Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-08-11
cit, vs.. Country Cousins.

,s. 7There are no visits any more. at
n.y. NOT such as there used to be. Wis.,
i itaYr has d]egenerated into calls. With
la syastly increased facilities for travel
which ,,I the railroads afford, it would
s.sm that friends and relatives living in
S;staut places would be brought into
u,ora frequent and closer contact with
unn another. But this is not the case.
g gha yery easiness and cheapness of ac-
ls appear to cut off the desire to o
~ - persons living in the vicinity of
." 'ame GREAT natural curiosity die without
sos;nc it. while others travel hundreds
II miles to.. behold the wonder. The
dino which can be done any day is apt
moi 70 be done at all. We put off doing
snrh things until the putting off be-
oon,es a confirmed habit. So, when we
|eon lump on the cars and run up any
|day in the year to see a friend, the
Whole year, and not infrequently sew
oral of them, passes without our seeing
him at all.
Visiting has its drawbacks, but it has
h advantages also. The comic papers
are fond of picturing the distress of tho
country cousins when in summer the
city cousins light down upon them with
Saratoga trunks, gripsacks, baby-cabs
and a swarm of ravenous children. Per-
hans it is a severe infiction, but the pic
ture is not without relief. If the coun-
try cousin has the more work, perplex-
ity and trouble for a time, she has also
,he comfort of rejecting that when the
farm-work ceases in the winter, and the
city is gay with sleigh-bells, theaters
and balls. she can. get even with the
city cousin by repaying her kindly visit.
Besides, and this is nj of the chief
benefits of visiting, it brings a change
and breaks in upon the remorseless mo-
notony of her life. What if there is more
cooking and washing and baking to do for
week OF two? What if there is an un-
plcasantstrain temporairlyupo the DOR
mitory facilities? There is something
positively celebrating in the way these
dainty city folk ''catch on" to her
homcly country fare. 1t seems to make
little or no difference what she cooks,
they have an appetite for any and all
things. The country air and sunshine
and exercise are more potent than bit
tiers or health reviewers. And the
children are q source of perpetual en-
tertainment. The calves and chickens
and pigs, the ceaseless round of farm
industry, the woods and fields, the
hundred doings and goings-on which
they never saw before, keep them in a
kind OF ecstacy and wildness that is
amusing enough to pay for all the
trouble they occasion. Altogether, it is
a sort of lightning-fash into the mo-
notony of the country household that is
not without its benefits. The talk
takes on a new freshness. The novel
ties Of city life and doings are dis
cussed. Erroneous impressions are cor
rected, information given and gained,
and a new atmosphere lived in for the
time. Country friends and neighbors
drop in and the household wears a
charm and novelty which is pleasing
and complimentary to it's occupants.
(oon the visit Cor visitation, if you
klease to call it SOY is over, the trunks,
gripsacks, children and reiuvenated
City folks carted off to the railroad,
and the country cousins home
suddenly returns to it's normal
condition Of quietude. Doubtless this
change, too, is refreshing, and the
rest which comes after the period Of ex-
traordinary tension is EXTREMITY agree
able. But in a short time it is felt that
the visit was, after all, a real pleasure.
There is no form Of relaxation so cheap
and SO good as friendly social inter-
course, and when the occupants of the
farm spend a week or two in the hos
pi'able city home, participating in its
judgments, and getting q taste of the
novelty of town life, they will realize
that the exchange of Inequalities is
mutually pleasant and profitable, and
will wish to make it u matter of per-
manent continuance.
Americans take life much too hard at
best. If all work and no play makes
Jack a dull boy, it does not have a
different effect upon men and women.
".Variety's the very spice Of life, which
gives it all its flavor" says the poet.
~ this be so, how very flavorless must
many lives be. Some are so from ne
cessity, but far more from choice. 1t is
asmuch as we can do to go to a picnic
once a year. Indeed, many Of us can't
20 that. We haven't time for anything
nut work, it seems. But a little (nay,
4 good deal) of well-timed recreation
would icngthen life more than enough
70 make up for all the time lost, sc
mat even from the standpoint of re-
l,entless production we should not bt
the losers. There is rather a supertlui-
\ OF steam and electricity in modern
american life. We are OVERRIDING the
productive idea. 1t is all very well tc
RAISE more corn and wheat and pork
.han any other nation on the globe, tc
palld bigger bridges and longer rail;
roads, to publish larger newspapers,
Ahd all that, but it should not be for.
gotten that, admirable as these things
le' there is something better. These
are only means to an end, and the end
or should be, comfortable homes
wherein hospitality, friendship and SO
sal relation and enjoyment shall hole
way; not mere curiosity shops filled
WIN costly gewgaws, to be slept in ane
axsheu n and out OF in the mad race
i nloney-getting. Let some of the old
aae lelsureliness be restored. Let thu
apuhtry and the city cousins take time
tn"!Sgh to visit each other in the old
%S'n,loned way and with the old-fashion
~ neartiness and sincerity, and boil
llnt ~ III =