The Brookhaven ledger. (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1875-1883, 1883-01-25
Going West.
@1opics of the Time,s in The Century.


Tho young man in the older communities of
the east, reading of the marvellous growth of
this new western country, often asks himself
whether he could not wisely join the ranks of
the next annual migration No doubt the
question, "Shall go Westgn is the uppermost
problem in the minds of thousands of the
young men OF the east, who have still their
careers to make, and have not yet gained
footing in the business world II is ques-
ton which each must answer for himself, and
concerning which no advice can be given that
would be Of universal application 1t would
be grievous mistake to suppose that a change
of longitude alone insures success Idleness,
incompetency, and a nerveless, drifting dis
position, have no better chance in Montana
than in Massachusetts,. Indeed, there are
some men who run along fairly well in the
east, in the grooves of custom and of estab-
lshed acquaintance and business connections,
who would make lamentable shipwrecks if set
adrift in new western community.
On the other hand, the chances for q young
man OF average pluck and energy are unques-
tionably much better In the west than in the
east He shares the advantage of being among
the firsttO open fresh store-house of natural
wealth. He gets the first dividend on the in
crease of value resulting from bringing pop
ulation upon the soil The land he buys for
three or four dollars an acre, or gets for moth
ing by homestead settlement coon becomes
worth ten or fifteen. If he embarks in trade
or in any mechanical pursuit, his wares or his
services are in brisk demand, because all the
new -comers around him require goods and
Implements Then there is a certain stimulus
III the moral atmosphere caused by the ambi-
tons and energies of a new community full of
hope and activity, which makes hardships
easy to bear and causes buoyancy OF spirits.
Western people find it hard to make their
friends IN the east understand just what they
mean when they speak of the difference in the
business and social tone of two sections. 1t is
difference to be felt rather than defined
There is vastly more energy and more hope
per capita of the population in new communi-
ties than old, and the immigrant feels at once
the resulting stimulus. 1t braces up the list
less and Responding, and makes even the
most active man conclude that there is more in
him in the way of work and ideas than he
supposed. Many young man who would
have remained clerk or small -salaried en-
ploye of some kind all his life, had he stayed
in the east, becomes, amid the larger oppor-
tunites of the west sleading citizen" and
owner Of fine farm and a prosperous bust
ness.
The young man going west can, therefore,
count upon the opportunities OF obtaining good
land at small cost, the business openings grow
ing ont of the wants of new community, and
the moral incentive that comes from contact
with hopeful, enterprising people. If he does
. not succeed in gaining full measure of indie
pendence in the course of ten years, the reason
will lie in his own disposition. He will either
lack energy and capacity, or he will be SO
much creature of habit and so thoroughly
the outgrowth of an older civilization thai he
cannot adjust himself to the new environ.
ments. There are men as well as trees that
will not thrive when transplanted. The in
Mt do tn St,1ly l.
own disposition carefully, and make sure that
he is not Of that kind