Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1881-08-19
Living in the Country.


It has occurred to me there is shade
Of patronage in the way the average
city resident speaks of "the country"
A good deal Is said of tho narrow-mind-
edness of rural life, but the most culti-
waited men and women can sometimes
scarcely see beyond the metropolis. To
hear them talk one would think living
in the country was quite an exceptional
thing, a sort of indiscretion committed
by few scattered and unimportant in
dividuals. Or rather that the country
is an immense garden or field, culti-
vated for the accommodation of the
town, to supply her with water, vege-
tables and fruit To great numbers of
city folk, rain is something which mere
ly settles the dust and keeps the reser-
voir full 1t would, indeed, be terri
BILE Inconvenience to go TO market and
find no potatoes and peas there, but the
necessary connection between these
edibes and moist summer seems
scarcely thought of.
suppose it is that large aggregations
of people are in condition to feel their
Importance more than the same number
of people scattered over wide area, or
even twice or thrice the number. Being
together somehow gives sense OF con-
sequence. Each borrows little from
the other, and becomes, so to speak,
bigger than he is. But in the country
one is simply ones self.
This patronage is best seen in some
OF those who spend the summer months
at their country place. They imagine
they have passionate love for rural
life. Generally they have horses and
carriages, books, pictures, n round OF
company, all possible luxuries. and are
pretty sure to run into town every few
davs. They drive out in state, just as
they do in winter on Fifth avenue.
They have numbers of hot house plants
and rare flowers, but they scarcely
know the names of them. They return
to the metropolis in the autumn fancy
ing they leave paradise behind. Their
love would scarcely stand the test of
the first snow-storm
Quite another love for the country is
that which finds it comfortable all the
year round, and feels a great lack in
the amplest town life. There are such
natures, rich, Overlooking ones, who
find their happiness in the outdoor
world. who rejoice in every aspect of
the fields and hills, roadside, river and
woodlands, every tint and shade of sky
and horizon. Generally they were born
among rural scenes, and have spent
their early years in their midst. Such
natures can live in great seclusion and
be happy. Indeed, they live the ideal
life. Every day is fresh miracle per-
formed for them, bringing its own fine,
sweet Joy, which nothing can take
away, and which nothing else can give
so fully.
Nor are they necessarily cultivated
people. There are those who can pro-
foundly feel the charm of the natural
I world who would express their admira-
tion in quite ungrammatical phrases;or.
more likely, would not express il at all.
They are scarcely aware of their own
gifts, looking out of unconscious eyes
upon the wonders and beauty about
them.
Utility is the great curse of rural life.
1t seems to me half the gestlessness felt
by farming people comes from the de-
sire to accumulate. Everything is sac
riticed to that. Mountains are nothing,
and lakes but only fat plains. What
ever cannot yield money is of no ac-
count, whether it be animal or soil.
Surely there is no remedy for this but a
change of nature. The other half OF
the restlessness springs from want of
entertainment. What is called the mo-
notony, kills. Books have great deal
to answer for, for this unrest is prod
uct of modern civilization and gen
eral enlightenment. They alone can
undo their own mischief. 1t may seem
irony, but it is true that only when the
best part of town life, all that makes il
most attractive, goes into the country,
will the great rural population live in
content. This is best proved by excep
tional small villages, chiefly perhaps in
Massachusetts,. In these places the
people do not pine to live in cities, fol
they have the best features of metro
politan life, besides their own distinct
enjoyments. 1t is not noise, ill odors
many flights of stairs that people go tc
cities for, but to get rich faster, to heal
great sermons, lectures, music; to catct
the excitement and stir of the crowd
Comfort, convenience, the social amen
tiles are what they most want; it is no
distinctively town or country.
When it comes to using the means
for improving and amusing the people
tutTc ls SOOu uttl VI SIlthlIlp cNou VI
the part of those who want diversion
most. can think now of societ,
formed in small New England village
1t is almost unique in character, com
bining the literary, the educational, thu
social. For several years it has been
delightful center of information and en-
tertainment. 1t established the frs
library in the community. The geniu
and goodness of one woman founded it
the same have chiefly continued it, AM
with her it is not unlikely to die. 1t i
so much easier to go on in the old ru
than to make an effort to get out. Blu
every effort made to amuse, to enter
tain and instruct, to vary the monoton.
that fatigues and contracts the spirit, Il
tighten the solitude that presses upol
so many, is help toward noble end
For whatever the town may offer to tn
eager, the ambitious, the cultivated,
cannot compare in independence, il
genuine comfort, in poetry and beaut
with life in the country.-Jennie Al
Burr, IN Christian Union.