tude of strangers. The mass of his fellow-citizens neither know nor care whether he lives or dies. But in the country, or in a country town, every neighbor is known to every other; a young man takes immediate rank in the community; he has every incentive to win the good opinion of his fellows; and, as a consequence, he soon developes a manly and positive character. In the great cities, where the mass of men have no special opportunities for winning a fair rank in the community, personal ambition becomes more aimless, and personal character less decided. Such an opportunity as the Western prairies now offer to humble, hard-working, and economical men is far more rewarding and enobling than any similar opportunity now offered by the Eastern cities.

If a brave and brawny young man, who cannot get along at the East because he can find no open door, will go to the West, put his hand to the plough, and look not back, he will find himself at the end of ten years an owner of property, a chief citizen of his neighborhood, an esteemed member of society, and (what is better than all) every inch a man.

I know that other writers have said all this, over and over again; and no man so unwearyingly as Mr. Greeley. But the testimony needs constant repetition, that it may lead the feet of many disappointed throngers of city streets to make a pilgrimage to green fields. This is the path to fortune.

DECEMBER, 1866.

MY NEW HOUSEKEEPING.

EDITORIAL CORRESPONDENCE.

OUT WEST.

IS I notice that the question "How to live?" is now frequently on the lips of rent-paying citizens, let me mention my experience in living on a new plan.

I have taken lodgings for the winter in a railroad car, and partake of daily bread at the railroad stations.

Under this plan, rent is high, and fare poor; but fuel is gratis, and washing useless.

I have ascertained that a gentle dyspepsia can be purchased for eighteen cents-which brings that luxury within the reach of all classes.

My house is furnished according to Gen. Butler's plan for the reconstruction of the Union-that is, "with all the modern improvements "-water, light, bath-room, and bed-chamber. I must confess, however, that the apartments are generally too dusty either to evince good housekeeping, or to show their plush and damask furniture to the best advantage. But then I have a great deal of company, and all housekeepers know that this interferes with the best attempts at keeping things "to rights." But I am troubled with neither flies nor cobwebs. The spider who, according to Solomon, builds her house in kings' palaces, gets no chance to settle in comfort here.

It would do your heart good to see the sights from my

windows; for I have more extensive grounds around my present residence than any of my late townsmen on Clinton Avenue in Brooklyn, or Murray Hill in New York. Moreover, my grounds have been beautifully laid out by the best and greatest of architects-the many-minded Maker of the world's beauty. My trees are now bare but not desolate; my grass brown, but still bewitching; my brooks are wrinkled along the edges with ice, but still leaping merrily down rocks and dams; and my young winter wheat has the color of Mr. Chase's national currency, looking forward to be turned into gold.

A great advantage of living in the country is that a man can keep a cow. But what is one cow? By my present plan I have several hundred thousand cattle, and more sheep than bore fleece to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.. This morning, in the rain, their fleecy sides look dark and weather-beaten, like house-fronts of Caen stone when wet; but the storm is breaking away, and my flocks will soon be white as snow. No, not exactly. Our common expressions for colors are seldom correct. Sheep are never white-their nearest approach to the raiment of sainthood is a velvety gray. Some of them served in the Confede

rate army.

My woodlands are immense almost interminable. They furnish such a supply for the stove in the corner, that I sometimes am roasted. The man who builds the fires keeps his own precious self cool by spending most of his time in lounging over the iron-railings on the front stoop. Very few people in this world feel for us exactly as we feel for ourselves.

Housekeepers say that three moves are as bad as a fire. But what is house-moving once a year to house-moving every day! All my real estate, though it extends as far

as the eye can reach, does not give me half so much trouble as my personal property, though this consists only of a carpet-bag and umbrella. A carpet-bag is one of the serious cares, and perhaps one of the needful disciplines, of this earthly life. As to the umbrella, let me mention a fact worth knowing. An old green umbrella is the safest for a traveller to carry; for nobody will have the hardihood to purloin it. The records of crime show no instance of such an umbrella as mine having ever been stolen.

The daily papers are left regularly at my door. I buy each that comes along, and read them all, whether Democratic or Republican. Then, after comparing both sides, I usually end in agreeing with neither, and doggedly settle down in a confirmed radicalism. Just a moinent ago my eyes fell on a paragraph concerning my venerable friend, Thaddeus Stevens. He says, "I was conservative last winter, but I mean to be radical for the remainder of my days." May his days be long in the land!

I occasionally turn for solace to my library-which consists chiefly of the latest volume of the Railroad Guide. Profound respect is due to any American citizen who can learn anything from a Railroad Guide. If intelligence is to become the test for suffrage, I suggest that the citizen who presents himself at the ballot-box shall be required to tell the time of any Western train by looking at the Railroad Guide. Let the advocates of a restricted franchise ponder this suggestion.

I live on one floor-which saves running up and down stairs. In fact, in my present position, to occupy two floors would prove me as double as the Irishman who came over in two ships. My house, it is true; has a second story, containing a row of small attic-windows for

ventilation; but as these are never kept open, they might as well not be there.

Frescoes and unique paintings adorn my walls-done in a style unattempted by any ancient master. It was Paganini's delight to play on one string. It seems to have been the ambition of the artist who executed these works to produce a series of fascinating landscapes by the use of one invoice of vermillion paint. Joyfully (if I knew his name) would I give it publicity; but there is no "pinxit "appended to his works. Raphael was not solicitous of fame, and Shakespeare disdained it.

I live like the first families of Virginia-have not a carpet in my house. There is an oil-cloth, but this is on the ceiling, not on the floor-so placed, I suppose, to be ready for use in case we get turned upside down.

I have only to add that the cost of my present arrangement is a fair average of fifteen dollars a day. If this seems extravagant, you must remember that I am compelled to pay a heavy mileage, after the manner of my bleeding country to her Congressmen.

And now, dear friends, I would invite you to my new quarters, except for the trouble you might have in finding the street and number. But, in case a happy chance should bring any of you to my door, I will keep a sharp "look-out when the bell rings."

December 6, 1866.