Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1880-01-01

and to live in an atmosphere charged
with vital activity-all this seems such
a contrast to the pettiness and thinness
and insignidcanoe of village life, that
the young man, realizing it, sits down
and writes to his city friend, inquiring
what chance there would be in the
city for him. The country seems small
to him; the city large. He feels the
gossip that futters about his ears to be
disgusting and degrading; 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 rea-
sons 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 busi-
ness or about wealth, nor do they care
definitely about superior social privil-
eyes, or about the culture more readily
secured in the city than in the country.
They are simply gregarious. Theylike
a crowd. even if they have to live in
"mess." They are so fond of living
in multitude that they are willing to
sacrifice many comforts to do it. Once
in the city no poverty will induce them
to leave it. They have no interest in
life outside of the city. These usually
get to the city in some way without
writing letters of inquiry.
Now, it has probably surprised most
inquirers to receive uniformly discour-
aging 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
supposing he has found employment,
or gone into business, relates to his
home. His thousand dollars a year,
which in the country would give him a
snug little house and comfortable pro-
vision, would get him in city only a
small room in a boarding house. The
two thousand dollars that would give
him something more than cOmforta-
BILE home in the country, would give
him in the city only better boarding.
house. The three thousand that would
give him in the country fair estab-
ment, with horses for his convenience
and amusement, would in the city only
give him a small "fiat'' in crowded
apartment-house, and the five thousand
in the country that would give him the
surroundings of a nabob, would only
pay the rent of ahouse on Fifth avenue.
The country rich man can live splen-
didly on from five to ten thousand dol
lars a year, while the city rich man
spends from twenty thousand to fifty
thousand dollars year. City incomes
look large, but relatively to city ex-
penses they are no larger than the
country incomes. The man who lives
in the city has experienced the remedi-
less drain upon his purse of the life
which he lives, and feels that the risk
which a business man runs of coming
into unknown circumstances is very
great. He feels that unless his coun-
try friend knows just how 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 man
from the country comes into it, and
fails, he must go to the wall. Friends
cannot save him. A city looks coolly
upon catastrophe of this kind, for it
is an everyday affair, and the victim
knows perfectly we'll that he can
neither help himself nor get anybody
else to help him. So the city friend,
knowing the risks and the needs Of city
life, breads to see any country friend
undertake them. Then, too, the faith
full 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 insignifcance
when he encounters numbers. The
man of social consideration in the coun-
try needs only to 60 to the city to find
so many heads above his own that he
is counted of no value whatever. "Who
is heg'' "What is hep" and "What has
he doneP" are questions that need to be
satisfactorily answered before he will
be accepted, and even then he will need
to become 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 neighborhood prestige with them
to help them through.
To sum up what the city man really
feels in regard to the coming of his
country aequaintances to the city, it
would not be far from this, viz:
1st. The chances for wealth are as
great, practically, in the country as in
the city, and the expenses of living and
the risks of disaster much less.
I'd. The competitions of city life and
the struggles to get hold of business and
salaried work are fearful. No man
should come to the city unless he knows
what ne is going to do, or has money
enough in his hands to take care of him
self until he gets living position or
becomes satisfied that he cannot get
one. Even to-day, with the evidences
of renewed prosperity all around us,
there are probably ten applications on
file for every desirable place, and no
man living here could help a friend to
a y,loop uY9lnec ho oOuId croatn ono