The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1882-03-11
CrOWding into the City.
From the Baltimore Herald.


and Others seeking employment in
one or the other departments of BUSH
ness. They come with lofty ideas
of life in the metropolis. They step
from the train or boat. wondering
which place of business they should
favor with their services, hut the
giIded pictures of imagination are
soon dauhed by bitter reality.
Among the great mass of seekers
some succeed, Others have the good
judgment to return to their homes.
Others accept any kind Of labor they
can get, while a large number drift
into idle and disSipated habits, and
prefer to live from hand to mouth in
questionable ways, rather than return
cre-tfalIpn and with acknowledged
disappointment to their homes.
Many of these young men are well
raised, have had instiled into them
sound principles. but they have never
been, In their quiet homes among the
trees and tine birds, assaulted by such
whirlpool of temptation as they
meet in large cities. There is no
avenue Of vice that is not open to
| them, and every avenue is furnished
with the most attractive induce
mentS. 1t Is not wonderful, then,
that so many of them are 10th to swell
the great army of lCafers that curse
every large city in the Union.
II is fair to say that large number
"f BaItimore's wealthy merchants
and most useful and respected citizens
are natives OF some country place.
Many Of them were reared UPON
farms, and know something of early
toll and privatinn. But they are the
few who haye succeeded, out of the
great nun. bers who have come to the
city. They were the lucky ones, or
rather. were men of grit. who appre-
ciated the situation and determined
to fight h; rd battle for victory, and
they won. Even then. in most in
stances. they were surrounded by
avDrahle circumstances. which do
not occur to the average newcomer;
and they came at a time when there
was hiore prevalent disposition to
take young men Ivy the hand and en-
courage and help them into position.
1t is not so much the case to. day.
The newcomer Is compelled to shift
for himself. and too often is he looked
upon with distrust until he estab-
fishes hms If 10y continued prohlty
into thee good will of the public.
There are hut few hands extended to
help, but few voices to whisper words
of encouranement, and he is PUSHED
hiiher and thither, until, if he has
not an unfiinching character and adj.
amantine principles, he is crowded to
the wall. 1t is frequently the case that
families who inherit little money
feel that there is more enjoyment for
them in the city. and an opportunity
for more profitable investment. They
come and are tempted TO live in bet
ter style. and enlist in the gayeties
around them. They invest their
money recklessly into some business,
and few years finds them penniless.
Discouraged and friendless. they pre-.
fer TO spend their lives in poverty to
returning back to their native neigh.
bnrhond. and he the food for inter.
minabIe gos ip.
One of the saddest features of this
subject is the fact of young girls com
ing to the city. i'm very many in.
stances unprotected. They come to
find life in its gayest aspect With
a little work they hope to secure
better clothes, and more stylish
way nf living. Some of them succeed,
and finally become wives of good,
respectable men, but many more are
carried away by the glittering temp
tations around them, or pressed to
the wall by heartless employers. and
find shelter In haunts of vice, where
hope and innocence and life are all
lain upnn the altar Of shame. 1t is
sad fact that a very large proper
ton of the disSolut. women of Balti
more city wer" born and raised in
the country. They do not come here
to pursue life of shame. Such a
thought dld not tarnish their minds
when they left the home roof; but
they did not know the snarps which
beset the pathway OF young girls in
a large city, and what they deem the
smiles of friendship and the hand to
guide To success are often the means
to lure them to destruction.
1t is we'll enough to have a large
population about which to boast, and
to say To the world, behold how rap
idly we increase; but il Is not alto
gether population that forms the
greatness and wealth ola city. There
are thousands whose absence would