The Newtown bee., 1899-11-17
N0wtOwn, FridaY, Nov. u, 1899.
The Home Circle.
Looking Forward.
lwRrrrrs ron THE BEE ]

ed to be transported on for q century be
yond the one in which / was then living
seemed to be living in the year 1000
In my dream was carried over Ehi
whole country. / saw and talked will
the people of all conditions of life; cues
toned them In regard to their manner o
living and in regard TO the prosperit,
they were then enjoying under the exist
ing order Of things. I was surprised q
the many changes which had been mad
during the last century, changes which
without question were for the better.
was greatly surprised at the evident pros
| perity majority OF the people were en-
| Toying. There was poverty it is true,
"a there always has been and always
will be, but the decrease from that in the
century had left WAS so great as to bt
at once noticed. The same sun that shone
down upon me in the century before wal
still shining down upon the people saw
in nay dream. 1t was not, however,
shining upon desc reed farms and uncul'
tlvated fields. Lands, that q century be.
fore were overgrown with bushes and
weeds, were now under high state of
cultivation. None of the farms appear
ed to be very large but each and every
one seemed to be receiving the best Of
care. Even the fertile plains OF the West,
upon which there had previously been
great farms of miles in extent, were now
divided into small farms, the owner OF
which appeared TO be prosperous and
happy.
The large cities, that were large cities
before, were still large cities, though not
nearly so large as thew had been in the
past. The Inhabitants of the country,
however, appeared to have multiplied
many times during the century that had
past. One hundred years before this
time, people were leaving the farms in
large numbers and going to the large
cities In pursuit of the will-o-the-wisp of
fortune, In place of which a majority of
them were compelled to accept poverty
instead. 1t appeared that during the
last 100 years the peopls had been only
TO anxious to leave the city and get on to
the farms, where they could get good
living, thing utterly impossible in the
large city and could bring up their chill
dren In the fresh air of nature, to be
strong and healthy men and women, a
thing almost impossible in a large city.
1 saw man, who, by his appearance and
by the appearance OF his farm and build
ings, gave Indication OF being good rep
resentative Of the farming interests. I
questioned him In regard to the great adj
vancemeut In farming interests during
the last 100 years, also what led to such
great impr Jvements and to the present
condition of the farming interests. In
reply he gave answer in substance as
follows:
One hundred years ago the farmers
boys, with scarcely an exception, lsft the
farms as soon as they were able to earn
living for themselves. They thought
the farm was Q Il work and no play, and
10 money, while in the city it would be
all play and no WORK with plenty of mon
ey, and almost surety OF being able to
retire In few years with an ample for
tune. The natur / consequences of this
was, the farms we're neg acted, the build
tuRs tumbl I'd down, what had been fair
fields grew up TO brush, and there was
scsrctly anything left to show the places
had ever been inhabited. The hunter
and the fisher nan roamed over the fields,
which had once been able to furnish a
competence for large families of strong
and healthy sons and daughters of the
tillers OF the soil. This large influx from
the farms made the large cities SO much
larger. Added to this was the natural
growth of population, also large num-
Der of immigrants, who went at once to
che cities. All this made the cities an
unwieldy size, and made calls for POSI-
ions that we're not to be given. AS there
we're not positions sufficient to give, in
every city hundreds and thousands of
men, every day, thronged the streets in
search Of employment, which of course
Ghey could not fnd, as there were two
applications for every position that was
TO be given. The families OF these men
lived IN dark, dIngy and dirty tenements,
several stories in the air, and iu,hundreds
OF cases abs lutely without food or cloth
ing, except what they received from
charity. Everyone knew that with a
large msj )rity Of our missi1 nsries look
ing after the starving poor of foreign
nations, 1t would be utterly impossible
tor the few home missionaries to success
fully sook after the starving poor of our
own country. Thee people forgot it
was every persou,s frat duty at home /;
that their obligations to the people of
their own country was greater than te
those Of any other. In all the large
cities scores of missionaries might have
found employment In ministering to the
physical wants IL not to the souls of the
many thousands, who had not penny
they could call their own. The people of
these large cities lived, sometimes, as
many as fifteen or twenty in single room.
Their childr an grew mp In ignorance, and
thew we're q continual menace TO the
heal b OF the community. Poverty and
the surroundings were continual temp
tation to the commission of crime.
Words cannot picture the degradation
and abject misery to which these people
were hr lught. Soon foreseeing people
began to see that one great thing TO do
was to reduce the congestion In the cities.
Well disposed people began to form So
cities for the purpose Of using their in
fiuence In trying to induce the poor peo-
pie of the cities to go into the country
and take mp the abandoned farms. At
| first it was mp hill work. 1t was almost
| like pulling teeth TO get one of these
half starved people to leave the city.
Even In their poverty, the city with ibe
| uoise and hustle seemed to have q strange
| fascination ( r them. After q while
however the labOrs of the societies began
to bear fruit, and an exodus towards the
country was begun. People are like
sheep, when some one has set the exam
pls all will follow. Ii was so Ia this
case. After few had gone others be-
gan to follow, until there was great
demand for farm l,nds all over the coun-
try. People who had scarcely done any
thing towards pr ducipg now became
producers snd many times larger cosum-
ere. Instead OF being paHpers in large
city, dependent upon charity, they be
came self supporting formers.
| Farm products are the basis for al
values, hence prosperous farmers made
and always will make . prosperous coun
try. Many other. changes have heeI
made during the last 400 years and SOM.
OF them, perhaps, have had quite o.
much effect upon the prosperity OF tbt
country. This ended my interview will
the representative OF the farmers. Hen
ry Bert.
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