Wichita eagle., 1888-07-01
GENTLEMEN EMIGRANTS.
WHY MANY YOUNG BRlTONS GO TO
AMERICA.

british Youngsters Take Kindly to this
Farm-From Social Standpoint-The
Outcome.
It must be borne in mind that the young
American and Canadian Of the more edu-
Gated class thoroughly despise farming, and
the sentiment is echoed among those sons Of
the soil who are, or think they are, too
smart to plow and SOW. Land there has
no prestige, no attraction of the Kind it has
in this country. This feeling against farm
ing is partly genuine ambition and partly
mere vulgar snobbishness, and the provincial
press is CONTINUALLY noting and deploring its
existence. The rural "buciz" beyond the At
lantic would far sooner sell ribbons or sauce
pans across the counter than work upon his
fathers farm or even upon q good one of his
own. Store keeping, except In some parts
of the south, is, in the eyes Of society In
country town, higher pursuit, less vulgar,
a more refined occupation than cultivating
the broadest of acres. This is not consider
ering the conditions Of transatlantic life,
wholly unnatural, and is in some sort a re-
action from the rough pioneering life OF pre-
ceding generations.
The stout limbed young Britcn, however,
starts upon traditions exactly the reverse.
He has as much contempt for towns, for
high stools and shopkeeping as his AnleIi-
can friends have for farming, and entirely
fails, though he may be foolish, to agree
with the latter that a position behind the
counter Of an ironmongers or bootmaker's
shop is haven of bliss It would be quite
superfuous to discuss the comparative merits
of these opposing points Of view. And this
for the excellent reason that, even supposing
the young English emigrant were less stiff
necked in the matter, the great rush Of COM
petent natives for inferior urban situations
already exceeds the demand.
TO LABOR ON THE LAND.
1t is not at all surprising that Americans
and Canadians are continually asking Us why
we bring up young men in luxury, educate
them extensively, and then send them across
tho Atlantic to labor On the landau occu-
pation which may be carried on as well and
even better by comparatively uneducated
men The question is natural enough to
people who, in the first place, do not look at
life with quite the same eyes that We use,
and in the second, have little notion of the
interior social economy of this country, and
America had vacant desks to offer to the
sons Of our upper and upper middle class, no
doubt these would be sought with eagerness.
But even the tolerably influential American
or Canadian knows well that, if he had the
deepest interest in securing the most humble
posts of this kind for half a dozen English
lads from Rugby or Haileybury, he would be
at his wits ends to accomplish the task.
L.
sibility realize the singular aversion to in
door work and the actual pleasure in ply
steal toll that by strange law animates such
q large proportion of our educational youth.
The cry of "What shall we do with our
boys?" is, as we have said, as rife as ever
among the parents Of the upper and middle
classes, who for years have been bringing
into the world far more children than they
could reasonably expect to float in their own
class in life. Nor is it any good pushing
downwards in this country, for there the
well bred seeker for work meets not only an
army of small clerks hugtling and jostling
one another to q living, but in addition to
them the inevitable, ubiquitous Teuton.
Poor as are the prospects Of the gentleman's
son without brains, money or interest, a high
stool in such sphere, even ii it could be
won, what is itl Fifty pounds year, the
disadvantages without the advantages of
great city, constant struggle to keep the
nap on the coat and tie loaf in the cupboard,
inferior companions, bad air, bad tobacco
and music halls.
THE FINAL OUTCOME.
English people who look upon the cleaning
out Of pig styes as horrible degradation,
but riding on a moving machine perform
ance not unworthy Of gentleman, would be
regarded by an American farmer as showing
signs of softeuing of the brain. The perfect
repubIicanism of the farming community
beyond the Atlantic, which so often irritates
the English gentleman ernigrant of capital
who becomes proprietor, stands in good stead
those who have to work for e-hers. The lat
ter, at any rate, have no material anxieties.
They may go, within certain limits, almost
where they choose, and making certain of
food and lodging and sufficient wage. II
their lot is cast among class socially lower
taan that in which they We're born, it is pro-
portionately kinder hearted and less likely to
leave them in the lurch in case of unforeseen
misfortune. If the physical work is hard,
there is a large proportion of English youth
to whom physical toll Is infinitely preferable
to mental labor and deprivation from fresh
air. Sometimes this is only fancy and
youthful excuse TO be rid Of books, but often
it is perfectly genuine and viii stand the test
Of years.
Social sentiment is deeply adverse to such
a line Of life, but, after ell, what a trifling
thing is this when placed upon the scales with
bread and butter and an average degree Of
happiness If there are more gentlemen, to
use an ambiguous phrase, brought into the
world than can be maintained in O soft
handed and black coated state, demand and
supply must assert themselves. For the youth
who has no intellectual hankerings and
whose chief delight is in his physical powers,
one can imagine manya worse fate than that
he should be absorbed into that immense and
industrious class who ell the soil Of the
American continent He viii be none the
worse for his gentle rearing If he have tact
and sense. Even il be lose his superficial
graces and become almost unrecognizable in
the course Of years from the ordinary work
ing farmer of the country Of his adoption,
what harm is itl Is there any special happi-
ness in this life, or extra chance Of it il the
next, in possessing certain tricks Of manner
and speech that indicate neither virtue, in
dustry, honesty or even education Ia its com
forting sense, Fer what do young men Of
this kind, whose education has been to them
simply bore, ard its result q hatred Of
books, lose by such life II they SIRE other
wise happy, healthy and industriouSe-Mac-
Eillan's Aiagaz;Re