Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1880-02-18
From Country 70 City.

lnc january ocT(O9CT was suggested DY q
letter inquiring about the chance for a
young man in New York. 1t will perhaps
answer the question of many others who
are turning their thoughts, if not their
faces, cityward:
II is presumablc and probable that there
arrives in New York city every day a con-
siderable number of letters from the coun-
try, making inquiry concerning what it is
possible for II cOuntryman to do here in
the way of business. and asking advice
upon the question of his removal to the
city. Every citizen Of New York, with
country associations, is applied TO for in
formation and counsel with regard to such
II change Of base" and the matter seems
worth the few words careful and candid
observer may have 10 say about it.
1t is well, ut the beginning, TO look at
the reasons which move people 10 Il desire
TO make the change. The first, perhaps,
are pecunlary reasons. A man living in
a country town looks about him and can
discover no means for making money in
large way. Everything seems petty The
business of the place is small, and its pos
sibilities of development seem very limit
ed. A few rich men hold everything in
their hands, and II young man, with moth
ing for capital but his youth and health
and hope and ability, feels cramped-feels
in fact that he has no chance. His savings
must be small aud slow, and n lifetime is
necessary to lift him to point where
money will give him power. 1t seems to
him that if he could get into the midst of
the great business of the world he could
find his chance for quicker and broader
development of wealth; and in this con-
nection, Or with This fancy, he writes a
letter to his city acquaintance, asking for
his advice upon the matter.
Another is smitten by sense of the
dryness and pettness of the social life he
is surrounded by in the country, and the
small opportunities he has for personal
satisfaction and development. To be able
to live among galleries and in the
vicinity of great, open libraries; to have
the finest theatres and the most attractive
concert halls at ones door; to be where
the best minds reveal themselves in pulpit
and on platform in public speech; where
competent masters stand ready to teach
every science and every art; to live among
those whose knowledge of the world is II
source of constant satisfaction and culture;
to be at the very fountain-head of the in
tellectual, social, and politico-economica
influences that sweep over the country; to
feel the stimulus of competition and exam
Pile, and 10 live in IN atmosphere charged
with vital activity-all this seems such II
contrast to the pettiness and thinness and
insisnifcance of village life, that the
young man, realizing it, sits down and
| tx, a;t f,;a ;.;n hot
chance there would be in the city for him.
The country seems small to him; the city
large. He feels the gossip that tlutters
about his ears to be disgusting and de-
grading, and chafes under the bondage
imposed by his neighbors through their
surveillance of, and criticism upon, all
his actions. He wants more liberty, and
for some reasons would really like to be
where he is less known and less cared for.
There is still another class of country
people who long for city life. and whose
aspirations and dispositions are very much
less definite and reasonable than those to
whom we have alluded. They are not so
particular about business or about wealth,
nor do they care definitely about superior
social privileges, or about the culture more
readily secured in the city than in the
country. They are simply gregarious.
They like crowd, even if they have to
live in a " mess" They are so fond OF
living in q multitude that they are willing
to sacrifice many comforts 10 do it. Once
in the city, no poverty will induce them
to leave it. They have nc interest in life
outside the city. These usually get to the
city in some way without writing letters
of inquiry.
Now, it has probably surprised most in
Guirers to receive uniformly discouraging g
answers to their questions. For, indeed,
no man knows the trials of city life but
those who have left quiet homes in the
country and tried it. The great trial that
every man from the country experiences
on coming to the city, even supposng he
has found employment, or gone into bust
ness, relates to his home. His thousand
dollars year, which in the country would
give him snug little house and comfort.
able provision, would get him in the city
only small room in II boarding house.
4 The two thousand dollars that would give
him something more than comfortable
home in the country, would give him in
the city only Il better boarding house, The
three thousand that would give him in the
country fair establishment, with horses
for his convenience and amusementw would
in the city only give him Il small "flat " in
a crowded apartment house, and the five
thousand in the country that would give
him the surroundings of II nabob, would
only pay the rent of II house on Fifth
Avenue. The country rich man can live
splendidly on from five to ten thousand
dollars year, while the city rich man
spends from twenty thousand TO fifty thou
sand dollars year. City incomes look
large, but relatively to city expenses they
are no larger than the country incomes.
The man who lives in the city has expert
enced the remediless drain upon his purse
of the life which he lives, and feels that
the risk which business man runs of
coming into unknown circumstances is
very great. He feels that unless his coun-
try friend knows Just how he is going to
meet that drain, he will be safer where he
is. City life is naturally merciless. 1t
has to take care of itself, and has all it can
do to meet its own wants. If n man from
the country comes into it, and fails, he
must 90 to the wall Friends cannot save
him. A city looks cooIly upon catastro-
| pIlC vi kblo NlIl's IVA ~ 10 'ii IVY wy
affair, and the victim knows perfectly well
that he can neither help himself nor sc.
anybody else to help him. So the city
friend, knowing The risks and the needs of
city life. breads TO SEQ any country friend
undertake them Then, too, the faithful
records of city life show that the chances
are largely against financial success in it.
The man of society who is attracted
from the country to the city usually fails
to calculate his own insignicance when
he encounters numbers. The man of So
cial consideration in tho country needs
only to 90 to the city to find 50 many heads
above his own that he is counted of no
value whatever. Who is hep "What is
hePn and What has he donep' are ques-
tions that need to he satisfactorily answer
ed before he will be accepted, and even
then he will need to become n positive
force of some sort in society to maintain
his position, City society is full of bright
and positive men and women,and the man
and woman from the country bring none
of their old neghborhood prestige with
them to help them through.
TO sum up what the city man really
L. Ia