Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-12-29
LIFE IN WINTER.
Suburban Life Not Hall as Bad as City
People Think-Its Advantages.
What II de us to live In q Ci,y's Suburbs.
Modern conv-niene-s At Your Reach,
and the City 1t Your Door
copyright 1890, by the Author. !

and the fact that my winters as we'll o,
summers we're spent thers has greatly
surprised some acquaintances 10 the city
Every one understands why people wan,
to hurry from town when the heat, dust
ani smells of summer begin, but tina,
any one should puss winter in the
/ suburbs when the city with all OF Its at
fractions is so near, passes the rotnpre-
hension of many persons otherwise intel
/ ligent. Hundreds of times l have had to
answer SUCH questions as "Isn't II
dresdfully muddy? Dou't you hsvs
trouble in getting about? How do you
exist without society? You can't ex pect
to retain servants III the winter. / sup
! pose? or courSs you can't have any
amusements, SO how do you spend your
evenings and other leisure timer
| From such questions it would appear
| that city people know the suburbs only
| through occasional hasty giances through
railway car windows. or through having
| themselves originally come to the city
| from farms, or from country villages
which differed from the farming district
only in having more houses snd mud to
| the acre.
II may quiet the wonderngs of such
] DeODlt tp KNOW tUdt tubUy OIL null
| dreis of villages within an hour, by il =,
! OF New York or any other large CITY, the
differences between city and country are
I nj most all in favor OF the latter. Places
/ with many paved roafis am tagged side
! walks, streets lighted by gas or electric
ily. sufficient water-supply and drainage
facilities, fire aut police service. good
| churches, schools, and shops. are not
hard to find These places hare been
developed by the better portion OF the
city's overflow; the head of d family
OF residents is almost sure to bs
in business in the city; he
wants all CITY conven!eucas in his
town; he votes for them and votes the
taxes which are to pay for them. School
PRINCIPALS are rs well paid In some of
these places as any in the city, aud the
average pay of ministers Is very good.
The interests aud diversions are largely
! those of the city; PLAYS an6 operas can
not be hoard in the village, but ali city
plac - of emusement are within easy
reach by rail and probably are visited
quite as often by people from the suburbs
as by city residents. Indeed, ali the
railroads keep the theater-gosr in mind
white making up time tables.
There are some special features OF life
in the suburbs which make the winter
season moro pleasant than it can be in
tbs city. One of these 10 plenty Of light
in the house. The city residence. unless
on corner, must obtain all its light
from front and rear; the suburban house
is lighted By windows upon all sides and
The difference is quickly and gratefully
recognized by CITY visitors who read,
write or sew. The suburban house Is
better ventilated, too, than the city res
idence; sometimes faulty construction
makes the ventilation altogether too
free for comfort. but there Is no neces-
sity for breathing the 'dead air. which
is unavoidable in most city houses Ia
winter.
The difference between city and ooun-
try IN winter in point of health is
marked. Many suburban towns contain
men and women who few years ago
went there from the city to die, but who
now are enjoying good health. The SUI
periorlty of country air is quickly noticed
by oil city people who breathe It. A
great city has an atmosphere peculiarly
its own; a quarter of a million residence
chimueys, assisted by thousands Of fac
tory chinneys and hundreds of looomo-
tives and steamboats,, all in an area of
twenty I've square miles, discharge into
the air an immense quantity of carbonio
acid gas and other material not con-
ducive to health, and the sewers add
emauatious grevous to tina lungs. Rivers
form an immense catch basin for sewage,
only q part of which is carried out to sea;
the current of the Hudson, for example,
has scarcely any force, and the ebb of @
tide is arrested and its direction changed
before 1t can empty the bay.
AS for society, the majority of psopls
in suburban towns are intelligent aud in
comfortable circumstances; they are
quite as sooiable by nature as their city
cousins, and enjoy the same recreations.
PARTIES, receptions, dinners, dances
and cards may be enjoyed in steady sue
cession by those who like them, In towns
of 5000 inhabitants, and evening dress 10
quite as customary as in the city. Young
people who attempt to accept all invita-
tions can become quite as exhausted
during q winter in SONS suburban towns
which can be named as in any large
city. Besides the diversions named, the
suburbs offer in winter some outdoor
sports which cannot be enjoyed by city
people except At great expsnsa. A vim
ter drive in the country Is not the taking
part In q procession of carriages at o
rate of speed fixed BY the police; country
elelRuluR Is OVoT willie suoW iu5tcu1
of the dingy stuff over which
the millionaire's sleigh must be
dragged to and through the
park. Skating and ooasting parties are
frequent in the suburbs. AS for the
children, a snowstorn or cold wave
that freezes the ponds brings delights
unknown to city boys and girls. To
other outdoor pleasures of the suburbs
in winter must be ADDED enjoyment of
the picturesque; winter has scenery pe-
culisrlv and delightfully."- its own, for
those who have an eye to that sort of
thing.
A gratifying feature of suburban go
ciety Is permsnency. Change consists |
principally of Increase, for only a small |
proportion of families ever return to the /
city. aud new arrivals sre almost sure to |
be acquaintauces OF one or more older |
residents, who soon see that they do not |
lack society. In q sububan town every |
body knows everybody, ii he likes |
and sometimes when he would prefer not |
I o do SO, and although the people divide |
into sets, as people do every where else,
no one of decent breeding lacks q |
large circle of acquaintance. Peo-
pie who ''come to stay are
quickly "sized up'' aud adopted by