The prison mirror. [volume] (Stillwater, Minn.) 1887-1894, 1892-11-17

the finances and markets OF the cOun-
try.
The forsaking of the farm for city
life is one of the great evils of the time,
and, SO far, it has received no apprecia-
BILE check. Every young man, appar-
emily, who thinks he can get a living in
the city, or at the minor centers of pop
ulatiOn, quits his lonely home upon the
farm and joins the multitude Once in
the city, he never returns. NOtwith-
standing the confinement and the strait
ened conditions of his new life, he clings
to it until he dies, adding his family to
the permanent population of his new
home. Mr. Greeley in his days of act
i've philanthropy, used to urge men to
leave the city-tO 60 West-tO join the
agricultural population, and thus make
themselves sure of competent liveli
hood. He might as well have talked
to the wind. a city population can
neither be cOaxed nor driven into agri-
cultural pursuits. 1t is not that they
are afraid of work. The average work
er of the city tolls more hours than the
average farmer in any quarter of the
country. He is neither fed nor lodged
as well as the farmer He is less indie
pendent than the farmer. He is bond
slave to his employers and his condi-
tiOns; yet the agricultural life has no
charms for him.
Whatever the reason for this may be-
it is not based in the nature of the
work, or in it's material rewards. The
farmer is demOnStrably better off than
the worker of the city. lie is more
independent, has more command of his
own time. fares better at table, lodges
better, and gets better return for his la
Dor. What is the reason. then. that the
farmers boy runs to the city the first
chance he can get, and remains, if he can
possibly find there the means of life?
1t can only be found, we believe, in
the social leanness, or social starvation,
of American agricultural life. The
American farmer, in all his planning,
and all his building. has never made
provision for life. He has only con-
sidered the mean of getting living.
Everything outside of this everything
relating to society and culture-has
been steadily ignored. He gives his
children the advantages of schools. not
recognizing the fact that these very adj
vantages call into life new set of So
cial wants. n bright. well-educated
family, in a lonely. farmhouse. is very
brought up in ignorance. An Amer
lean farmers children, who have had
few terms at a neighbOring academy.
resemble in no degree the children of
the European peasant. They come
home with new ideas and new wants.
and if there is no provision made for
these new wants. and they find no op-
pOrtunitieS for their satisfaction. they
will be ready, on reaching their major
ity, to fly the farm and seek the city.
If the American farmer wishes to
keep his children near him. he must
learn the difference between living and
getting u living: and we mistake him
and his grade of culture altogether if
! he does not stop over this statement
and wonder what we mean by it. To
get a living. to make money. to become
fOrehanded" this is the whole life to
agricultural multitudes, disconraging
in their numbers to contemplate. TO
them there is no difference between Iiv-
ing and getting u living. Their whole
| life consists in getting living: and
when their families come back to them
from their schooling, and find that.
really, this is the only pursuit that has
any recognition under the paternal
roof, they must go away. The boys
I'push to the centers of the cities, and
fthe girls follow them if they can. A
young man or young woman, raised
to the point where they apprehend the
difference between living and getting a
living, can never be satisfied with the