Waterbury Democrat., 1901-04-02
THE TRAGEDY OF crrY. LIEF.

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 One or the most marked character. lstics or our American life is the drift or youth from the country fo the cities. The daily glitter and ey. citement. presented wildly thro,leh the medium of the always available newspaper and low priced inagazine naturally makes u very strong appeal 10 young men, restless and discontent- eu. under the more or less depressinp innuence of rural isolation. They turn thef eyes citywarG, and, if they can posslDiy manage it, they go to the city. lms may bespeak ambition, but too oIten 1t is an ambition that mains and klHs. 1t is true, as Daniel Webster. ueciafed, that there is plenty of room It the top; but, looking at conditions squarely, we must know that the ion must always be for the few, and not for the many. believe that no lphor- ism IS more mistaken than that often heard in our public schools that any Doy may become president of the Unlted States. In political right we may nave equality, but in little else. The high stations of life can be attain ed only by men of exceptional power or opportunity. The vast majority must be content with average places; and, for such places far exceeds the demand. We cannot blind ourselves to the fact that in our great cities there is deplorable congestion. The lodging houses are overfiowing with men seeking work, many unfortunates shiver through the nights in the public squares and parks.
 1t is true that the reason for such failure as this, often lies in the man himself, but 1t is also true that in many cases the man's chief fault is that he has the average human weak nesses, and only limited and untrained power with which 10 combat condi- tions of exceptional difficulty. The man must live. The exigencies of life press down upon him and crowd him into paths that lead to demOralizatior and perhaps to outlawry. The undisci. plined country lad bids goodbye to his home, and, strong in hope, comes up to the city. There Is danger that, a few years afterwards, his character and body will have been impaired or broken by the struggle. What pay. ment is this to his mother for her love and care? Is there no tragedy in this !? To me there Is nothing more deeply tragic in American life At home. in his own community. the boy would probably have done fairly we'll. In the big city his strength was not equal to the opposition and the temptation. In this connection I have heard used the well-worn expression, '.the survival of the fittest." We can regard with complacency the application of this principal to lower forms of life, but d hao txx1n AZ ply to our fellow-beings. 10 boys and may not have had the moral and physi- cal vitality of some others, but who still have souls.
 It cannot be denied that there are many opportunities for young men in a city like New York. Trained young men are in demand. A great city de- stroys blood and brawn and brain faster than 1t can make them. Numer- ous lusty youths, who possess the strength of body and character that are best generated and developed by q simple country life, come to the city and obtain footholds thnt enable them to climb to positions that seem far higher than they might have reached at home. But most of them pay an enormous price for their success. It is said that a railroad engineer who drives his passenger locomotive at the rate of fifty or sixty miles an hour must sooner or later be put on slower work, because his nerves give way. Nearly everybody who leads n typical city life is driving q high-pressure en- zine. Every day we crowd on q little more work or a little more pleasure than the nerve mechanism will stand: and every day, little by little, the ma chinery is wearing out. At last the weakest place breaks down, be it brain or some other organ, and the man is broken--almost always before his time. To find somebody to take his place becomes a question, and there is n response again from the young man who has been bred in the country. the young man who is willing to work with all his might. And another mor- sel, to be converted into the city's bone and sinew, passes into the rapacious mnw of the city. that great, restless monster always hungry for youth and ardor and energy.
 The urban recruit is in danger of losing his individuality of thought and standpoint. In tle country, there is ample time for self-communion: in the city, notwithstanding the call of many interests, the young man should make time for meditation. He should think for himself retain his self-possession. belong to himself. He should main tain that simplicity which is strength, avoiding affectation in ideas, in man. ner. in dress; thinking more of what he is than of what he appears. Amid the confusion arising from the wor- shipping of many gods-the god of money, the god of power, the gods of intellect and knowledge, the numer- ous others he should strive earnestly to maintain q right standard of values. ing neither his mind nor his body nor his soul. he may become one of the men who conquer the city and find in 1t their greatest sphere of usefulness.