Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1881-10-01
"BILL ARP"
Town and Country.


Two thousand years ago philOs-
Opher by the name OF Horace wrote
Ii good deal about the town and
the country, and he weighed 'em
both aud then summed up his con-
illusions by saying that the town
was the best place for rich man to
live in and the country was the best
place for poor man to die in, and
inasmuch as riches were uncertain
and death was sure, a man had bet
ter settle down in the country as
soon as he could and be content.
That is very good advice but the
trouble IS in being content. No
man is content until he gets old en-
ough TO be a philosopher. Young
people are restless and ambitious.
The world Is very lovely to them,
and ! don't blame 'em for wanting
To enjoy it; but I've noticed that
those who have the best time in
their youth have the poorest in
their old age, and, like Solomon,
are ready to eXclaim, Vanity of
vanities, all is vanity" The best
way is To raise children to work-to
earn their own living-and the best
place for them is in the country on
farm. It's a slow way to make
money, and it's all the better for
that. Money made slow is money
made sure. A dollar dug out Of the
ground is worth five dollars made
in town, and is better than a hun
dred dollars given &c young man.
Habits are formed in our youth, and
town habits are to spend all that's
made. \ young man who is clerk
ing ut fifty dollars a month will
spend it all in going to shows and
frOlicking round, which amt so bad,
if it wasent for the habits. He gets
so after awhile that he is always
hankering after shows and some
new excitement. The country to
him is an awful duh place. He has
more time to think and study; but
town boy doesent want to think.
It's not his brain he wants to eXer-
else, but it's his emotions and pas
Sions.
a young man ought to spend
three or four years in the country,
if for nothing else but his good
health-his constitution. 1t will
build him up and expand him. 4
tOuiANA bby CtiiA lStIGC III sAttCS-
fully and skip round as cat-like as Il
city boy, for he don't walk or
paVements all the time. A country
boy walks on dirt floor. tie
works ali over and he dances all
over. a town boy can fight a right
good fight for two or three minutes,
but a country boy can fight all day.
They say the town boys made the
most spirited soldiers in the war,
and l reckon they did, but the
country boys had the most endur-
ance. | mean the country boys
who had been raised literally.
There were lots of poor fellows who
never had Il good healthy meal of
vittels, and grew up pale and sickly,
who give out pretty soon, for they
were cowed and hacked before they
started but / noticed that the sons
of our comfortable farmers held out
better than anybody. They had
better constitutions. A town boys
liver is always getting out of order,
and town girl don't eat much of
anything but candy and ice-cream
and cake, and by the time she has
had. two or three little weasel-face
children, which have to be raised
on the bottle, she is pretty well used
erV summer, and be dOctOrcd and
physicked the balance of her career.
Who ever heard of country folks
going to the springs for their health =?
There are lots Of good, strong,
healthy men in the cities, but they
were not raised there. Look at the
i<isers, and the WHY'S, and Dodds,
and MIR. Marsh, and Barry, and
Rhode Hill, and the Howels, and
DIR. Alexander, and Jim Dunlap,
and Mr.. Keely, in Atlanta. They
were all brought up on farm and
had to pillow, and hoe, and dig, and
hunt foxes and eoOns and possums,
and ride the old mare TO mill and
go in washing, and iine the sing
ing-schOOl and sing bass in the Old
"Southern Harmony" and they
grew big and strong, and if fellow
had come along with Il liver medi-
cineor lung pad TO sell they would
have taken him up as a luniac. But
IL takes all sorts of padS'to fix up
city woman. Liver pads, and hip
pads, and shoulder pads, and bosom
pads, until by the time they are
padded all over they look mighty
nigh as shapely rs a country girl.
Farming has been sorter under
the ban ever since / can remember.
The mechanic ranked the farmer,
and the merchant ranked the mo
chan1c, and the lawyers and doctors
ranked the merchant, and the mem-
hers OF congress ranked everybody
Int the farmers are coming to the
front. and the lawyers are losing
ground. Farming is now looked
1pOn rs a respectable science, and
the practice OF law as trickster's
trade. The average lawyer of the
present day, is a sort OF wrecker up
on the coast, always looking out for
n stranded ship, and by the time he
gets through the court with his case,
his client can hardly tell whether
he has gained Il or lost it, for it's a
ruinous business anyway "A mod
ern lawyer can lose the papers or
shrihn a witness, or fool the jurys but
farner can't fool the soil he works
~ E.f, lahnr and fNil and