Rocky Ford enterprise., 1908-06-12
The reasons for discomfort among


the girls in the country is largely con-
fined to the on-marriageable age.
After they have attained the dignity
Of young ladies'. when the season ar
rives for keeping the boys in hot wa
ter about them, they manage to find
life pretty comfortable, thank you. OF
course If they should miss big cir
Gus, that would be a tragedy, but
mighty few of them but what don't
see 1t. OF course a girl that is trail
ing along about ~ or IA years old. is
sort of side-tracked, as 1t were, but
when she gets to Is and on to the
sweet 1G" period. look out for her.
She is coming fast, and 1t will not be
any time at all vixen she will be rid
ing around in a red-wheeled buggy
with some boy. with her hair flying
and her cheeks as red as a winter ap-
pie, and she will be getting valen-
tines. and going to fish-frys. and at
tending camp meetings, and seeing
the circus. and going on Saturday aft
ernoons to the band concert In town,
and eating ice cream and drinking ice
cream soda. and playing the organ
Sunday nights. and attending the
dances. and being at the "box-socials,"
and all the other social doings.
She is vastly interested In ribbons
and side-combs and hats and dresses
and gloves and becoming shoes, and
candy and perfumery and fellows. and
all that sort of thing. And when some
fellow gets to be 81 and goes in and
gets a license. and there's a notice in
the paper from Our Libertyviile Cor
respondent" about her and this fellow
getting married. well you can wager
that old Uncle Discomfort will not
reach her for awhile yet. But he will
get her. all right. in time. You re-
member about Eve. don't you? Moth
ing to do In Eden week in and week
out. and yet Eve had to go out and
swing on the gate with the blue
racer Just because things got monot-
onous
For our own individual sources of
discomfort in the country. they were
subtle and rather more in the way OF
an intangible desire to be nearer the
flame Of the candle OF civilization. II a
particularly fine play was on at the
theaters We used to attend. we missed
1t. II there was some picture at
the art galleries where we once at
tended. and that picture was really
worth seeing. It was something OF
disappointment not to be able to come
in and see 1t. Two hundred miles or
SO is quite a distance from the mad
dening crowds ignoble strife and
car fare was something Of an item.
too. The daily paper from the city.
which reached us the same day OF its
appearance. recorded some things
which we missed and many things
which we were glad to escape. But
the music, the theaters. the pictures.
the old book stores. the best Of what
the city afforded. We missed that, OF
course One cannot have ones rural
cake and eat the cake Of urban bak-
ing at the same time: at least, not
from a distance Of 200 miles.
And then, too. there were q few peo-
pie with whom We would have liked
to cross palms with occasionally from
the city We had LEFT We missed these
fellows.
And gradually. after all our de-
light In the wild and untrammeled
scenery about US. the changing giories
Of the seasons. the really idyllic
charm OF much OF the life that we
were leading. there came conviction
to US that there were places where all
this could be had In the same degree
we were enjoying It and at the same
time be near to the cities for us to
run in whenever We wished to see
or hear what was SO essential to our
city-sharpened tastes and fancies.
or course. the hunting and fishing
which I had SO far away from the
city could not be duplicated close TO
any western city. I could not expect
to shoot ducks across the fence from
my door-yard. or flush quail from my
garden, jack-snipe could not be ex-
pected to come into the fields Just
across the way. nor squirrels to play
about In numbers all around US. II
was evident that II we made a change
In our plans and left our present To-
cation to settle down in the country
near some city. I would have to hang
up the fiddle and bow" SO far as hunt
ing and fishing was concerned: at
least to a great extent.
The mere fact OF not seeing the
best acting. or the best pictures, or
in not hearing the best music. was
not so essential a deprivation as the
tantalizing fact that we were where
1t was almost impossible to get in for
that purpose. II We had been near
enough to run in by taking an hour to
going and the same time for return
ing. we would have felt that we could
come or go as we chose. But to feel
that something really worth ones
while. from an Intellectual standpoint.
is on the tapis. and that you are ''let
out" from enjoying 1t whether or no.
that is the sting that baffIes conscious