The Wahpeton times. [volume] (Wahpeton, Richland County, Dakota [N.D.]) 1879-1919, 1914-07-23
PRISONERS OF the CITY

There's boy on the lower east
side of New York who is going to
make name for himself ii he
keeps on in the course he has
marked out with the same keen
observation. good sense and logic
that prompted him to it. Isidore
Greenberg. born and bred in the
big city, has been New York
newsboy for 10 years. Now he is
going to enter Cornell and study
scientific agriculture. Ivy" as
his fellow newsboys call him,.'is
10 years old and has been selling
papers, observing people and con-
ditions and turning things over
in his mind ever since he was five
years old. Agriculture is about the
last thing the average city boy
would think of as a life occupa-
ton. but lazy" has good grounds
for his choice.
But why scientific agricul-
ture?" newspaper asked him.
"Why not the law or medicine ~
1.-The woods is full of them"
was 1ZZy's wise answer, land then
you've got to remember that sci
entific agriculture is the coming
thing. I've stood on that corner
down there many long afternoon
looking and listening and think
ing it all out. I've watched the ia
ces of thousands of men and wo-
men who passed me i'm the crowds
and it often struck me that a lot
of them were playing losing
q nf
the city. serving a life sentence.
People here have forgotten that
all the wealth in the world comes
out of the ground. They've left
the open places or the eartn and
have crowded into the markets of
the cities, and they are stepping
on each other and narrowing
themselves mentally and pliysic-
ally, while they grub for pay dirt.
Some day they are going back
home-back to the forests and the
farms, and when the back to ma
ture movement starts the man
who has specialized i'm scientific
agriculture is going to have his
day."
Perhaps the reporter put some
of the above words into Ivy S
mouth, but the thoughts express
ed were no doubt his own and they
reveal the newsboy as philos-
Opher as we'll as a keen observer.
Ivy certainly shows good sense
in refusing to let himself continue
to be a "prisoner in the city, serv-
ing life sentence"
Gods great outdoors calls loud
ly to many IZZies who are learn
ing by pitiful experience the sham
and futility of the endless battle
for existence i'm the crowded hives
of humanity. Those of the
keenest perception. staunchest
courage and most unbreakable de-
termination will. like Isidore
Greenberg. heed the call and the
country will welcome them. Not
all, of course, will succeed, as
success is measured by the world
but assuredly the opportunities
for success in agriculture for
those who earnestly and patient
ly strive are not less than the op-
portunities the city holds open
for similar effort, and there can
be no comparison in the health
fulness, freedom and good influ-
ence of the country and the city
| If every country boy could be
made to realize the golden OPP
pOrtunity of his life lies right be-
fore him and not Just over the
Horizon, there would he fewer
i"prisoners of the city serving a
life sentence and eating theil
hearts out for the real life worth
living, put behind them when
they left the old farm to seek elu-
sive fortune in the busy marts OF
| trade