Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1904-02-04
Miss Maude Fitz is visiting in
De Soto. ISAAC.

Miss Maude Fitz is visiting in
De Soto. ISAAC.
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA, Jan. 1, '04.
Thos. p. Fitz, Esq, Des Arc, No. =
Happy New Year! my dear old
friend to thee and to all who are
within thy gates, and many, many
returns of the day. Your most
welcome letter has just been read
with feelings of pleasure, not I'M
mixed with sorrow. Pleasure at
hearing once more from an old and
valued friend, who of late years
from no fault of his or mine, so
far as we are aware) had almost
dropped out of my life; and sor-
row, because of the sad accident
which befell you just at the advent
of the Christmas holidays, stretch
ing you upon a bed of suffering
and turning flor you and yours)
the great natal day, with all its
glorious traditions and memories,
into a eason of pain and anguish.
How fortunate, how blest you are
old fellow, if you must be sick at
all, to be sick under such circum-
stances, to-wit: to be at your own
home in the bosom of your family,
watched over and tenderly 'nursed
by the loving hands of wife, chill
dren and friends. All! Tom, the
poet knew whereof he sang, and
his harp was attuned on high,
when he gave expression to that
beautiful sentiment and said:
''If the stock of our bliss is in stranger hands
vested,
The fund Unsecured Oft in bankruptcy ends.
But the heart issues bills which are never
protested
When drawn on the firm Of Wife, Children
and Friends"
Again he goes on to pay that
splendid, but well-merited, tribute
to woman, and sings:
go! Woman, in our hours of ease,
Uncertain, coy and hard to please,
And variable as the shade
By the light quiverlng aspen made,
When pain and anguish wiring the brow
A ministering angel thou"
But you are doubtless already
crying, "a truce to poetry and
sentiment, and return pray, to the
the sober realities of life" n \
| do not know how longit has been
since you were here, but this old
country has undergone many and
very great changes in the past
thirty years. Here, as elsewhere,
the towns are growing at the ex-
pense of the country. Real estate,
exceptin, and Immediately around,
the towns, has deprecated from
so to 60 per cent. Agriculture
that grandest of all vocations-is
languishing. How can any coun-
try hope or expect to be prosper
Jus under such circumstances?
The young birds, even before their
wings are fully fledged, leave the
parent nest and fly to the public
works in the town or city. The
old couple, no longer able to work
themselves, and unable to employ
labor under present conditions,
cultivate Dr. rent the best patches
and a garden spot, and let the rest
of the farm grow up in brush and
filth of every description.
There are saw mills all over this
country now, cutting lumber off of
land that was being tendedi in corn
and tobacco when | was a boy;
and there is one right on my
fathers old farm, cutting lumber
on land that | plowed and hoed in
various crops when I was a boy.
Such is life. The poor, foolish,
deluded people IRE all rushing to
the towns to-day; tomorrow, or
some day, the tide will turn, and
they will get back to the country
faster than they ever left it. God
speed the day when this shall hap
pen. But you will say, che is
prejudiced in favor of the country"
Perhaps [ am; I'm free to admit
that I love the country and despise
the town, OF rather, | pity the town.
The purest, the best types of man.
kind that | ever met were in the
country. My highest ideals T
found there, and | am never so
happy as when wandering through
the '''pathless wood" in the pres
ence of the matchless creations of
the Great Architect; or seated up
on some rock-bound coast watch
ing the curling waves as they
ceaselessly burst upon the shore,
and listen with awe and wonder to
the music of their roar. 1t makes a
man feel his littleness and insig-
nificance most painfully, Tom; but
at the same time it elevates and
enobles him; fills his soul with
high and lofty aspirations, and
begets and fosters a spirit of true
respect and admiration, to say the
least, for the great Creator.
Yours, Sincerely,
r. T. MINOR.