The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1903-08-24
THE REVEREND JESSE K, BRENNAN.
Pastor Of st. Marks Episcopal Church.

close many Of our city jewellers will be re-
turning from the country where they have
spent their vacations seeking peace for
no aed ahs f from hs sys
the sharp contrast between city and coun-
It's Try Is presented every summer. As one
| city life to the calm of green fields and
country roads lined with white juniper
blooms and yel!ow-hearted daisies and he
beneath wide-spreadipg trees famed by
| breezes fresh and cool from Blowing over
h M, a meadows n;s Of verGure, instead OF over
heated brick and asphalt, he must some
times doubt the c;tys arrogant claims TO
superiority.
And when he goes to bed. soothed to
slumber by the soft grooming of the tree
frogs or the striduous lullaby of the katy
1lds, and to rest unbroken by the dis
eordant grunting of some belated automo-
pie, his original doubt is deepened And
on. the glory Of summer sunrise in the
country. What rapture Of song from feath-
and Jubilates!
The brown and yellow wings of the
neld iarks flash through the meadows. the
soft cooling OF the doves. in the dust of the
road the young rabbits play; the leve! rays
Or the sun touch the dew on fields of grow
chanticleer. VI
And all. the smell of the earth when the
from that awful rush and hurry that wears
out the nerves of the city dwellersi How
beautiful and majestic the slow march Of
Yet all the charm of the country cannot
a aec,n the :, young our g., men there. They are
! only the women are left; and Of the city
boys: how few ever think of career in the
e eS Statistics bear this out, They
creases much faster than that of the coun-
try Is this rush to the city a wise or
ave ies r. Are the
greater? Or Is not this movement to the
city rather one of the symptoms of moral
%beS ,S in the body polite and
ing for excitement and that desire ' to o. GET get
rich quick that are two of the most serious
moral diseases of our time?
wealth that is true. nor does it minister
no glittering possibilities of enormous for
But. on the other hand, all the true
ideals of contented life are afforded nv
the country at least in equal measure with
THAT farm life proves unattract,ve is
due to the way much of IT is done The
average farmer is creature of custom and
routine; He walks in the way Of his faith
even Of agricultural papers; he Is NOT
seeker after knowledge or Improvement.
He does not labor steadily ali the year
medically. He keeps no accounts, and does
not know what crops pay and what do NOT.
He tries no experiments and profits but
little and slowly by those Of others He
exist. He wastes the manure of his farm
and gives little or nothing back to the. soil.
On many farms one looks in vain for proper. 1
barnsA for, sios. for tile draining, for
proper rotation of crops. for good fences, for
orchards. for thorough tillage for GOOD
gardens, for care Of machinery. for most Of
the things that make the A. B. c Of sue
..And farming communities are ant to he
as slipshod as the individual farmers. good
roads are the exception. good schools do not
exist. good doctors are rare, churches are
poorly supported and seldom preached in.
SOCIAL life Is at low ebb. public spirit
called for. people grow careless and sloven-s
" In their dress and In their manners, men
not lifting their hats to women in driving
past.
THE love of the beautiful is neglected.
Few farmyards are neatly kept, few have
flowers or well-kert lawns So the pleas
ures of life are neglected. Little or no pro-
vision fog pleasure Is provided. not even 1
good DRYING or riding horses. no tennis !