The Oakley herald. [volume] (Oakley, Idaho) 1908-1961, 1922-03-24
MILITANT RURALISM

The hour has struck when ever,
man living in the country should is
sue a formal and personal declara,
ton of independence and hencefortf
refuse allegiance to his interiors
who live in cities.
The great need of the times is q
militant ruralism. Any kind of ru.
ralism, even a stridently vocal kind
is better than this thing Of living in
the country and whining for a half
baked existence in the city,
The country is where we live. II
we are to make the most of its
pleasures, we will have to be enthu-
siastic about them and talk about
them just as vociferously as the CT
ty-dweller talks about the advanta-
ges of living in the city.
True, If a man must live in the
city, he had better accept the mis-
fortune as cheerfuny as he IAN.
We will forgive him if he employs
the principle of mental suggestion
on himself and actually pretends to
believe the city superior to the coun-
try. But for heavens sake, let's
not take his %pretensions seriously.
The city has produced one well
known bird, the English sparrow.
The cheap gatherings of this impu-
dent bunch of feathers is supposed
to echo the noises of the city. And
just as the English sparrow is over
running the country and polluting
Arcadian solitudes with it's clatter,
so the cheap, commercial standards
of the city are overrunning the
country. The city stands in the
samer elation to the country as the
chatter of the English sparrow 20
the song of the vesper sparrow or of
the Hermit thrush.
I never could understand why
people in the country should trem-
-
BILE before people from the city. 1t
is the result Of a mere trick on the
part of the city-dweller. A tiny
man, living in the city, knows well
enough hat he will receive small
consideration il he is to be viewed
as he is. He knows, too, hat he
will receive scarcely any more con
sideration if his fellow citizens are
taken into account, for they are
mostly insignificant people like him
self. So, in order to take the unwa-
ry off guard, he raises over himself
a false banner-a banner that glori-
fes quantity at the expense OF quail
quality" Hence it m about
that when we meet a man from a CT
ty of five figures, we are expected
to salute him; when we meet a man
from a city of six figures, we are
supposed to take off our hats to
him; when a man from a city Of
seven figures comes our way, we
are required by custom to go down
one knee to him; and IL VIZ
should be honored by meeting a man
London, New York or Paris,
demands hat we fall flat
our faces and surrender to him
anconditionally.
Such a reverence for the city is
about as sensible as hat of the lit
he boy who felt himself more i'm
than other boys, because {
1is father wore store teeth from 6
he city" The fathers of the less {
boys used only the ordina- ,
y teeth provided by nature. :
Indians coming into certain South 8
American cities are accustomed to I
20 to grocery stores and buy cans
II sweetened condensed milk. They d
pen the cans and drink the milk, Z
md suppose they are having the
ime of their life. How much like II
many North Americans who live in I
he country. +
II we hold that he country is SUI d
erior to the city, we have on our r
a gerat majority of the men of s
enius of all ages. The city could a