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Show o THE VILLAGE. -For uncounted j ears poets, and other pcorle who were considered as somewhat lacking in the upper story by men engaged in the hustle for , dollars, haye sung ami written and " I talked of the joys of life in the country coun-try anil the small village. Up to quite, recent times the basii of their enthusiasms was ifot such as would appeal to any but enthusiasts. Now, however, hard-headed business men are finding that the small village offers of-fers the most desirable place for a home for people of moderate means, or whose living depends upr.n a salary. sala-ry. The ordinary m.in with a salary or in small business, can live better and happier in a suburb than he can in the city. A few yenrs ago it was realized that many of these must live in the suburbs, but they were looked' upon as martyrs to conditions which1 T t' -,v ,. ? theyncotild not improic. That sentiment senti-ment has passed a ay, and nobody feels at all delicate about announcing that his home is in a suburb. In fact j many took pride in the fact, and gather more renown from their place of residence than from their place of busincss.i But the small country village, awayi from the great cities and their sub-' urban population, has not yet. come into its' own, in many cases. Even; the people who live there do not appreciate ap-preciate their blessings or make use of their opportunities, and spend their lives in the belief that they are suffering suffer-ing from their environment. They arc ifot aware that 'hey are enjoying ' the best environment the country has to offer. The small village, however, isolated, affords first and foremost, ncigliborlincss. And by the way, there arc no isolated villages now. The railways, the trolleys, automobiles, automo-biles, telegraph, telephones, newspapers, news-papers, magazines, books, libraries,' the biograph and the phonograph,! have done away with all isolation. Today, I, who live on the eastern seabord, have a call from a friend of ' my friend in Los Angilcs, and tomorrow tomor-row my neighbor caljs on. my cousin. uii Xcw Orleans. The miners in Alaska listens of an evening to Melba an Caruso and Sousa's band by means of a little machine on a soap box. - Let little Johnnie have a touch of the croup, and Mrs. Jones, next door, will be over in a very few minutes with ,ji liel.) and advice; wh'lc in the city, little Johnnie may die for all the next door knows, unless there be a physician within reach. Mr and Mrs. Smith "run in" of an evening for a hand at whist, and while perhaps you may think Mr. Smith not quite as well developed mentally as President Eliot yet he has a passable opinion on the Russo-Japanese war, and you couldn't ''visit" with President Eliot if you jfe tried. Your butcher knows what cuts of meat you like, and what ones he can't work off on you, and if you want a horse from the livery stable you don't have to make a deposit bc-fore bc-fore you get it. T louse rent doesn't make such a yawning cavern in your salary, and your boy knows every j it;-il in the high school. There is an opportunity for skating and baseball, and for fishing anil target shooting. Von can have a wood fire, and perhaps per-haps you will make a garden, or have a workshop. You would be surprised at some of the professional men who turn out chairs and tables and wood carvings, and at the same time add years to their span of life: also at some of the men who can be found, with overalls on. feeding the Light Bramahs, and who make a success of their chickens, too. In fact, if a person desires to ride a hobby in the nature of an avocation avoca-tion which will cause him to forget the cares of the daily life, he should lidc it in the country. One cannot make much headway in a cily. If you wish to study wild birds you have to rid" several miles in order to begin. iiiaginc setting up a little work-sh. work-sh. p in the basement of a city house! The bulk of the city houses have no basements. They are fiats. One can hardly be an ameteur photographer "W even in a flat. I have more dunnage pertaining to photography than would fill-a room in a flat, and if I were to take stock of the guns and sporting appliances, and the basemmt workshop, work-shop, I could very nearly fill the whole fiat. The village' of today can give a person per-son about all of the advantages a city has to offer. Do you want to hear the- great divine who preaches on 4 Sunday in the city' There arc Sun-' Sun-' day trains and trolleys which will take you there nearly .as quickly as the city dweller can travel across the city to the church where the service is to be held. Do you want to see that great actress, or that prima donna, don-na, or hear that concert? Take the train and enjoy them, stay at a city hotel over night, ami you will enjoy it better and get more benefit from it than if you were out three times a week trying to keep i.p with all of the good things. In fact the villager can hive all of the benefits of the city, today, and escape its tiresomeness, and he can also have the benefits of country life, which, if he be a natural human, will not he tiresome. The Village. o |