cattle to feed his family; and it is no wonder
that where life is SO hard no time should be
left for the enjoyment of beauty. The love of
common in Europe, is not the rule among
New England mountaineers. They have
hardly any pride in their scenery, and often
long for a smooth, fertile plain, where agricul-
ture would be easier, and the conditions of life
softer. Forests are 'well enough in their
way" an indefinite but forcible expression Of
depreciation. The struggle for bare existence,
added to the naturally silent, reserved nature
of an almost purely Anglo-Saxon (and largely
east coast of England) race, has developed
type similar in all but religion to the Radition-
al Puritan. Here and there CLEANS of more
genial life cross the path of ones observation,
and by and by, when one has lived years in
the midst Of this undemonstrative people, an
insight into their real selves, sympathy with
the necessities which have saddened them and
the work which has repressed them, comes to
change ones first estimate, and brings before
one another example of the freemasonry of
human nature. Deep below this crust of un-
attractiveness, there are sterling qualities
honesty Justice, immense perseverance, pa
tience and endurance, evenness OF temper and
faithfulness of friendship, almost invariably
high stand of domestic virtue, and serious
acceptance Of life's responsibilities. Ii there
is no elasticity of spirits, there is wonderful
steadfastness of purpose, and tendency to
make the best of everything. Home love does
not include surroundings, even OF the loveliest
scenery, but it is intense within narrow circle
of persons; though even here 1t IS slngularly
undemonstrative. The present conditions are
of course far removed from the picturesque
roughness of hundred years ago, when the
first settlers, not long before the Revolution,
came in the dead Of winter, some walking
eighty miles on snow shoes, the women riding
on horseback, and salt, at that time the most
precious and unattainable article, conveyed on
mems backs or in large kettles drawn on sleds;
but good deal of the rawness of frontier life
clings to our towns, whose fag-ends run up
mountains where bears are still not infrequent,
while their central parts are uOtteu over Wtt..
summer hotels and railroad depots. Person
ally, it is only with the latter ingredients that
find fault. The life of the natives is more
natural, and therefore, even if rough or dull,
more dignified than that of the tourists and
such as minister to the tourists artificial
wants The majority of the travellers in these
parts are of the nondescript kind, so aggressive
in all countries,-the class which, because 1t Is
largely urban, thinks itself necessarily superb
or, and because it can afford yearly holiday
(taken meanly enough, with a maximum of
show at minimum of expense; for some Of
our visitors spend five cents on peanuts with
the air Of Stewart handling government
bonds) looks down on the stay-at-home farmer
who can hardly make both ends meet. With
all his drawbacks, the latter is nobler man
than the half-educated, "smart" inhabitant of
large villages and cities. His life is truer and
more genuine, his character more stable, his
insight into right and wrong straighter, and
his worth to the country infinitely greater
Behind all the unloveliness OF outward life,
there is the almost unconscious respect Tor
duty the instructive uprightness OF purpose,
and the love for work as the test OF human
worth and fitness, which constitute the chief
virtues of manly race. There are strength
and stubbornness, plainhess OF speech and
hatred of roundabout ways, which, II they
co1Id be infused into political life, would
make the government as sound as the nation.