Birmingham state herald. (Birmingham, Ala.) 1895-1897, 1897-01-15
FROM A DESERTED VILLAGE.
Notes by "a Country Parson" on Higher
Life Possible in Obscure Hamlets.

Notes by "a Country Parson'' on Higher
Life Possible in Obscure Hamlets
Not deserted, mind you, in the sense
that the houses are untenanted and the
primitive street untrodden by foot of
man, but deserted as to crowds Of people
and great manufa curing business The
sun puts on his crown, and takes it off
again behind the encompassing bluffs
and the noble river sixty miles from its
source flows singing on toward the sea.
Far from the madding crowd the coun-
try people are most in evidence OF sun
day at the church of John Calvin, where
the old theology Is not revised, out OF
knowledge and a RAINBOW Bible is NOT
the inspiration of speech. Romance and
tragedy here form the wool of many
humble web, and Destiny with her distaff
spins a curious maize.
Here the yoemanry have lived, forgot
ten of the world and the world forgot all
about us Tor a good part of the year. Ma
ture is enacting her drama and farce.
John Burroughs tells us how this can be,
and If we go afar afield accompanied by
1.-TWO Goody eyes," we shall see what We
shall see. The evening sky, the proScen-
ium of the night, has some fair visions for
the watcher from the hills. Ruskin alone
could make ink into pigment and paint a
vanishing city, that is created, but to dis
solve, in splendid dust. l1.a45e
Df. stalker says very pf0IOuHuly, LII d
village the view outward is circum-
scribed. but the view downward is deep.
and the view upward unimpeded." II
this be true, and we quite, agree with the
English preacher, those who dwell in the
humble corners of obscure hamlets are
not without compensations for their soli-
tude and silence. At least hundreds of
thousands are obliged to. go back to ma
ture every year, to ,recuperate. the ex-
hausted and harried life. To be snre, the
dweller who hobnobs with Mother Earth
has not his ear to the telephone, his cot
tage is not warmed BY steam. and the
electric car has. not straversed the I'M
speakable roads. q Water and gas do not
answer the touch of spigot, and pol
shed shoes and sidewalks are not so
much in evidence, But, bark YEA mans
life consists not In the abundance he pos
sesseth. The life is more than meat and
the body more than raiment to the true
philosopher. The environment of the
hamlet is favorab BILE to the making of
brain and Drawn; II you doubt it, remem-
Der how many country boys rule and
reign in the marts OF. business, and the
halls of 1itera ture. Dr. McCosh and DR..
Mark Hopkins were once footing the
Berkshire hills, deep in the discussion of
fate, free will, free knowledge, abso-
luter' @h 7a.-s tiA@ki
When the Scotchman looked UP sudden
ly, confronted as he was by huge bowld-
ers,as if 1t had been thecompetingg ground
of the Titans, and asked, Doctor, what
do you raise here?" the great teacher re-
piled with a sly twinkle, Men, sir; men,
1t Yves in the wilderness of Stockbridge
that Edwards prepared his treatise on
the Will, which if read will occasion the
headachs in most urbane jewellers, and
whatever we may say of its inexorable
logic, it has made profound impression
on human thought. And It was in Stock
bridge that Princeton found president
for its college
AS you go speeding through the valley
and see some tiny village nesting among
the hills, with passing glimpse of
a primitive belfry and humble cottages
| struggling along a winding street, do not
| forget some of the sprofoundest problems
| have been thought out, some of the
sweetest poetry born in the solitude and
| quiet of country lanes. M
| Sweet country life, to such unknown.
| Whose lives are others, not their own!
| But serving courts and others be
Less happy less enjoying thee.