West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1898-08-04
LIVING vs.. yEGErATiNG
why II Is food Thing TO Widen the
World une Lives In.


special Contribution 4or THg ARosvs
AZ the present moment, when
We have "A war on our hands, when
our sectional differences are hap
ply buried, and when every news.
piper reader feels an interest i'm
such hitherto little known localities
as Puerto Rico aud the Philippine
aud Canary islands. il may be
good time Ia call attention TO the
thought referred TO in the head.
lines Of this article.
We Americans believe ourselves
the foremost nation of the world,
aud VIC have "a right to think so.
To put the case in few words. no
o;her nation is so wide awake, so
ingenious, and so cntcrprlslng.
The number of our people who
travel ubont extensively, and hence
became familiar with many parts of
the Union. is very large. But the
humber oil people who are confined
by circumstances to their home
neighborhoods IS not only immense
1y greater, but the proportion will
continue to increase. For while
very many Eastern people have
friends in the West, even the newer
sections OF the West are now meas
urably filled up. In course of time,
those who migrated West will have
passed away, and their descendants.
native to the West, will seldom
deem it worth while to maintain
any communication with their kin.
dred East. So as the country
grows, the tendency to rove about
@lll diminish.
TO many and many person,
and / speak of hose who are by
nature as intelligent as any Others,
the only real world he knows is
portion of his own county. His
knowledge OF his home neighbor-
hood and its people is very thor
ongh. but beyond Its borders, the
world rapidly becomes a mere vague
expression. 1t is not real to him,
because he he's not seen it, and has
not particularly read about it. He
accepts the outer world as an un-
doubted fact, even though his idea
of Louisiana or Montana may be us
misty as his idea of one OF Cesar's
battles.
How often we meet the person,
who, after quitting school, has
never seriously thought of regularly
enlarging the store Of knowledge
he then began to acquire. HIS
school books are gone. There is no
anap in his house. Two or three
neglected books lie in some corner.
and he takes no publication except
his county paper. At his loungIug
places, his talk is generally con-
fined TO matters when relate strict
ly to the little world that he is ac-
qnainted with. Odds and ends of
information are now and then
picked up, but they are apt to lie
an his memory without much sys
tenn. This same man is generally
a useful and patriotic citizen. But
would not he be more useful and
patriotic one, aud would not life be
broader and richer to him, il he
had more definite knowledge of the
world in general and America in
particular: People are often sen
sible OF these deficiencies. OF not
lew occasions, l have heard
Tuckahoes" express themselves
an this form "I'd just like to
travel through the North and West
and see the country" That rich
W. oSNANo W tuluh AHtIG - no
other way to exercise his benevo-
lence than by giving large sums to
great colleges for the promotion of
sky high learning, might use some
OF bis money TO still better purpose
by filling one train with Northern
people, another with Western pso-
pie, and third with Southern
people, and giving them a free
tour through the Union. The
smOnnt Of good that might be done
through such an excursion is sim.
ply incAIcuiable. IL would bear
fruit for q life time. Bat travel Is
rarely free. IL devours money rap
IDLY. The only way within ready
reach Of the average person is TO
nse the eyes Of others. The proper
a