The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1888-03-29
Don't go West-Stay at Home.
Etou, the Ualhalla Courier.

From the H,alhalla Courier.
There is mine Of truth, applicable al
we'll to mental, moral and financial ad
vantages in pursuits, as to physical OBJ
jects in the lines of the poet, Campbell
"Tis distance lends enchantment to the
view,
An clothes the mountain in its azure
hue"
The most rugged objects lose by remot'
ness their deformities and take on an
inviting appearance. To the eye view
ing them at distance the enchantment
is increased by the Imagination. We
think Of the pleasure of wandering
through interminable shades, with bub.
bling springs of pure cold water on all
sides, and cool health giving breeze
driving away the heat of the summer
sun, of the deer and quail and other wild
game with which this enchanted land
abounds, and We want to be there. Thit
is natural to those living in the region Of
sandlappers aud alligators, where the
water is green and blackish, where the
atmosphere is loaded with chills and
fever and all kinds of malarial diseases
but to us, who live in the pure air limpid
water and shady groves of Oconee, who
live in town and country at the same
time, who enjoy the luxuries and conven.
fences of cities with the retirement and
peace of country life, who are in few
hours of the great commercial centers Of
the nation and but twelve hours more
remote from all parts of the civilized
world than are cities by the sea, Why
should we look longingly at the noun.
tains as place of health and pleasure
Go there and you will be disappointed,
You will find no home comforts. What
looked enchanting at distance is ugly,
broken, deformed, its very ruggednesa
suggesting sublimity, being its only
attraction. The pleasures of walking
amid shades is forgotten in the toll Of
crossing hills and hollows, rocks and
logs, and struggling through crush and
undergrowth. For GOODNESS and rest you
have heat and fatigue and night finds
you dreaming of the home you have left.
Even the wild game is not 80 plentiful
and you doubly pay for it in the labor
and fatigue of its capture. You soon
long to get back home. In the moral
world the Bible says the heart is deceitful
above all things and desperately wicked,
In the physical world the eye, aided by
the imagination, deceives and too often
misleads US to our ruin. 1t produces q
restlessness of mind, want of content.
ment with our lot or sphere in life, q
longing for something better, which leads
many to break up house and home and
set out in search of some unknown, un.
discovered place and employment, q
Utopia in life.
Let us apply this to those whose eyes
are turned longingly Westward, believing
there they will find ease. comfort, con.
tentment. They hear of corn and bacon
being in places so cheap as to. be used in
emergencies for fuel; that from 25 to 4C
bushels of wheat are made to the average
acre; that there they will find fields Of
miles perfectly level with not stump in
them. Suppose all this true and in man,
sections it is substantially true, what
then? You say here land must be clear
ed and grubbed and by the time the pillow
can run through it smoothly it is washed
away and worn out. If this were true
the fault would lie with the man and moi
with the land, for a good farmer shouli
and will every year increase the fertility
of his land. But you say the land there
does not need this. If it does not, ani
this is limited to few and unhealthy
sections, the people labor under many
disadvantages. In prairie life you woul6
want to see stumps and trees, and ever
feel your plow strike them. You woulc
want drink of water from tho spring
ground at home. You would want tt
see the faces and grasp the hands o
friends in sick moments. The fnancia
enchantment of the place would disap
pear as soon as you reached it. How
many who go return? How many fai
to return from want of means rather
than want of will? How many acquain
tauces there have grown rich or are il
better circumstances than they coult
have been with like management here
Some, there, are doubtless prospering
perhaps have become we'll of. Hay
not an equal number here prospered
They have paupers there and SO. have VI
here. We noticed in the Granbur,
Graphic, of February 25th, that support
ing the paupers of Hood County, Texas
last year cost the county $1,000. That
more, in that land of milk and honey
than the support of paupers cost ou
county. Besides, in the most fertile ant
level sections of the West water as vel
as wood is scarce and the water general
ly is impure and disease generating
Besides where products of the soil ar
larger and easier made, the price of then
is proportionally low, 80 that q large
quantity is required to buy articles no
grown on the farm. Taking all thing
into consideration there is no great ad
vantages in countries on the same parable
of latitude, the apparent difference res
ulting from ulterior causes. Some mel
who fail of success here 60 West AM
succeed. The reason generally will b
found in the man and not in the country
Change of location sometimes breaks oil
associations and habits which have clogg
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