Evening journal., 1907-09-02
STAY ON THE FARM.

Tn THESE days, nothing is more evident than
4 is the magnetic influence of cities upon rural
populations. The great municipalities seem, TO
the country mind, theatres of splendid action,
where are concentrated the achievements of life
the attractions, which make life more than tol-
cradle. Indeed the cities seem as lamps set along
the high road in our nineteenth-century popula-
ton; and the mind of rustic youth fed upon the
glowing reports printed in the newspapers and
magazines predspose him to initiate the moth
only to ilutter for awhile and finally to be burned
In every direction the youth of both sexes, under
the influence Of common schools, stimulated by
the recorded successes of the few who have
achieved victory, weary Of the monotony Of coun-
try life, sigh for the city with its opportunities of
profit and pleasure
But they who know the cities and have heard
the shuttle of feet; they who know its me-stones
aud have seen the boards of men and women who
have fallen between them; they who count the
successful on the hand and fail to estimate
the unsuccessful; they who know the bright,
broad thoroughfares of the well-built and we'll
lighted sections, and the dark, narrow streets and
the sunless alleys, through the slum quarters of
decaying rookeries, should advise those who do
not know the city to pause before they let their
feet wander from the peace, the serenity the con-
lcnllucut ana happiness OF the fdrm
If we contrast the life of the city young man
with that led by the country lad, we need not
spectacles TO see which is, in the long run, the
more profitable from many viewpoints To the
city young man the wiles and snares which are
natural sequences of concentrated community
life, the call of the pleasure hall and vce-paaces,
the magnetism of the pool room with their rear
end loahng rooms, where the air is favored with
the fumes of the deadly cigarette where the clinl1
OF the poker chips make the long night merry,
Tor the young man with the grit and willingness
to stake his hand-these coupled with the many
other pleasure-creating, pleasure-seeSng associa-
tions and social amenities effect an indisputable
and potent charm upon those who tempt to cross
the city border and linger long enough to know
city ways,
Farm life may not be as large as city life, but
II is the life simple, and after all, the simple life
is the only life. Farm life may have its draw
backs, its long dull, burdensome call to duty but
il is the life that gives to those who follow it
charm of simplicity of modesty and honesty that
is rarely TO be found in other walks OF the world.
| To be up in the morning with chantcleer, to
greet the god of day in his first welcome to the
morn; TO smell the new-mown hay; to see the
cattle grazing, chickens in their quest for food,
to drink in the ozone and know that another day
is to be won surely stands a better contrast in
the scale of consideration than the life which
must be lived in the smoke-permeated city. The
farm has that peace which passes all understand
ing, that beauty of life which is undehnable and
that contentment which even Tiberius, the Roman
Emperor, sought after the purple became bur
den; to which Cincinnatus, the Roman consul,
returned after he had restored the government of
Rome to stability and peace which brought from
Virgil, the Roman poet, praises i'll his eclogues,
which the universal world, if it would be honest,
must give praise likewise.
Various inducements are now being given to
young men to stay on the farm or to migrate from
the cities the farm, but little success so far has
been attained. There is yet money to be made in
farming, and just why the country young man
and young woman leave it to cast their lot upon
the city sands when the call of home is so strong
puzzles many Stay on the farm, young man.