Madison times. (Tallulah, Madison Parish, La.) 1884-1???, 1886-01-16
THE STUPID VILLAGER.
Burdette Compares Him with
Some City Folk.

Some City Folk.
ar am simply staggered by the
Opaque stupidity of the average vii
lager" says Miss Kate Field, as
quoted by New York reporter. 81
am just from Clifton Springs, and
have had an allopathic dose OF rural !
stupidity. l speak the sad truth,
she continues. enlightenment pre-
walls most exclusively in the cities.
In the small village ignorance stalks
on every corner in unblushing effront-
cry. As soon as the young men I'm
the country VILLAGE arrive at mans
estate they seek sociability at the bar
room"
Now, there is q great deal OF sad
truth in all that. The very saddest
kind of truth. All, yes. How Opaque
the stupidity OF the village err
rand boy; how clear the lntelli-
gence of the rapid messenger" OF the
city, who keeps your message a week
and then gives it to the wrong person.
How faultless the porter; how marvel
ously accurate the waiter; how seldom
or never do we scarcely hear any COM
plant on the part of city people OF the
stupidity of city servants. And the
wisdom of the city man in the higher
| walks of life. With what intelligent
| caution does helook about him in the
railroad car, to see if any man be near
to hear, before he tells his wife wheth-
er the field of millet they are passlngls
wheat, or spring rye, or winter oats
| or buckwheat. And when he tells her
that the Berry OK is so called because
he is always q red OK, and the off-horse
Is only used to help pull up hill, how
does the stupid viliager hide his dimin-
ished opaque head.
Rural stupidity" even in home-
| pathic doses, will stare at
balloon until it is out of sight,
but you must go on Broadway to
see the superior intelligence of the city
assemble q crowd of 500 business men
around hole in the ground to watch
couple of Irishmen dig down to a
leaky gas main. 1t is in the city OF
New York that the police have to
clear the sidewalks and compel the
crowd of enlightened business men to
move on when stage horse falls down.
1t is New York city that intelligent
people trample each other to death in
order to see the wind blow q mans
straw hat off the Brooklyn bridge.
One cannot remain great while IN
the city without observing the supe-
rior intellectually of the people.
Yes, it is 1.-The sad truth; enlighten-
ment prevails almost exclusively in
the cities while Gin the small village
ignorance stalks in unblemishing
effrontery on every corner" All,
yes. The enlightenment 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 refresh
ing, indeed, after ian allopathic dose
of rural imbecility at Clifton Springs"
is an intellectual stroll. down the
academic shades of Baxter street.
| After the marrow limited compass
ofthe farm, what Joy to the Platcnic
soul to fly from the depressing social
intercourse of the village and seek the
sweet converse of the Baconian minds
in the haunts of the slugger; how
tonic, how broadening the sapient
conversation of the tough and the
sand-bagger. After the ''corroding
prejudice" that warps the views OF
narrow minded farmers wives, how
like the mamma of the brain comes to
the hungry mind the improving con-
versation of the lady who yanks rags
out of the gutter with an iron hook;
how welcome the early visit OF
the gentleman who wishes to know
if you have any antiques in the way OF
hats to dispose of; how like water from
the flinty rock in the waste of rustic
stupidity, comes to the soul, starving
for intellectual pabulum, the expert IL
unappreciated bric-a-brac, the PROBES,
sor of Junk, who with his humble, but
intellectual dogcart makes phycholog-
ical collections of automatic bottles
and polemic boots. How intensely
hitherto it all is?
'If," says Miss Field, "a man in the
country has any ideas he straightway
goes to the city" All? Yes, i'm the
autumn he does. The country roads
are thronged with him now He has
the Idea" that leads him to the city
He has an 'idea" that it is growing
too cold to sleep under the trees and
straw-stacks, and so he seeks the
warmer and lees 'stupidly" ventilated
police station. The tramp is a city
creation, and his exclusive intelligence
was fostered on free lunch route.
Yes, indeed. Something must be
done to enlighten the appalling stupid
ity OF the country villagers, or alright
ed reason, in abandoning all this fail
land outside of the fenced cities to
eternal and rural ignorance, will
climb some tall and lonely tree and
pull the tree up after her.-Burdetts
in Buffalo Truth.