Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1886-09-03
GET OUT OF THE CITY.
SUCH is IHe ADVICE OF TIE POET
OF TIE SlERRAs.
What Joaquin Miller Says of New York
The yIne-Clad Hills Of the Caroiinas-


!
Life In the sierrss-AriIona and New
! Mexico.
Get out Of the cities and stay out of the
/ cities The cities of the United States are
/ too big entirely. mean To say that our
( population in the cities is fearfully dis
| PruportiOnate TO our population IN the
| country. To say nothing about the cold,
clear truth that neither genius nor great
Judgment ever fiourished in city with
out first drawing its milk from the cOun
try beg YOU 10 compare England >
| country population with her city popula-
tion. and then ours. Take France II you
like it better, or Germany. You will be
startled But have neither space nor
disposition TO debate or cry out against
this cowardly disposition To hide away in
the commercial, pork packing cities 1f
America But will say this of New
York, city | know fairly well from some
years of residence there: never saw such
ignorant people anyw here on earth as the
people OF New York. Yes, they read. But
what do they read' The papers And
the papers they read are the New York
papers. They simply read OF themselves
their own sins. their own fOllIes, their
ton Of crimes set and served as break
fast dish by the brilliant men OF the pens.
Get out of that place and stay out of 1t.
Get ont of all sGch places Get into the
country. into the lifted hills if you can.
1t is only little distance to the glorious
green and vine clad hills of the Caru!inas.
Send some one Of your number down the re
"a see those fruitful and healthful hills,
and my word for it you will not willingly
spend all your life inside the line of folly
which makes up life in a great city. Get
out OF those places with your children. No
English gentleman vino can afford 1t will
leave hls children "a the follies and the
sIn> Of city. NJ wise man will, Of
whatever land. And so IL is with a warm
heart should like to respond Ia this cry
which appeals TO me from the cities for
homes and Information about homes in
the west.
Frankly then, | would first say go
down into the pleasant mountains Of the
CarOlinIs first, because that Is close by.
G., bit OF land there II you like il. Get
II now. 1t will never be cheaper than il
is now. Next year it may be double its
present price. at least, inquire there
rather than Of me. DO You know that
nearly all our grapes in the eastern states,
well as elsewhere, came from the Caro-
Lnas long ago. Do yuu know that the
medical herbs of the Caro.inas took the
worlds prize in Paris, DO yOu know
that these silent and vOIceleSs states
have given the world the only
new gem that has been named
since Christ was born' Go down and look
at these states. They are close by, and no
wild beast or wild man will dispute your
path. 60 to Cherokee county. You will
find gold there. You will tinI plenty of
Cherokee Indians there still | have seen
at one time at least twenty free born
daughters of these brave people standing
in the water TO the knees washing for
gold Go down there and see these lands
first.
II you do not like it there, and can af-
ford 20 come TO the Sierras. why come
here and companion with the peaks. Only
get out of the cities. repeat 1t for your
own good, for the good of the nation, get
out of the city and stay out of the city.
But don't come TO California with the
idea that you can be idle. There are too
many here who are possessed with that
notion already.
II you want great future tO be won
with great enterprise, 90 to Arizona and
settle On the broad fields Of grass and take
your chances on finding water some
where down in the earth. | would say
the same thing of New Mexico. And |
advise either Of those territories before
California. simply because they are closer
at Your haud-the very same reason for
urging the Carolinas on your attention
before O,her places.
Let me say this, as traveller and man
who loves Mother Earth and makes him
self familiar with her: All lan1s are more
alike than You imagine. And wherever a
mRu has set his foot and found the land
of milk and honey he has remained The
honey Is in the possession of the other
man all the time, wherever you may
travel Goodness didn't we 60 through
all this when hunting for gold here
long ago. How many an old miner will
turn TO You now and testify that if he
only had staid where he was in some
mountain gulCh, with pure air, pleasant
surroundings, he would have, all in good
time, had a. much gold a. he could carry.
But no, il WAS always little further
on. Oitentime II WAS far, far way. Now
It was Owens river. away in the south;
now il was Frazer river, far in the north;
yet either place. as a rule, no better than
the nearest little gulch to our cabin door.
So, in settling. decide what you want to
do. And decide first this: That no man
has any right to stay in city unless he is
bound by his duties to stay there. The
mean and selfish desire TO stay in city
for pleasure is about as low a desire as
can think of. Indeed, the selfish pursuit
OF pleasure anywhere, or of any kind,
merely for pleasure sake, is unworthy
Of any man. The pursuit of pleasure is a
wuman's pursuit; and very weak order
OF women at that.
As said before, il it Is big money you
want, and big work, large Drained enter
prise, take possession of Arizona There
are no Indians there, as a rule. The news
paper must have its Indian story every
week But there are no Indians TO trouble
you there. ! am almost i'll sight OF Capt
Jack s old lava beds here. And down at
the bottom OF the beds are settlers who
have been there entirely undisturbed for
a quarter Of Il century.
Go to Arizona If you like. Leave your
guns and take your plows spent a week
down there as you all know. last spring,
when the Indian stories We're full size
and rode far and wide looking al the
lands. And always rode alone, and, Of
course. uuarmed.
But if you are leaving the city in search
OF health simply, come here. Come here
and settle on hill 50 steep that bear
can knock you half way to the bottom of
it in the first round. And my word for it
the work of climbing it in this sweet air,
with these white trout streams all about
you. will cure you OF almost any malady
before the year is over. But you will not
get rich-Joaquin Miller in Chicago
Times.