The Arkansaw traveler., 1885-11-14
THAT srue,p vILLAoRR.
Robers !, eurdet,e. in Memphis Times.l

 stupidity Of the average villager,s says Miss Kate Field, as quoted by N New York reporter. "i am just trom Clifton Spi HS and have had an allopaihic dose of rural stupidity. speak the sad truth. most exclusively in the cities. In the small village ignorance stalks on every corner in unblushing effronteY, As soon as the young men (in the country villagel s:-ve s: mans estate they seek soctahil. ity at the bar-room."
 Now, there is great deal of sad truth in all that. The very SaddeSt kind oi truth, An, yes, How opRouc the stu. p,disy of the village errar d boy; how clear the intelligence ot the rapid mes Sepger ot the city, who keeps your mes sage week and then gives It to the wrong person. Ho~ ftulOeSs the porter; !; how marvellously accurate the water. how seldom or never do we scarcely hear auy complaint on the part of city people ot the stupidity of city servants, And the wisdom of the city man in the higher walks of lie. With what intelligent eau ton does he look about him in the rail way car. to see tt any may ee near ,o hear, before he tells his wiie whether the field ot nilles they are passing IS wheat, or spring rye, or winter oats, or buck wheat. And when he tells her taa; the Berry OK IS so called because he is al. ways red OK, and that the of horSe Is only used ,o help pull up hull, how does the stupid villager hide his diminished opaque head.
 Rural stupidity" even in home. opa,hic dsscs, will stare at balloon uu- til 1t is out of sight, but you must go on Broadway to see the superior intelligence of tue city assemble crowd of i've hun. dred business men around hole in the ground to watch couple ot lTishmen dig down to a leaky gas main. IL tls in the city of New York that the police have to clear the sidewalk and compel the crowd of enlighted business men to move ou when a stage horse falls down. li,s in New York city that intelligent people trample each other to death in order to see the wind blow mans straw hat of the Brooklyn bridge. One cannot remain great while in the city without observing the superior intellectually of the peo. pie.
 Yes, it is "the sad truth enlig ghtment HtCNdlA inOSN NANAQaLNNiJ III NuC NttCat while" in the small village ignorance stalks in unblushins etiiontoty on every corner" An, yes. The enlighument of the lower wards, for instance. The charming refinement of Bedford street Philadelphia. The superior culture and intellectually found in the slums of New York. How refreshing, indeed. after "an allopathic dose Of rural imbeciliy al Clifton Springs" is an intellectual stroll ddA the academic shades ui Baxter street.
 After the narrow limited compass of the farm, what joy totAe platoni~ soul, to fly from the depressing social inter course of the village and seek the sweet converse of the Baconlan minds in the haun;s of the slugger how tonic, how broadening the saplent conversation of the tough and the sand bagRer, Alter the corroding prejudice" thlt warps the views of narrew minded farmers wives, how like the mama of the brain comes to the hungry mind, the improving conversation of the lady who yanks rags out of the gutter with an iron hook how welcome the early visit oi the gentlem an wbo wishes to know Il you have any an tques in the way of hats to dispose of; how like water from the f1inty rock in the waste Of rustic stupidity, comes to the soul, starving for intellectual pabulum, the expert in unaPpreciated bric-a-brac, the professor of junk, who with his hum ble, but intellectual dog cart makes psychological collections of automatic bottles and polemic boots. How in- iensely hitherto it all is2
 "If.' says Miss Field, "a man in the country has any ideas he igh,way goes 10 the city" Ahf Yes, Tn The autumn he does. The country roads are thronged with him now. He has the idea that leads him to ,he ctty. He has an idea that 1t is growing too cold to sleep under he trees and straw stacks, and SO he seeks the warmer and less " s,upidIy" ventilated police station. The tramp IS d city creation, and his exclusive intclii gence was fostered on fee lunch route.
 Yes, indeed, Something must be done to enlighten the appalling stupidity of the country villagers, or affhghted Rea- son, in abandoning all this far land outside of the fenced cities to eternal and rural ignorance, will climb some tall and lonely tree and pull the tree up af@Y her