Mississippi leader. (Jackson, Miss.) 1892-1895, 1895-07-23
pity the fellow that has In his menu

DIOoht VI IuOoS-CoNtIcu TUCK, OF
beaten path, or wild violet bed, or IA
vorite apple tree, or a pretty, blushirg
country maid. l pity the fellow who
has no memory of the first ripe fruits Of
the summer, the first big snow Of win
ter, the first fall fire whose mellow
light bathes the old home wall and the
old-fashioned pictures, and the loving
features of the father and mother and
brother and sister. l pity the boy who
has no memory of the first spring day
he doffs his shoes, discards the foot log of
the creek, and with pants rolled up to
his knees wades the creek and watches
the soft mud squirt through his toes,
who has no memory of the laying by Of
the corn, the waving harvest, the scent
OF new-mown hay or the fruit-gather.
ing and hog-killing season.
1t Is pleasant to have been a country
boy, but outside of all these pleasant
memories, these guileless, simple
pleasures, there is something more i'm
portant to me than simple pleasures
of country home / believe that in
these country homes are reared the
men and women who most help and
keep and bless our land. l am sorry
that the country people are getting dis
satisfied with country homes, and are
longing for the life of the cities and
towns. l am sorry that so many of our
poor people have crowded into tho
slums of the cities whose air is foul with
oaths and reeking with vice. 1t is bet
ter to live humbly in the country,
serve God and bring up your children
In a country atmosphere as pure In
morals as in physics, than to seek
great wealth and prosperity in the per-
lis of the town and city life.
l would rather have a sober boy
dressed In jeans than a drunkard
my daughter would have the pure,
simple, unsophisticated airs of a coun-
try girl, and love God and do right,
than to be belle in the city ballroom,
marry a devotee of fashion, drift into
worldlihess and sin and drink at last
the dregs of a worldly, sinful, mis-
spent life. After all the United States
must depend upon her country homes
for the men and women who take care
vi IhC VI oaI
greatest lawyers, doctors and states
men and preachers look back with
pride upon the old-fashioned country
home.
Others may court the favors and tho
society of the mansion, but hero ID
my ideal home-a plain, old-fashioned
building, nesting in grove OF forest
trees near the big spring, surrounded
by fertile fields, kept by a plain, old.
fashioned, honest and pious husband
and wife surrounded by a large FAM
lily of strong, healthy, kind, indus
trious and pious sons and daughters,
where peace and plenty may be found,
the home of God and the home of hap
piness. A home where manhood finds
it's richest soil in which to grow and
its broadest circles in which to dei
velop; a home where industry, COM
mon sense and virtue live and groW
as certainly as the delta of the Missis
sippi grows its tremendous crops 81
cotton and corn; n home free from LIP
temperance and the many othet vicea
which characterize city life.
1t must be home like this around
which the angels Of God pitch their
tents: it must be home like this that
Ats and qualities immortal men for thu
home in the skies; the homo of my
dear old grandfather and grandmother,
who served their day and generation
by the law of God and fell asleep; the
home of thousands Of our best people
to-day in America; home like this,
where nature makes us natural and
grace makes us akin to the Divine. II
every boy in America could be reared
in q home like this America would be
rcvolutionized in the next generation.
SAM P JONES