Norwich bulletin., 1910-04-23

y
 fWrrten Specially for The Bulletin-)
 I am not of those who think only evil of city life and city dwellers There are good points about the city and some of the elect saints live in populous towns. We farmers have nc monopoly of the lands virtue and 1na telEg ence When, election times, the politicians SlODber over us as being the bone and sinew and brain and heart of the nation, they are simply stone which sflarpens their axes We may be quite saline, but we are not all the salt of the earth. There are men living in the city who can tell the truth and act it as unsW ervngiy ana IS un : ffinchngly, even if not quite so blunt iy and dogmatically, as we. It wouldn't hArm us a little bit if we could learn an occasional lesson in suavity from our city neighbors. A pill is no less efficaciouS and often more tazable when stIgar-coated, nor is it necessary to use a ten-inch rif1ed cannon in shooting English sparrows.
 There are certain admirable human eFo3ts which thrive in the city atmo- sphere. Likewise there are certain which are not admirable. It is a curi- ous custom of that strange thing we cell human nature" that it seems prone to evil as the sparks fly up- ward. When it sets out to initiate others it almost invariably begins by fnnitetinE the bad and not the good. A good many country people, thrown into summer association with city guests or visitors, consciously or un- conScfous1y are initiating them all the rest of the year. I think I see more and more of this each season. Some few of the characteristics which used to differentiate the countrynan from the cityman are growing Jess distinct As in other directions. the imitation is more noticeable in the black than in the white. In at least one direction. where the city might better have copied after the old fashioned country, che country is aping the town.
 TCynicism used to be city trait. You may be sure that the F'renchman who saad two generations ago, ''The more I seo of men the better like dogs,' hved in Paris and not out in the coun- try. I shall never forget how horribly uncomfortable I was made for a, long time when fret went to the big city to live by the constant and universal aAr of suspicion which enveEoped all whom I met. They were more urbane than my boyhood mentors of the hills and fsids; they wore more genial out com pliments: they were less dogmatic end contentious, moro deferential and conaplaisant- Altogether, they were much pieasanter to mee&-for time.
 
 every three you came to see the sus- pfcion of you, the distrust of you, the doubt of you, the yelled watchfulness of you which lurl1ed forever on guard behind the smiling outside. One grew used to 1t. of course and came to take it aS he took bursting water pipes and olbstructed s5dewa1ks-as one Of tine necessary acCoInraniments of city Hv- ing. But I own up that 1t was a sort of sti1nxlant and ead-clearer te me when I returned to the country, to find men more apt to blurt out their real 6entdm entS.
 It was famous German who said: '1 always call a spade 8 spade and Herr Schmidt an asst" That German lived in the country. you may bet your bottom dollar on it. City visit tors, accustomed to the suave ameni- ties of city intercourse, used to find this rural trait arritating and often onenstve They see less and less of 1t. every year. That is I think they must see less of it, for I notice marked change in the last score of summers. It isn't so much that my ne4ghbofss are less outspoken and blunt in 4hedr- denunciatfons of those whom they dislike. but that they are acquir- ing the, vice of cynicisrn; the habit of suspecting everyone; the disposition to .ssrfne ,sn, ,av unworthy % mosyes : to every ac. fine Greek word for dog. I am not quite Fure whether 1t means that the cynic Is one who thinks all others are dogs, or just that he is himself a puppy. Webster. observe inclines to the latter view. He defines a cynic as "a snarter.'' and the adjective "cynicaT' as having the qualities of a surly dog
 Now. this is most emphaticaliy not ] an admirable phase of feeling. The old hymn used to explain that
 Dogs delight to bark and bite
 For 'tis their nature to-
 But hymn books and sane philosophy l agree in assuming that there is some | difference between the nature of men l and dogs. It seems to be the opinion 1 of the average dog that every other l dog has hostile intentions toward him. | and that it is his business to get the | first grip. When men take a similar i attitude toward their fellows and con- ceive that all men are always actuat- l eded by se1fishness or greed or un- 1 worthy motives. they simply do what | dogs do.
 Really, you know, this isn't what | they were made two-legged and erect | for-to initiate the quadrupeds. Talking with one neighbor, the other l day, the conversation drifted round to l politics alluded to what I thought | B highly credftable action by cer- l tain legislator. "Oh, well,'' was the l T s'pose he thinks it'll make 1 him some votes, next fall" A little | later, talking with another about some | recent revelations of dishonesty in |