Daily Republican. [volume] ([Wilmington, Del.]) 1874-1890, 1883-08-31
TOWN OR COUNTRY.

TOWN OR COUNTY,.
Where were you bOrn-town or cOun
try?
The question Is Of some interest, now
that the sta'isticians are calculating
the large proportion of " men who have
risen in the towns who at FIRST inhal
I'd the country air.
Apart from this, it is psrhaps bless
ing to have been country-born, and even
country.bred
1t Is son ething 10 grow up 10 sweet
familiarity with birds and flowers, with
green grass and shrubs, ard trees, with
the cattle of the earth aud with the stars
Of Heaven.
Fellowship with nature il easier Of
cultivation among fields and foods by
day light and moonlight, than on streets
imperfectly paved and irregularly
cleaned, with uniform rows Of houses t.
limit the view by day, and with gas.
lamps to max. darkness visible by night
Perhaps simple country fare, country
ways, and even country restraints,
tend to make men healthy, strong, and
vigorous in their maturity.
One does not there reach culture u
and encycloI knowledge preco
ciously, nor de, elop :early into manly
habitsor woD'anly accomplishments;and
perhaps on that account the possessions
of later years are more solid and salts
factory.
But if you we're born ia the country,
do not exult unduly over the other and
less fortunate class.
S members have advantages Of their
own. How soon they become initiated
into the mysteries of life!
They are hardly ever long children.
With what lofty contempt they look on
the simple rustiCs.
Town or city life brings mind into
close and constant contact with great
varieties of mind Hence It has good
side az we'll as bad.
What is done in towns IL notorious.
Crimes are brought into notice, often
tried, often punished in towns.
Criminals betake themselves IL towns
ard cities for many reasons, and what
they do or suffer il at length held up to
the public gaze.
One unhappy woman ina law court
attracts more notice for the time than dc
a hundred quiet, virtuOus mothers who
never took an oath. Hence the wicked.
ness of cities and towns seems dispro-
portionate to those who do not thl nix ex
actly.
But IL bad mlrds stimulate tn. bad
the rule works likewise with the other
classes, and in cities and towns you car
find az many who are pure, high-mind-
cd, generous and good, ~ in the same
number of country people.
So, If you were born IN the country
BIZ thankful bur do no not take airs
upon yourself among poor city folk.
And now tia, you are in a large city,
emember privilege and peril 60 hand
in hand.
He Who rides in carriage may have
an upset a fast tran may be an in
secure train.
The steamships that make the short
est time run proportiOnate risks.
Things go on a certain uniform scale
In the country. There is an air of calm
tixedness about things. 1t is otherwise
in the city.
The carriages, the mansions, the
enttTlaiuIhcH'Si uNis tpPo'VeNs "hN
the exaggerated wealth OF the success
ful men strike you.
They may dazzle you, SO that you see
imperfectly, identify all this with real
success and solid happiness, and NC
your estimates may be false, and your
ideal of happiness, and the life of itself
may be erroneous.
Our city nasnbs have their troubles,
like other people. Money does not
necessarily give a man health, though
| il can provide numerous doctors.
Nor does il necessarily make ones
children gentle, affectionate and ODE
dent though i. may secure them al
comforts, from the silk-ined perambu.
lator and the French bonnie To the ear
riage and fo"tInan
| The bonds Of inatrimony are mo-
necessarily sweet to u man because ht
has volumes Of railway bonds.
TO the most generous man, even the
blessedness OF giving may be moderate,
in degree by the interminable solici
tations Of those TO whom it were folly
to be liberal.
Some of the richest men have had e
court seclus.on on this account.
| We sometimes talk of the undis
turbed quiet attainable in the country
You can hr alone, dress as you like
rise and lie down when you please, ca
your meals " here and how you like,ant
be monarch If all You survey.
There is a measure Of truth in Thu
estimate. But it IN just AZ true that II,
solitude is greater than the solitude .
such Il city as New York.
Nowhere can the individual be more
alone than in the crowd.
| Nowhere can the sense of solitude b'
deeper Nowhere eau liberty be st
easily taken with law, order, purity
property, and life itself. Hence tn
very rush to the cities by the law'ess.
You need, therefore, dear city friend
to take all this into account In the cal
culations yon make.
In the country village, ones neighbor
all know him.
A new coat cannot be PIT on un
noticed.
Habits and acts are scanned and scru
tinized within the lmite.l circle.
IL one Quarrels with a servant, or q
n neighbor pays attention to lady, o.
fails to do it, the thing Is soon and fully
known.
Ones few immediate neighbors-hav
ing little country quiet Of their own.
can be Judge and jury Oh the case, and
in their own way pronounce and pro-
mulgate the sentence.
fla mans own conscience is sleeping
or silent, his immediate neighbors will
thus do its neglected work, and more OF
less articulately, and forcibly remind
him of his faults.
1t is different in the large towns.
Everybody IL busy. The crowd is IN
haste and Is noisy.
Your individual movement may bt
queer, unusual, or uncomfortable, but