Middletown transcript., 1881-10-28
THE COUNTRY BOYS LONGING.

Almost every country boy mas, aG
some time during his career beneath
the paternal roof, an intense longing to
go to the city to live. He tires Of the
green fields, the chatter of birds, the
hum Of insects, and decides that the
pleasures, as. well as the labors of
country life, are too monotonous for
him. He wants more excitement.
After the days work is done and the
last chore performed he sits out on the
cellar door, watches the stars come out,
and dreams of the crowded streets,
great marts of trade, marble palaces
and torch-light professions which he
has heard his older brother, who is
city drummer, so often describe. He
thinks of the grand life Of the sweet
scented city clerk, moving with easy
grace behind the dry-goods counter,
wearing a freshly-starched shirt every
day of his life and amassing wealth at
the rate of six dollars a week. He
turns it all over in his mind, this hope
full, ambitious boy does, out there on
the cellar door, beneath the silent stars,
and decides that life in the country is
next to a blank and barren failure. As
his imagination goes on under free
rein, he can picture to himself his own
career should he succeed in becoming a
city clerk, and the envy he would stir
up among his country associates when
he would come home every summer for
a vacation, dressed in new suit Of
store clothes, with moustache trained
by the deft fingers of city barber, and
complexion like mashed potatoes and
cream. He can hardly resist the
temptation to get right up and start,
without waiting to bid the old folks
goodbye.
Thousands of country boys outgrow
this longing for city career or have it
persuaded out of them by wise but
stern parent, and in the end make val
liable, contented and prosperous farm
ers, while thousands Of others succeed
in carrying out their youthful inclina-
ton and become city people, with a
marked and growing contempt for the
country and the country's ways. Of
these, it would be interesting to know
what per cent. achieve success and
have the same measure of health and
happiness as those who stay in the
beautiful country which God made, and
help to develop its resources. The
per centage is not very heavy, we i'm
agine. Doubtless you, most respected
reader, can think of some bright boy
who used to 60 around his country
home, in bare feet, hickory shirt and
one suspender, and who marched off
to the city, commenced as an errand
boy and to-day is at the head of great
mercantile establishment, and owns a
brown-stone front. But is he any more
happy, and will he live longer than
those you can name who have staid at
home and, by their own exertions, have
achieved success in the country We
guess not. At least, we believe the pre-
cedents don't say so. Some boys will
win success and others will fail
whether they adopt for their field of
labor the city or country, and while the
opportunities may be greater to win
wealth in the city the chances for
health, contentment and long life are
decidedly on the side Of the country
Therefore, we say, boys, stick to the
farm, or to your village, if you are a
village boy, and be honest, energetic,
performing your labor with enthusiasm,
as though it were pleasure instead of
task. Though you will doubtless
never be able to fail for half a million
in the country, you will get about as
many square inches Of contentment out
of this life as any of your prosperous
city cousins.