Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1905-11-21
Life in a Country Town.

If God made the country and man
made the town then the devil made
the little country town. This must
be the inevitable conclusion of one
who accepts as the whole truth the
CT trent pictures in novels or drama
O. this or that Bird Center. It's crud
ties and eccentrcities, its dinginess
narrowness and meanness. have been
thrown on the canyass in such great
Caubs of local color that the result
is as misleading as an impressionist
painting which is catalogued ahawk
and looks like handsaw. Some
times the picture is kindly humorous,
and we get the idea that the popula-
ton of Bird Center is composed of
cheerful idiots, harmless and anus
irg; again it is vindictive and the
impression remains that it is made
up of what McCutcheon's Hoosier he
70 of "The Sherrods' calls ''the mean
est lot God ever let live In any
and every case the Bird Center that
We read about is a very different thing
from the Bird Center that we live in.
Different, too, is the real thing from
tie Bird Center We hear about from
the great man who. being given no
choice in the matter. was born there
end remniscently paints the little
town in glowing colors because of
this fact.
Strange to say. the highest praise
that | ever heard bestowed on Bird
Center came from a foreigner, eel
ebrated German architect who had
| designed a soldiers monument for
enc of our western capitals, and ex-
pressed our patriotic ideals for us in
! H.
| first went to your country he said
4 visited only the cities and there
| looked in vain for anything pecu-
llarly American, distinctly democrat
! ic, in your social life. | saw only a
new version of London, Paris Or Ber-
lin, raw reproduction of the social
order of the old world. But when
| | became acquainted with some Of
your little towns. there | found a
phase of life quite unlike anything
VIC know in Europe. quite superior
to any social organism we have yet
developed. There your people seem.
ed really to believe that men are Gre
ated free and equal. The same priv
ileges and opportunities were enjoy
cd by all. Men of all occupations
and professions met on the same So
cial footing. | have seen one of your
senators walking along the street in
friendly conversation with the man
wno made his clothes (the architect
had no nose for political MICE. have
been entertained by ladies who did
their own work without fear of losing
caste, who discussed art and foreign
politics with me without suggesting
the blue stocking Or the new woman
These communities We're often cen
tiers of culture and education: each
shared his best with his fellows; and
all seemed united in the bond of mu
; tual improvement and general wei
fare
An Englisnman once gave me his
opinion that town life was the most
satisfactory mode of living in Amer
lea. There is too much hurry anG
worry in your Cities he said. "toC
much hard work and too great isola
ton on your farms" Only the very
rich among you can really enjoy eth
> er city life of country life. For the
man of moderate means the small
town offers the greatest advantages.
A distinguished French woman WHIT
had been tne guest of one of the pro
fessors of an Illinois college wrote il
her published impressions of America
=, Il found a real Utopia, a woman!
paradise. a place where living wa
simple and natural where no artif
: cial barriers had been erected wher
. housekeeping was reduced to its sim
! pest terms. My hostess and he
three daughters did most of the wor
a Of the house: the one who served IL
4 gracefully at the table played the p
ano with more than an amateur
skill: another chatted fluently to m
in French while she made my bed
all three were students at the univel
j. sity from which their father and mott
S or had graduated in the same class
= This little college town seemed I
l. me the fine flower of American den
Il ocracy.'