LIVING ON NEXT TO NOTHING A YEAR. 23 



say, if I do not lose all interest in the higher 

 things of life, gradually being absorbed in the 

 details of vegetable-raising, poultry-keeping, 

 oyster-raking, and duck-shooting, my children 

 will suffer and sink to the level of the country 

 people around them. This is a serious matter. 

 It would be a matter of sincere sorrow to me 

 if my boys and girls grew up without the tastes 

 of educated men and women. But I do not 

 believe that any thing of the kind will occur. 

 I do not believe, as I have already said else- 

 where, that a boy or girl brought up among 

 people who read and talk about things beyond 

 the village world will fail to absorb something 

 of the spirit of their elders. After all, are the 

 people of the town, taking the average merchant 

 and shop-keeper, so much superior to the people 

 of the country, taking the average fisherman or 

 farmer as a type ? I very much doubt whether 

 they are any happier because they spend ten 

 times as much money. Certainly they are not 

 half so healthy, and they die earlier. It did 

 not need Matthew Arnold to convince many of 

 us that American life is often sadly uninterest- 

 ing, commonplace, even inane. We all know 

 how sadly vapid is the talk of ninety-nine 



