ON THE MISTAKES OF CITIZENS IN COUNTRY LIFE. 129 



to fall into such errors, and to open their eyes to the danger that 

 lies in their paths ; for the country is really full of interest to those 

 who are fitted to understand it ; nature is full of beauty to those 

 who approach her simply and devoutly ; and rural life is full of pure 

 and happy influences, to those who are wise enough rightly to ac- 

 cept and enjoy them. 



What most retired citizens need, in country life, are objects of 

 real interest, society, occupation. 



We place first, something of permanent interest ; for, after all, 

 this is the great desideratum. All men, with the fresh breath of the 

 hay-fields of boyhood floating through their memory, fancy that 

 farming itself is the grand occupation and panacea of country life. 

 This is a profound error. There is no permanent interest in any 

 pursuit which we are not successful in ; and farming, at least in the 

 older States, is an art as difficult as navigation. We mean by this, 

 profitable farming, for there is no constant satisfaction in any other; 

 and though some of the best farmers in the Union are retired citi- 

 zens, yet not more than one in twenty succeeds in making his land 

 productive. It is well enough, therefore, for the citizen about retir- 

 ing, to look upon this resource with a little diffidence. 



If our novice is fond of horticulture, there is some hope for him. 

 In the first place, if he pursues it as an amusement, it is inexhausti- 

 ble, because there is no end to new fruits and flowers, or to the combina- 

 tions which he may produce by their aid. And besides this, he need 

 not draw heavily on his banker, or purchase a whole township to 

 attain his object. Only grant a downright taste for fruits and flowers, 

 and a man may have occupation and amusement for years, in an 

 hundred feet square of good soil. 



Among the happiest men in the country, as we have hinted, are 

 those who find an intense pleasure in nature, either as artists or nat- 

 uralists. To such men, there is no weariness ; and they should 

 choose a country residence, not so much with a view to what can 

 be made by improving it, as to where it is, what grand and beautiful 

 scenery surrounds it, and how much inspiration its neighborhood 

 will offer them. 



Men of society, as we have already said, should, in settling in 

 the country, never let go the cord that binds them to their fellows. 

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