Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1902-07-26
Genuine Homes.
From the National Criterion.

From the National Criterion.
''The most successful of city men
were born and bred on FARMS"
Not one city man in a score but has
at one time or another, said or written
substantially these words. This state
ment robs our maxim of all claims to
originality, but goes far toward estab-
fishing it's truth.
The success that has attended coun-
try youth in great cities has been
ascribed to simple food, outdoor exer-
else, freedom from temptation and
other like causes. Beyond doubt all
these combine to produce those sterling
qualities of body, mind and heart
which transform awkward country
boys into successful lawyers, doctors.
preachers, fnanciers and men of busi-
ness and affairs generally. But there
is another and, as we believe, a still
more potent factor, that plays an i'm
portant part in that wonderful trans
formation that al have noted.
The country lad has q permanent
abOde-a dome. The paternal acres
may be few and not productive enough
to supply anything beyond the bare
necessaries of life, but they still consti.
tute a home in the strict sense of the
word. 1t is the knowledge and appre-
citation of this that develop the feeling
of independence that make the farm
er's boy the peer of any on earth. In
infancy it affords feeling of security
and contentment: in youth it imparts
strength and individuality of charac-
ter, opening promises for the future; in
mature years. when far from the woods,
the creek, the meadowland and the
farmhouse with 1.-the little window,
where the sun came peeping in at
morn, - it is source of pride, arousing
pleasant memories that, better than
Bryant's forest, treasure his feeble
virtue. Beyond all question, the
sense of proprietorship that develops
with the body of the farmers son has
much to do with the battle that he la
ter SO successfully wages in the hust-
ling city.
1t is this sense of proprietorship that
gives peculiar force to- the doctrine of
that old-time English jurist: "A mans
house is his castle; it may be straw
built hut; the wind may whistle through
it and the rain may enter it--but the
king cannot.''
Those who have led a country life
understand the broad distinction that
is made, not unkindly, but as necessa-
psyyps of fho Io,
who owns in fee simple the land he cul-
tlvates. and mere renter. City folks,
to whom it never occurred that there
is such thing as aristocracy among
tillers of the soil, have much to learn.
Turn over lii your minds, you who
were reared on farms, those childhood
friends sho were the sons OF renters,
and say whether they have succeeded
as well in city life as the sons of free
holders.
Our country is a broad one and mil
lions OF acres are as yet undeveloped.
Every country boy, blessed with indus
trious habits, true self-respect and high
endeavOr, can own a farm. But this
will not be true a generation hence.
The land is fast being settled and
wealth is beginning to turn it's eyes
upon these broad acres that in the
years to come will furnish basis upon
which to predicate aristocracy.
Since the days of the Jewish Patri-
archs, the ownership of land has be-
slowed Importance upon its possessor,
and the rule has lost nothing of it's
force during the lapse of forty centu-
ties. The '.fool farmer" is fast disap-
pearing from America and in his place
is arising person of Importance and
influence. In the years to come the
American farmer-nOt renter, as the
term farmer" etymologically implies,
but the owner of the sOil-will WELD
power that city residents of equal or
greater wealth, cannot exercise The
farmer is the chief hope and bulwark
of American destinies, and the farm
er's boy will do we'll to bear the great
truth in mind, that he may profit by it.
But homes, in the true and full sense
OF the noble term, are not confined to
farms; they exist in villages, towns ans
cities. Our American cities were orig
inally circle of genuine homes, sur
rounding a nucleus known as the
business center. For the most part
these were humble structures, but they
were owned by their occupants. With
the city's growth the ground upon
which they stood was claimed for bust
ness purposes, and their late owners
removed to wider encircling zone.
For the most part, the poor and de-