Jasper County Democrat, Volume 19, Number 87, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 January 1917 — WHY RURAL LIFE IS DULL [ARTICLE]

WHY RURAL LIFE IS DULL

Rather, we should have, said; why some rural life is-dull. Not all rural communities are dull. Many are just teeming with social life and interest. Do you realize why some communities are lacking- in social life and “snap?” Simply because you, yourself, are deficient .in {(these qualities. And your neighbors are very likely in the same condition. Suppose you wake up and take an interest in matters that tend to the betterment of the social side of your community, especially of your immediate neighborhood. Soon your neighbor will come to life and join you. Then others will come trooping along, and you will have the ball rolling and it will surprise you how rapidly everybody will step into line and march to the tune of greater life and happiness. Manycommunities think that if they have their farmers’ meetings, preaching occasionally, and prayer meeting once a week, they have fulfilled the social laws. - But not so. To be.. content with these is like living on a heavy diet of corn bread and meat. The human animal is a fun-loving creature by nature, and with his work he must mix a reasonable amount .of play if he is to retain his mental and physical faculties unimpaired. If your community has not a good social club, organize one. Have singings and debates, inuslcajs and concerts, athletic sports and other

healthy forms of amusements. Put the young people of the community to work in the line of entertainments. You will be surprised at the amount of really good talent that will come to the front. But above all things, take an active interest in -these |ffairs yourself. You may be the very person who in time will develop the “snap” that breeds success. Community life is just w’hat the people of the community maki it, and you are one of the people. Do your part before asking others tp do theirs.

How much does your drinking water cost yon?’ Nothing? Well drink more bf it and live longer. Drink a lot more water and live longer still. Plenty of pure water is good for the digestion. It is better than anything you can take, for it is one of nature’s own remedies. Here's the proof. Stop the first ten men you meet and ask each of them, how much water he drinks each day. Some will drink but little, and before you leave tlff'm they will probably nfake some complaining remark about their stomach. And they will keep on ■ making those remarks until they die—tinless they drink more water. Others will tell you that they drink large quantities every day, and won’t .’even mention their stomachs. Of course not, for there is no occasion. Water has done its work and the digestion is in perfect 11 ’ working order. Drink more water. You will live longer and die happier. Your "doctor will tell you so, for he drinks water.

Give your child a nickel occasionally. It won’t break you, and it will give the child its first lessons in the-art of handling money. But most important of all, teach £>it to save two cents of every nickel you give it. That will teach it thrift and the art of saving. Let it take its pennies out and count them over. Every, time it counts them it will want to add a few more to the pile. That will inculcate the art of accumulation. But don’t let it depend on what you give it. It should be taught to earn and the first lesson should go with the first nickel. That will demonstrate the necessity and increase its capacity for work. And in after years, when success has crowned its efforts, it will look back over the lapse of time and tell others that it had the best father and mother that God ever permitted to live.

It will soon tie time to “clean up and paint up.” Arid whilg we are about it let’s clean up, paint up, and stay up. To spend a few hours and a few dollars on your yard and property this spring and then forget all about it for the next five years to come is the poorest kind of economy. It is even a first-class extravagance, for the moment a pie«'f of property becomes “rusty” dr.ei ioration rapidly sets in and rushes right on to destruction. A few dollars and a little labor in periodical improvements is the best interest you can get on, your investment. And what is good for you is equally good for the town, the county, and the state.

Have you ever wondered what the

result would be if the people of Rensselaer thought and said ing but good ot •each other for thirty or sixty days? Think! It would work a revolution in both mind and body. People who are constantly nagging would have lost the habit. The best that is in each one would have uhcbnscfously forced its way to the fore., and nobility of character would have made rapid strides toward supplanting the" ignoble "and Viciods in man and womankind. Our town might not be a garden of Eden, but it would come nearer to it than any other spot on earth. - And it u wouldn’t cost us a penny.

Young girls should get their “bloom” in the open air instead of at the drug counter. It-looks better, lasts longer, and is more pleasing to the masculine mind and eye. The drug man will never get rich from the sale of “bloom,” He is a man of sense and discernment, or he "would not be a druggist, and he would rather see one rosy cheek tinted with the bloom of nature than to sell a barrel of the artificial article. Just get your druggist wound up on this subject some day and see what a world of good common-sense advice he will give you, for "he thinks even more of you than he does of the sale of. his “bloom.’’

We ought to have a central market where the farmer can dispose of everything he produces for cash. And then- the market managers should devise some means ot disposing of the produce without the aid of a hungry horde of middlemen. The farmer would make more money, have less trouble, get his pay sooner, and the iprofits would be kept in circulation al home. Try it! L