Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1902-10-31
TOWN AND COUNTRY BOYS.
Many Lines Of Business and Inc
dustry in the Cities.

A country boys lack of opportuni-
Ties is his best equipment for the seri-
gus struggle of life. This sounds
paradoxieal, but lie is true. Tt is just
is true n the opposite proposition,
hat the greatest hindrance city boy
has to contend with are the oppor-
.unities which beset him when young
and pursue him till he begins the real
business of Hfe-a business which each
Individual must carry on for himself.
For the city boy everything is made as
easy as possible. Even pleasure be-
comes to him an old story before he
S out of his teens. Brought up in the
feverish rush of a place where great
things are happening day by day, he
sees the world with cynic's eyes and
despises the small things which, like
the bricks of a house, go to the up
building of characters and careers.
He believes in using large markers in
the game of life; for pennies and small
units of value he has little taste and
scant regard, writes John Gilmer
Speed, in Brandur Magazine.
The conditions surrounding the
country boy are as different as posi-
ole. There is a good deal of regular
work that every country boy must do.
and this regularity of employment,
mostly out of doors, inculcates indus
trious habits. while it contributes to
physical development which in after
years is just as valuable as any athletic
training that can be had. He cannot
run as fast, perhaps, as those trained
by system; he may not be able to
jump so high or so far, or excel in any
of the sports upon which we bestow
so much time and from which we get
so much pleasure, but his development
enables him to buckle down to hard
work in which hours are consumed
and from which very little or no i'm
mediate pleasure is extracted. His
strength may be something like that
of cart horse, but the cart horse is
to be preferred where long and
steady pull is required. The thorough
bred race horse has a fine flight Of
speed and canters with delightful
lightness and grace along the bride
paths. but the heavy work is the work
most in demand, and for that we want
the draft animals every time.
Enthusiasm is the spur to endeavor,
and at the same time it is the SAVIOR of
life. The country boy whose ambition
has taken him to town comes in filled
with enthusiasms. Even the little
things are novelties to him, and as he
accomplishes this and that he feels
that he is doing something not only in
teresting, but valuable. His simple
tastes have not been spoiled by null
tiplicity of qualifications, and so he.
is glad of everything good that comes
his way. At 80, if he leads a clean life,
he has more of the boy in him than his
city cousin has left at Is. He does, what
is before him because it is his duty,
| while the other is too apt cynically to
question the value of doing anything
and ask: what is the use?''
Of the men who have achieved great
prominence and high influence in our
affairs of state the country boys are
at least twenty to one over the city
lads. Nowadays, indeed, our cynical
city lads look upon men who take an
active interest in public affairs as
rather low fellows and quite beneath
| their aSsOcia ton and notice. But the
country boys are at the top in other
| lines of endeavor. In finance they are
preeminent, and the great bank pres
| idents to-day in the great cities nearly
| all learned to read and cipher in coun-
| try schools where birch and ferule had
| not succumbed to the civilizing infiu-
ences of scientific pedagogy. Our great
| railways were in the main built by
| them, and to-day the administrators of
| these great companies are in great
measure from farms and villages,
| from places where work began in
early infancy, and sense of duty de-
| veloped while still the lisp of child
hood fingered.
| Some of the city boys, however, are
of such sturdy stuff, and endowed with
such natural gifts, that they succeed
| by reason of their inherent superior
| ity; others succeed abundantly be-
cause they have used their opportuni-
| ties wisely, and in real life have pur-
| sued the same course which enables so
many country boys to win fame and
fortune. The more honor to them for
| having survived their too great oppor-
tunities. But the country boy when
he comes to town reaches out for the
| high places; though not all find seats
| of the mighty, nearly all of the exalted
stations are filed in the end by men
of country birth and country rearing.
for they usually start out with the
sound theory that what is worth hav-
ing is worth striving for.
| So Devoted.
Mrs. Hartt-Yes, ] have no doubt
| there are unhappy marriages, but
| really I cannot understand how they
are possible. Now, there's George
and I, we are so devoted. He says he
| could not exist without me, and I'm
sure I live only for him.
Mrs. Greene-You really are to be