LARGE CITIES v. SMALL TOWNS

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 12, Issue 912, 28 January 1868, Page 3

LARGE CITIES v. SMALL TOWNS

The following gossiping letter, addressed to a resident in Napier by a friend of his in Melbourne, is amusing in its way : —

You said by your last that, as I have an independent income, I ought to come to Napier and reside, and that I know most of the people, and that I should be much better oft' if I only knew. You said we Melbourne people hare to pay enormous house rent, and are not acquainted with their next-door neighboiirs, and they are positively nobodies. If they would come to -Napier, they would mix with other families ; would have no difficulty in marrying ofF their daughters ; would enjoy better health ; would save money ; and in ever so many ways would find themselves happier and better off. They would have the satisfaction of knowing that they were doing good in the world. But it appears to me that your population is a little mixed — the majority being tradesmen of moderate fortune, maiden ladies and widows with small incomes, and officers on half-pay. If in large towns men and women complain of expense,, and dirt, and noise, when they go to small ones they suffer ten times worse from a deadly and dismal dulness .which must be felt to be understood ; and I think, before leaving large towns, it would be as well if people would strike some sort of balance between what they give up and what they hope to get in retoirn. There are two great and obvious advantages about living in Melbourne, to old ladies and retired gentlemen who have no work or business. In the first place, they do whatever they like short of getting into the police courts and the papers, without any apprehension of being talked about. As a rule, people in Melbourne are very happy to mind their own business, and to leave their neighbours 1 alone. In your charming small town, on the other hand, anybody would be thought grossly wanting in his or her duty to society, who failed to take tbe keenest interest in the affairs of everybody in the place. Income, family, post, history, personal habits — are all registered in a great unwritten book, with the minute precision of a census paper. One person I knew there who could tell- everything that had happened for the last ten years, not only at " over the way," but at every house in the street. She knew at what time the people in each house got up, what they ate, drank, and how they employed themselves each day in the week ; and she used to laugh at having caused several matches to be broken off, several quarrels between man and wife, aud several disagreements between parents and children, and no end of servants to be discharged. You cannot expect to have all this delightful information about your neighbours, without conferring the same gratification upon them in l'eturn with respect to yourself. If you are permitted to ascertain with accuracy what they had for dinner, you cannot in decency grudge them the knowledge of what you had for supper. A man bred in cities would not relish the notion of having himself and his affairs made the occasion of a great investigation ; still less would he relish the vigilant tyranny which minute tattle is sure to breed. In small towns, a single step out of the beaten path of rustic etiquette is certain to lead to a more or less prompt excommunication. The tyranny of opinion in a city is bad enough, but in small towns it is worse to an incredible degree. Suppose a new settler objects to the length of the morning service, and so does not go to church as often as his neighbours, or let him be known to express the opinion that a man should be allowed to believe what seems best to him, he will very speedily find himself as lonely as if he lived at the North Pole, with the exception that some old lady most likeljr will ieel it a solemn duty to deal faithfully with him from time to time, and warn him of the evil place for which he is preparing himself. Even though he should offend rustic laws no more deeply than by liveliness of manner and by a sprightly way of talking, his

punishment will be sufficiently great. A brilliant man, accidentally stranded even for a week in the society of a small town, hurts the delicate sensitiveness of the residents as keenly as if he were to carry off their family plate. The utter lack of means of amusement or moderate excitement is the second point in which small towns, charming though they be, are inferior to a metropolis for people who are out of active business. In Melbotirne one may not know his next-door neighbour, which, is an appalling idea to the rural mind, and gives it the most effectual notion of the vastness of this overgrown cit} r . And Melbourne people are not so sociable, or too ready to receive as an intimate acquaintance anybody whom they know nothing about. But in Melbourne a man may have scarcely any friends, and yet be able to spend his time pleasantly enough. We have theatres and a great variety of rational amusements, but with you, in small towns, there is a vague persuasion with many that theatres are wrong ; and although you have a delightful climate and charming scenery, still I do not feel I should be a gainer by changing my place of abode. So for the present adieu.