The Knickerbocker, Vol. 10, No. 4, October 1837Various
History
The Knickerbocker, Vol. 10, No. 4, October 1837
Various
Periodicals
of pure enjoyment, may be embellished with the various objects of
rural taste, and be made each the centre of a little Eden, that
shall lead the lover of rural felicity to believe that it may exist
otherwhere than in the fruitful imagination of the poet.
It is seriously to be wished, that more attention should be paid to
this, of all studies the most humanizing and innocuous. It is to be
regretted, that our countrymen are not more alive to the importance
of devoting a small share of time and expense to ornamenting their
dwellings and the public streets. 'I regard' (says an approved
writer, whom I have not yet quoted) 'the man who surrounds his
dwelling with the objects of rural taste, or who even plants a single
shade-tree by the road side, as a public benefactor; not merely
because he adds something to the general beauty of the country, and
to the pleasure of those who travel through it, but because he also
contributes something to the refinement of the general mind. He
improves the taste, especially of his own family and neighborhood.'
Were such benefactors more common, were country cottages, adorned
with simplicity and taste, more frequent, we should hear more of
that true rural enjoyment which does not consist in rudeness and
selfishness, but in rational and dignified pleasure; we should
acquire a national character for stability and contentment, as just
as that which we now enjoy for uneasiness and mobility; we should
hear less complaint of the disposition of our young men to ramble
from the patrimonial estate, and bury themselves in the speculations
and dissipated enjoyments of city life.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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