The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1897-08-24
A QUAINT VILLAGE.
THE ODD FOLK IN AN OLD FASHIONED
NEW ENGLAND TOWN.

There Is No Caste, and Almost Perfect ;
Equality Exists-Far From the Busy /
BustIing World and Free From Its Many
DisagreeabIe Features.
Nobody starves to death in our village,
but some of our mountain folk who live
far away on byroads, in places which are
often inaccessible in winter are very poor,
Ill nourished and Ill clothed. However,
the prevailing tone In Asher Dill's store
and in the village generally is q humorous
one, tone of irony and of good natured
sarcasm. Almost everybody cultivates a
fine sense Of humor-in fact, to be humor-
Gus, and especially to be good at repartee,
is the one intellectual ambition of the COM
munity. We do not care much for learn
ing Of any sort Our letters, which we
put off writing till about six months after
they are due, do not excel in grammar or
penmanship. And it is really astonishing,
even to ourselves, how little we care for
what goes on in the outside world We
read the papers with only a lanRuid inter
est being more concerned about the trivial
events in the next town, duly chronicled
in the county paper, than we are about
what is said or done in Washington, in
London or in Paris. But the sense OF hu-
NOR is developed among us in childhood
and is never lost, even in moments Of diff
Guilty or of danger.
Last Fourth of July desperate charac-
ter who lives on a mountain road in the
outskirts of the town drove into the viii
lage in little rickety cart, waving over
his head a woman's broken and battered
sunshade, which he had picked up some
where. He was very drunk, and before
long the cart was upset His horse, half
broken colt, kicked and plunged and tried
to run away. The fellow pluckily chung
to the reins and was dragged about on the
ground hither and thither, being finally
extricated from the ruins of his cart. But
through it all he kept tho sunshade in his
hand. II don't care anything about my
SELF" he said, as he was assisted to his
feet, the blood streaming from his face,
nor about the hoss, nor about the cart, but
I wuz determined to save this beautiful
parasol.
To discuss why this humorous spirit
should be the prevailing spirit in an An
glo-Saxon community Of Puritan descent
would be q difficult though pleasant task,
but must content myself here with the
obvious remark that it could not exist ex-
cept in connection with an ample back
ground Of leisure Our village-perhaps
this cardinal fact ought to have been stated
at the outset-enjoys a blessed immunity
from railroads. The nearest station is ten
miles off, and the mails come by stage,
which arrives anywhere between a. IN.
and midnight-except on some nights in
winter, when it does not arrive at all, be-
ing prevented by snow storms. Our man
ners, though a little brusque, are good, as
manners always are in a community which
has no "social superiors." " Every man in
the village who is not specially marked
out by vice or poverty feels himself to be
the equal, in all essential matters, of every
other man in the world, and this feeling
goes a long way toward producing that
equality which it assumes. There is alb
solutely no stealing among us; it would be
perfectly safe to leave all your valuables
on the front piazza at night, and perhaps
this immunity is one result of equality.
To steal Is confession of inferiority, in
tolerable among equals. lCheating in a
horse trade stands, of course, on a different
footing, and may be practiced without en-
tire loss of self respect.) Mr.. Howells has
expressed this truth. II believe" he says,
that If ever wo have equality in this
world, which SO many good men have
] holSd AuIt lutlJ Will DO UNKNOWN.
The absolute equality which prevails
among us has its good and bad sides 1t
makes vulgarity and snobbishness impos-
sible. We are coarse, but never vulgar
| Vuigarity implies a consciousness or semi
! consciousness Of inferiority and among
Us, as l have said, there is no such con
sciousness On the contrary, there is
want Of reverence in the village There Is
no person or group of persons TO set a
! standard of manners OF of morals for the
rest Of the community Nobody looks up
to anybody clse-not even to the minister
| Age itself scarcely invites respect, and
this want Of reverence gives a certain hard
and fiippant tone TO our lives The physi-
clan stands as high as anybody in town,
and yet it was only the other day that 1
heard him addressed by little, dirty faced
boy, not 12 years old, as "doo." "Say,
doc, when does the next school term be-
ginr' was the inquiry made by this urohin
In all sincerity, and the "doc" gave him a
civil answer taking no offense at bis want
Of respect. Monthly.