The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1910-12-21
seems to fear, that "the first move
for tariff changes will be for free
foods. sioux City Journal.
A Bows Vision of the Town.


does not have the right kind of a
home, is very apt to have visions Of
the town which are the veriest pipe
Dreams He thinks of the town as
a place where there are no COWS to
milk, no stables to clean out, no pigs
to slop; a place where his work is
done at five or six, and does not be-
gin until s, or perhaps 9 O'Clock in
the morning He thinks of it as a
place where there is life and motion,
| boys and girls galore, dances in the
evening and electric lights; place
where there is money to be made cas-
| lily and plenty of it; place where
| he can do as he pleases after work
ing hours, can see life and broaden
his vision. In short, he thinks that
life would be worth living in the town
and that it is hardly worth living in
the country. This is what the boy
sees or thinks he sees in town life.
He is wiser after he has spent few
years in the city.
The town boy has his visions of the
country, that are quite as rosy as the
country boys visions Of the town. He
thinks of green fields and the song
of birds, of fine feeding, of stock of
the swimming hole and hunting and
fishing. To the city boy, raised in a
poor house, with poor accommodate
lions and poorly ventilated, with the
father toiling day after day to pro-
vide the necessaries of life, it seems
that if he were only a farmers son
life would be one glad song. He, like
the country boy, will be wiser when
he gets to know the facts.
The country boy, when he goes to
town and looks for job is met with
a curt refusal by nine men out of ten
to whom he applies. They all want
to know what he can do. If he gets
position in a store, he must work
for small wages, barely enough to
furnish him a cheap room and cheap
board. He is not often invited to the
homes of the people in the city, can
not visit with well-to-do people as he
did in the country. He will probably
have to sweep out and do the dirtiest
the first one in the morning. There is
no time to sit on the fence and gos-
sip with a neighbor boy while the
horses are resting, or to stop and chat
with another boy whom he meets on
the highway. He must work, work
continuously. When night comes he
c canno1l s sic down By the fire and crack
Jokes with mother and sisters. Town
doors do not swing open as easily
nor on as noiseless hinges as those of
the country.
Possibly he gets position in a
bank or an office. He is told there is
always room at the top; but finds that
the top is hard to reach. There are
so many other fellows ahead of him,
and the fellow whose dad has mon
ey gets the position. He finds that
the work is frequently doing the same
thing over and over day after day I'M
til it becomes mechanical. He finds
that the lot of the boy, whether in
city or country is to work, work hard
and work continuously. Perhaps he
gets position with a street car com
pany as motorman or conductor This
appeals to him at first, looks like an
easy job; but he learns wisdom and
finds that there is nothing quite so
easy as it looks; finds, in fact, that
any kind of work continued right
along day after day becomes irksome
unless it furnishes brain employment
as well as hand employment.
In almost any town work he finds
that there is a limit beyond which he
cannot 60 If he is in the street car
service, he finds that the best he can
do, even after many years Of steady
work, is to make bare living for him
self and family.
When the country boy gets to town
he finds that saving is not half as
easy as it was in the country. There
are too many temptations to spend
money. With no ompaniOnship in the
home he is likely to get in doubtful
company. to- 90 to the dance hall or
| loaf on the streets. The saloon door
is open and offers cOmpaniOnship. So
he goes on working from month to
month, spends his money, gets moth
ing ahead. finds promotion slow and
often impossible.
The town boy, when he gets out in
the country, finds that it is not all the
songs Of birds and blooming OF flowers
and golden sunshine and fishing and
hunting. He thought that anybody
could farm, and finds that he is mis-
taken, that efficient farm labor is
skilled labor and that skill in any de