The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1900-08-17
CITY AND COUNTRY.
DR.. Talmage Talks of the Good
Done by the Former.
He Says 1t Is the birthplace of Civili-
ration and Not Necessarily
EviI-Some Advice to
the Young.
copyright, 1900, by Louis Klopsch.l

and the empress dowager, DR.. Tai
mage sends this discourse, in which hi
shows the mighty good that may be
done by the cities, and also the vast
evil they may do by their allurements
to the unsuspecting and the unguard
ed. The text is Zechariah 1:17: "My
eities through prosperity shall yet be
spread abroad"
The city is no worse than the coun-
try. The vices of the metropolis are
more evident than the vices of the ru-
raj districts because there are more
to be bad if they wish to be. The
merchant is as good as the farmer,
There is no more cheating in town
than out of town-no worse cheating;
it is only on larger scale. The coun-
tryman sometimes prevaricates about
the age of the horse that he sells,
about the size of the bushel with
which he measures the grain, about
the peaches at the bottom of the
basket as being as large as those at
the top, about quarter of beef as
being tender when it is tough, and to
as bad an extent as the citizen, the
merchant prevaricates about calicoes
or silks or hardware.
And as to villages, think that in
some respects they are worse than
the cities, because they copy the vices
of the cities in the meanest shape, and
aS to gossip its heaven is country
village. Everybody knows everybody's
business better than he knows it him
self. The grocery store or the black
smith shop in day and night is the
grand depot for masculine little tat
tie, and there are always in the viii
their sunbonnets hanging near, so
that at the first item of derogatory
news they can fly out and cackle it all
over the town. Countrymen must not
be too hard in their criticism of the
citizen, nor must the pillow run too
sharply against the yardstick.
Cain was the founder of the first
city, and I suppose it took after him
in morals. 1t takes a city a long
time to escape from the character of a
founder. Where the founders of
city are criminal exiles, the filth, the
vice, the prisons, are the shadow of
those founders. 1t will take centuries
for New York to get over the good
influence of the pious founders of that
city-the founders whose prayers
went up in the streets where now
banks discount and brokers bargain
and companies declare dividends and
smugglers swear custom house lies,
and above the roar of the wheels and
the crack of the auctioneer's mallet
ascends the descriptions: eve worship
thee, o almighty dollari" The old
church that used to stand on Wall
street is to this day throwing it's
blessing on the scene of traffic and on
all the ships folding their white wings
In the harbor. In other days people
cities for defense-none but
the poor, who had nothing to be
stolen, lived in the country, but in |
these times, when through civilization
and Christianity it is safe to live any
where, people gather in the cities for
purposes of rapid gain.
Cities are not evil necessarily, as
some have argued. They have been
the birthplace of civilization. In them
popular liberty has lifted its voice.
Witness Genoa and Pisa and Venice.
After the death of Alexander the
Great among his papers were found ex-
tensive plans of cities. some to be
built in Europe, some to be built in
Asia. The cities in Europe were to be
occupied by Asiatics; the cites in Asia
were to be occupied, according to his
plans, by Europeans, and so there
should be a commingling and a fra
ternity and kindness and a good
will between the continents and be-
tween the cities. So there always
ought to be. The strangest thing in
my comprehension is that there
should DE chickering's and rivalries
among our American cities. New York
must stop caricaturing Philadelphia,
and Philadelphia must stop picking at
New York, and certainly the CONT |.
nent is large enough for st. Paul and
What is good for one
,ity is good for all the cities. Here
Is the great highway of our national
prosperity. On that highway of ma
tional prosperity walk the cities.
A city with large forehead and
great brain-that is Boston; a city
with deliberate step and calm manner
that is Philadelphia; a city with its
pocket full of change-that is New
York; two cities going with rush
that astounds the continent-they are
st. Louis and Chicago; city that
takes its wife and children along with
THAT is Brooklyn. Cincinnati,
Louisville, Pittsburgh, all the cities
IF the north and all the cities of the
south, some distinguished for one
hing, some for another, one for pro-
iessional ability, another for aff1uence,
another for fashion, but none to be
spared. What advantages one advan.
ages all. What damages Boston COM
non damages Washington square.
Laurel Hill, Mount Auburn, Green
wood, weep over the same grief. The
statue of Benjamin Franklin in New
York greeting the bronze statue of
Edward Everett in Boston. All the
titles a confraternity. I cannot I'M
ierstand how there should go on bick-