Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1908-06-24
to the delights Of the country. and Who


to the delights Of the country, and who
still do not want to entirely discard
those pleasures of the mind which
find expression where books, and mu-
sic, and paintings and sculpture are to
BE- found, there is q practical half way
vantage point where both rest for the
body and zest for the mind may be
easily combined.
There is nothing in the mode of liv-
ing in city which is not more or less
tyrannous. You must do so and so;
you cannot do as you like, of course.
You are hedged about by modes of life
which, while largely artificial, are in
sistently obtrusive. You cannot breathe
pure air; you rarely drink pure
water; you must abjure outdoor exer-
else; you are almost certain to have
nerves and indigestion. You are no
worse off than your neighbor, but he
are.
There is sound philosophy in the
theory of life in the country near to a
city. AS for suburban life, the or
binary brand, it is, if anything, even
more odious than apartment life. The
cliques and asininities of the average
modern suburb are something which
combine to make more than average
per cent. of suburban society mere az
gregations of snobs and parrots.
The trouble of suburban life is that
the suburbanite carries the country
to his Office and the city to his home.
He gets up as early as farmer to
catch the train in to town, and he
apes city customs and society Gus
toms while he is in his home town. He
wouldn't be caught without a collar
for money. Even when he works in
his little garden he is dressed for the
ball"
Now you don't have to knuckle
down to these things when you have
gotten out little ways into the coun-
try, and you will be pleasantly sur
prised at the first sweet feeling of
freedom from restraint 1t is the
same way with both women and men,
Each one enjoys having little relax
alton from the eternal drop, drip,
drop, of the baneful drizzle of con-
ventionalities, that take all of ones
time, and make leisure an unknown
quantity in the affairs of life
We left the farm with many lin
gering look over the fields and hills
where we had passed so many happy
days. We left it with the unquench-
able resolution not to spend the rest
of our days in "steam-heated fiat" or
any such penal institution. Not to
condemn Lenore to "straight- jacket"
existence Of unvarying "dress parade"
Not to look back over years as mere
shadows that went by in the night,
like dreams, but as real existences,
where we had lived and striven, where
we could look back and say, in such
month we were here, or there; or
were doing this or that and not to
have all time be just blur out Of
which deaths and births should crawl,
like flies upon window-pane
After all, we are not going to lire
for an eternity. And to live Wisely
means leisure, both for mind and
| body. Can you get it in the cities?
Hardly, without great wealth. Can
you even then? 1t seems doubtful!
Is constant striving the answer to the
problem? "All work and no play
makes Jack dull boy" You can get
! leisure of mind best in the country,
but if you are too far from city you
will be obliged to take life second
hand from the papers and magazines.
There is something more in life than
the printed page. There is life in the
| streets, in the theater, at the concert
| halls, in the crowds, in the pulse of
| the cities as we'll as in the peace OF
| the country.
1t follows therefore as the night tho
! day, that the wise souls will cleavo
to the heart of nature for the enduring
beauty and healing influence of her
myriad moods, and turn with just as
eager anticipation to the contrast that
the city affords to the alert mind, and
the philosophic observer.
Filled with this belief We packed
our belongings and household goods,
and left the farm behind But not in
any nor many years will we forget
the keen sense of actual personal loss
as we looked over the meadows ana
woods for the last time, at the we'll
loved trees and the waiting orchard,
at the slopes and hills, the valleys and
ravines, the distant timber line, and
last at the little white house itself.
Ay De Mi. "Lochaber no more; fare
we'll to Lochaber."