The southern sentinel. (Winnfield, La.) 1883-1910, 1886-08-13
CITY LIFE.
Why It Proves Fatal to Individuality an'
the Sweeter Emotions.

Why It Proves Fatal to Individuality ana
the sweeter Emotions.
The tremendous growth of cities is
one of the most striking phases of mod
ern civilization. London already boasts
population of nearly 1000, 900 and the
great English metropolis still grows
with the rapidity which characterizes
our Western towns. Paris continues to
absorb vast proportion of the wealth
and energies of France. New York will
soon be to America what London is to
England. On both sides of the Atlantic
numerous cities of the second rank con-
stitute arenas in which the great battle
of life is fought with pitiless.rixFy and
kavage intensity. The proper and ade-
quate government of great cities pre-
sents one of the gravest problems of the
time; for, behind all the splendor of the
metropolis, there stalks the specter OF
the mob, whose fury is ever estimated
by the contrast between boundless lux
ury and hopeless squalor.
OOf course, this phase of human life is
almost as old as the lace itself, but in
Vulnerable circumstances have con-
spired to intensity the strain of city life
in our money-getting age. The means
of intercommunication are so perfect
that the denizen of the modern metropo-
lis seems to throb with all the activities
of the great world beyond. The neces-
sites of the moment seem more
imperious than they ever seemed
before. Little leisure is left for thought,
action has almost come to be the cause,
rather than the consequence of thought
In the modern city, as in ancient Rome,
''plain living and high thinking" have
. bitter struggle for place. The ten
dency is toward the profitless luxury
and vulgar ostenation which follow in
the train of superabundant wealth. In
cities more frequently than in the COM
parative calm of county lite is present
ed the perplexing problem which Thack-
cray has crystallized in the phrase. 'How
to live on nothing a year, and the de-
sire to solve this problem lies at the bot
tom Of the frantic speculation which at
tracts eager thousands to the worlds
great commercial exchanges.
The importance of the city to the
development of civilization is not to
be denied. It is in the great centers
of population that the triumphs of hui
man genius are mostreadily recognized
and most munificently rewarded. In
cities money will command luxuries
which the country can not give US at
any price. Polish of manner, taste in
dress. cosmopolitan tolerance OF opin-
ion, quickness and penetration of
thought are the logical consequences of
the daily rivalry of great bodies of
men. Yet, after all that can be said
in favor OF cities. it remains undenia-
bly, true that the essential truth and
beauty of life are to be found beyond
the limits OF unyielding brick and
mortar. A vast proportion of the
worlds poetry has been written in
cities, but the true poets heart is always
in the green fields and by the gentle
streams which he has known in other
days. The country air seems to possess
= finer essence that fills the heart with
nobler impulses than are to be felt BY
him who treads the pavement in his
round of ceaseless toll. The most
splendid pile can rouse in the soul
no such sense of beauty as that which
stirs us when we see the noun
tdsAs standing out against the
matchless background of the sky, and
the weary toiler win seek in vain,
within the city's confines, for the per-
feet rest which comes to him who
hears the murmer Of the winds as they
stir the fragrant pines. City life is
luxurious and splendid, but it is almost
invariably fatal to individuality and to
the sweeter emotions which give to ex-
istence the only enduring charm.-N
o. TSDses-Democrat