Wichita eagle., 1889-08-28
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OUT WEST Is VAGUE.
"A RELATIVE TERM SUBJECT TO SEW
ERsL CONTINGENCIES.

Real and the wild wooIly''-An Incl
dent in Buena vista's Early Days.
When Horace Greeley said go west,
young man, go westl" he should have ex-
planned how far west he meant. He should
have said whether he meant west of Chicago
or merely west Of New York, for 1.-The west'
Is merely relative term, and place that in
some localities is spoken of as 1.-The west" in
other portions of America is mentioned as
''back east"
In Boston and New York even Chicago is
Thought of and spoken of as ''the west" while
in Colorado every small town in Indiana,
every hamlet in Missouri, Iowa, Kansas or
WISCONSIN is mentioned as ''bacai east.
So tho terms 'out vest and back east"
are, after all, merely relative and mean only
so much or SO little of the real east or west as
may enter into che conception of certain
localities Nevertheless there are distinctive
sectional characteristics belonging to each
There is an ideal west, a real west, a cultured
west, and, alas and alack-a-day, ''too, too
utterly Wild, woolly west"
TIE IDEAL AND REAL.
The ideal west is ''the land of the free and
the home of the brave" 1t Is redeemed, re-
generated and disenthraIled from the tout
worn" creeds of a materialistic and often
corrupt civilization. II is not afraid TO say
that its soul IS its own lest it should lose
.dir8e or risk the loss of dollar. 1t has no
Exaggerated ideas in regard to the value Of
money. 1t has ''old fashioned" notions of
lpropFlety and has no foolish Alterations,
6ondly supposed to be $50 English, you
tnaow." Il has strength without brutality,
dignity without pomposity, sympathy with
out 'Agush," and a discriminating hospitality
that never fails TO render "honor to whom
honor is due" Tho ideal west has liberty
without license, conformity without servility,
ambition without small trickery, and mag
.nifcent enterprise that means devotion TO
noble uses
This is The ideal west, and it is fair as the
moon, bright as the sun, and to all forms Of
itgenteel ignorance" il is indeed terrible as an
army with banners, for it has '+franknesS
in saying what others only think"
. The real west differs from the ideal and is
open TO the same objection advanced by Mr..
lHowells' young lady who refused her lover
because be was too much Of mixture"
The READ west Is like a merchants lob lot
where twenty-five cents will buy an article
worth fifCy Gants or one worth only ten cents,
5accordinG to me discrimination OF the buyer.
There is amofified west where certain land
marks enable one to feel that be hes got out
of the Wilderness of utter chaos Reasonable
iconcesSioz5+-o bong established and widely ac-
jcepted customs take away the ''stranger-ln-a-
Istrangelandh feeling incident TO the totally
hsInaccustonlesi apdone is given leave to be"
that discloSes ia a very short time the nature
land extent of his possibili ties and limitations
The cultured west is the ideal west and is
perhaps dream Of Utop5a, since it has both
lVigor and elegance, both law and liberty,
sIoNeT without tyranny, and an independ-
hence whose most eager and joyous manifesto
tion is 10 sqccor the weak and comfort the
faint hearted and lend hand to help every
'beneiicent influence.
TIE "gIiD AND Woo1LYn WEST.
Tho Wild woolly''is kind according to its
of 'kindness" Sensitive people
-sonletimes shrink, rs from = red hot iron,
syhen This kin jIE5ss" happens to touch a
t'gRlled spot;7 but IN that case they are
t.very sensitive OF real cranky" or Jaw
fully exaciiag," or '+oetter go beck east If
they don't like our west" Nevertheless,
.kirdness is kindness and not to be spurned
whatever its manifestation.
To illustrate; a woman once died in the
ltown Of Bueua Vista, Coo She wss the
mother Of four or five children, and the en-
tire family ltved IN two small rooms and
Flrank the dregs Of prosRio and repuisive
poverty The woman died suddenly and died
hn red flannel underwear, chat seemed TO
lmake death more hifaeous.
Nothing in her surroundings bat the chill
lylren suggested anything not simply repul-
Lsive.
NothnrieSsrcss, however, is always pa
sthetic, and when the husband and father at
tempted to idli himself the syHipathies Of
1.-The entire community were aroused and the
little hut was packed with sympathetic
sneighbors auu frierads anxious to render the
last honors ID the dead AMI the first offices of
Blindness TO the living The funeral sermon
WAS preached IL one % the village churches,
land there was not o vacant seat.
( The dead woulaIs!s female relatives came,
fdresssd in "their Sunday best and with a
a1rofuslon OF HAIR dressing suggestive of in
HervalS when curling irons had usuTped the
throne of grief and anticipations of the
funeral had obtained the mastery over slr-
a,ow's mad abandon. The funeral sermon
was 'nterary' effort, I'D at its close the
Econgregation WIS requested TO avail them
selves Of 5he corpse ny passing up one aisle
land down another, in order that they might,
tby viewing the deceased, who was men
hionsd Is tho deceased,7 show their ire
spects 10 the dead" There was nothing TO
do but to march up with the procession and
view the woman In her coffin, if one would
hot refuse respects
| She had died in red flannel: she had been
salfow and thin and violently ca deshabille
dn her death hour, yet in her coffin she wore
white tlrletan and artificial flowers made of
paper, home made, and evidently made for
1.-THE occasion Her face was covered with
Fcosmetics and her forehead prolusely orna-
i1nented with State pencil cuEls.s narrow,
Stiff, burned Spd laborious curs that would
Iilave made a professional hairtlresser hang
himself ia rage at this travesty of his art
Thus did the kindness OF the wild woolly''
tmanifest itself and therein was it perhaps
quite as successful as in its intellectual
salads" literary lunches" and cultured
hcircles,r and Yet it is suggestive that large
majority of the wild woolly west" were
born in New England and emigrated from
the rural districts there and elsewhere.-
Agnes Leonard Hin IN Chicago Times
Abolish Mourning Clothes.
Much might be done toward abolishing tbs
tcustom of mourning by means OF arbitrary
methods of clothing If people, when masking
their wills would add few words 70 the
effect that they wished their relatives TO
make no change in their dress, writes Lady
Hsbberton Ia The Woman's World. IL Is
quite Impossible to believe that any one can
derive pleasure from The thought that has or
her death will entail a certain amount OF dis
iconFort on their dearest friends True grief