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AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



November, 1906 



Monthly Comment 



ERSONAL relationship with one's fellow 

 men constitutes one of the most serious 

 problems which beset the newcomer in the 

 country. This is particularly the case when 

 one moves into a region as yet but sparsely 

 settled with city folk, and where the larger 

 part of one's neighbors consist of the original settlers, born 

 and bred upon the soil. One's personal wealth or individual 

 achievements count but little in such communities. The most 

 bloated aristocrat, the most distinguished brain-worker, be- 

 come persons of very small moment amid the exclusive so- 

 ciety of the soil-bred. The newcomer is, of course, a highly 

 desirable person from whom to extract money; his money is 

 not only as good as any one's else, but very much better, 

 since for it has been exchanged land and houses of no par- 

 ticular use or real value to the original owners, and which 

 only obtain a value when a "sucker" appears from the city. 

 The newcomer, established in his new possession, remains 

 there in solitary state. Between himself and the soil-bred 

 is a gulf so vast that no known art or science, no known con- 

 trivance or invention, nothing, in short, may bridge it. Hence 

 two opposing forces are immediately created. On one side 

 of the gulf is the native, bristling, as no porcupine ever 

 bristled, with the supreme conceit of his self-importance, 

 which is the keener and the sharper because, until the city 

 folk arrived, there was no one toward whom it could be 

 displayed. There may be no open hostility, there may be 

 even an interchange of views, and an apparently pleasant 

 good-morning; but the gulf is lugged around at all times and 

 spread out before the new arrival upon any and all occasions. 

 On the other side of the gulf is the newcomer. He is as pleas- 

 ant as you please, and means no man harm, least of all his 

 neighbors. But he finds he makes no real progress in ac- 

 quaintanceship, while of friendship there is simply nothing 

 at all. So presently he wearies of offers of intercourse, and 

 an armed truce is declared on both sides. The native real- 

 izes, too late, that no further advances will be made, and the 

 newcomer ceases to regard the old-timers as persons of any 

 importance whatsoever. 



It is a pity that such conditions exist, yet they are very 

 general in all rural and suburban regions. It is a pity be- 

 cause, while we are all common citizens of one great country, 

 we are not all brothers, and not even friends. The man 

 from town is apt to regard such matters as of comparatively 

 slight importance, because he has his own friends where he 

 comes from, and he soon finds that new ones of his liking 

 are scarce in his own region. The native, for his part, does 

 not understand an antagonism he has himself created, and 

 harbors fresh vows of hatred against every available ob- 

 ject. The fact is, that with the inroads of the city folk into 

 the country, there is a leavening process needed, which has 

 as yet scarcely yielded visible results. When two people 

 get together who are each impressed with an overweening 

 sense of their own importance, it is difficult for them to 

 separate with any lessening of their individual self-esteem. 

 And this is more particularly the case when neither knows 

 what is really the matter, and hence neither knows what to 

 yield or how much. Thus two great forces in our national 

 social life, which ought to work together, just as they live 

 together, are separating further and further from each 

 other. The amount of personal discomfort that arises from 

 this circumstance is often very considerable. 



There are, of course, many drawbacks that result from 

 living in the country, although no more, but of a different 

 kind, than result from living anywhere. There are only a 

 very few people who manage to get through life without in- 

 conveniences of some sort at some time. There is a vast 

 number of living conveniences in the city which are com- 

 pletely absent in the country, or only to be had there at great 

 expense. On the other hand, there are many delights to be 

 had in the country which the greatest wealth can not obtain 

 in the city. If one is perfectly free as to choice, the problem 

 is obviously the simple one of, which form of life offers the 

 most? If the country delights overbalance the city con- 

 veniences, or seem to do so, the vote must invariably be for 

 the country. If, however, the country attractions seem less 

 desirable than the city conveniences, the city should be elected 

 without hesitation. This, surely, is the problem reduced to 

 the briefest limits. But in considering the location of a 

 permanent residence it is necessary to bear in mind that no 

 matter where one lives, or how, there are certain to be draw- 

 backs, inconveniences and annoyances of some kind or an- 

 other. There will be just as trying things in town as in the 

 country, but the things that are most trying in one place will 

 not be so urgent, and perhaps not present at all in the other. 



Take, for example, the question of external appearances. 

 The city man who moves into the country has small regard 

 for his personal appearance while in the place of his chosen 

 residence. Why live in the country and wear good clothes? 

 he naturally asks. And why, indeed? Forthwith he puts 

 on his oldest duds, discards collar, necktie and cuffs, gets out 

 his oldest shoes, and gleefully arrays himself in his most 

 dilapidated habiliments. Thus clad he passes a very agree- 

 able Sunday, and puts on his best clothes when he goes to 

 business on Monday morning. How different is the picture 

 presented by the native! If he has sold enough of his an- 

 cestral acres to permit his withdrawal from active life, he 

 goes around daily in a business suit — in which no business is 

 ever transacted — and on Sundays treats himself to the luxury 

 of a boiled shirt. On such days he presents an appearance 

 as nearly elegant as his rural frame permits. His neighbor 

 across the way, arrayed in his oldest duds, offers a horrify- 

 ing contrast, and very obviously is hot what he should be; 

 it is apparent he has a "screw loose" somewhere, and should 

 be handled with great care. The newcomer, for his part, 

 is really living in comfort for the first time in his life. His 

 donkey and donkey-cart may excite the risibles of the entire 

 countryside, but he is calmly unaware of it. His horse may 

 not be a presentable animal, but it is the only horse he has, 

 and carries him around in a manner satisfactory to him. But 

 the countryside looks on aghast at such doings. It can not 

 understand how any sensible human being can behave in 

 public in such a way. It fails, and utterly fails, to realize 

 that the aforesaid human being does not for a moment see 

 why he should dress up on a holiday for the benefit of his 

 "hayseed" neighbors, nor for a moment does the thought 

 present itself to him that if his animals or attendants suit 

 him there is any reason why other people should be dissatis- 

 fied with them. Yet every hour that one lives in the coun- 

 try his doings and possessions are subjected to rigid unyield- 

 ing, unsatisfied curiosity, and to a criticism beside which the 

 fulminations of the most practised critic are as the mum- 

 blings of a new-born babe. 



