The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-01-01
CITY VS. COUNTRY LIFE.
and patrons our
BY WALTER HARPER.

The world and the funny man are dis posed to look with contempt and deri- sion on the horny-handed, surburned clodhopper from Away -back-in- the woods who raises cane and potatoes by day and reads Tom Watson's speeches by lightwood knot fires at night but I am disposed to look with charity on his simple shortcomings which are over come to a great extent by some of the finest virtues in the catalogue of god lness.
 He may be an ignoramus but his in- tentions are good, and he certainly has the right theory of Gods omnipotent plan of earthly existence. God said, Thou shalt eat bread by the sweat of thy brow" He is the champion sweater of the world, and he is honest at heart. If anywhere on earth Charles Wagner could find his ideal Simple Life 1t would be in the homes of the Southern farmer of the middle and lower classes
 Here is a faithful advocate of the Sim pie Life who is bitterly 'ferninst' the strenuous, frenzied and fanatic. He is continually dubbed as "hill-billy," ''mossback' and other inelegant names, but, undisturbed, he moves on in his sim pie way and verify he shall have his re- ward.
 The ill-timed derision aimed at the 'Rubeites'' accounts to a great extent for the steady influx of boys and young men from the country to the large cities. Most country boys are ambitious, as they should be, and possessing the idea that agriculture is mean calling they has, ten away as soon as possible to the large cities, where they imagine 'respectabil- ity, fame and fortune will come down to the depot to meet them.
 They feel that they must be able to wear their Sunday clothes every day in the week. and laundered shirt with white cuffs while they loll leisurely in some frescoed office at so much salary per payday, or they fall short of the vir- tue and responsibility that is justly due them. Experience soon teaches them that instead of attaining the covoeted po- sition of honor on Easy street they have enslaved themselves at so much per pay day have relinquished almost every per- sonal liberty and are reduced to the ne- cessty of waging a most desperate fight to keep up the most shabby respectabil- ity in the world.
 Even if the country boy steers clear of the thousand vices and extravagances that beset him in the city, board bills and clothes bills will haunt him like nightmare. He will be exceptionally suc- cessful if these things do net swamp him in vortex of ruin and disgrace. Many a boy with honest intentions, af- ter a manly fight, has allowed himself to be led to ruin by the glamor of the | city's temptations. He has gone too far to return to his simple country home with grace He is not brave enough to face the battery of derision from his old neighborhood companions and he hangs on until he either sinks in failure or | gains the success he covets. And even in success his expectations are not grat- flied; it is not what he dreamed 1t was. Everlasting worry and uncertainties crowd every day of his existence. There are many chances against one that his accumulations gained by years of hard and feverish labor may be swept away in an hour.
 All this while his father and brothers it home are surrounded by modest plen- ty. They are lords of an estate that no market fluctuations can disturb or panic destroy In league with God. the Cre- ator. they SOW the seed and till the soil and he bestows the increase the margin of profit that is honest and satisfying. They have not the fine apparel of the oitv man, nor do they want or nead t, and are happier for not having f. but in their substantial overalls can face the world with a feeling of simple pr1de and ,ndependence that is worth more tlan inc soft touch of velvet and the rustic of silks
 Farming is truly profession. and one of the most skilled, honorable and inde- nendent on earth No man can consist ently look upon 1t with derision or scorn, and the boy who regards 1t as mean and Unworthy makes a fatal mistake. The son of God while on earth delighted most in telling stories of the sower and the gardener He compared the kingdom of Heaven to such as these, and the greatest kings of nations before his time herded cattle kept the docks and titled the fields on the hills and n the valleys. The most successful men Of modern times in all stations of life got their first and best training in the open fields and
 n the fresh cut furrow. It is the grand est and most independent profession in the world, and I am glad to see that the tendency of the times is changing More
 ner and boys of education and intelli- rencA arc choosing agriculture as pro- fession and arc raising the standard of .ffcisuoy and results Intelligent farm
 nr Astn0D surer and more lafting profit nan any oths trade and is brs hsa'th-
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