Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 15.djvu/444

 43© THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

prices, which for various reasons has occurred contemporaneously with the decline in the agricultural market, has made the burdens of life heavy. The peasants have accordingly been led to look for some new field of effort where there are greater returns for labor, and have found it in the United States. The motives for emigration are practically without exception of a financial nature. — Henry Pratt Fairchild, Yale Review, August, 1909. R. B. McC.

Phases of Social Life in a Country Town. — The following quotations are from two letters received by the undersigned after lecturing on sociological sub- jects before a chautauqua in a town of the Middle West, this last summer. They are reproduced here, with the permission of the writer, because they fur- nish a valuable and graphic, and not at all exaggerated, sketch of the social history, in one of its phases, of a typical town of the West.

"Since your lectures, I have thought even more about the social life and conditions here than I had before, and several things have come to my notice that I thought might be of some interest to you in your work.

"E is a town of 4,000 and is like the average town of that size in

this state, I believe. Few tragedies take place here within a year. In 1909 there have been three and all have been in the 'social set.'

"The first took place in February and these were the conditions that led

up to it. Mr. X., a retired farmer of means, moved his family to E and

started the E National Bank, intending to turn over his controlling inter- est to his son A. as soon as the son was capable of taking care of it. A. was about twenty-one years of age when they came here, and engaged to a little girl in his home town. He was seemingly a very nice, quiet young man and was immediately taken up by the society crowd. Some of us girls noticed later on that he was drinking and soon he became one of the little crowd of young men and women whom I told you of, who drank together and played for money. About this time he married and I believe that his wife, had she known, might have saved him from what followed. The first place at which I saw her was with A. at church (and that was the only time I ever saw either inside a church). The next time I met her was at our Bridge Club and, although she hardly knew a Jack from a King (which was almost a crime then), I thought her one of the sweetest little brides that had ever come to E.

"I heard afterward that she was a member of the Methodist Church and a great church worker before she came here ; but she was made a member of the 'Mairied-and-glad-of-it Club,' invited to all the card parties, and like so many others seemed to be living only to have a good time. After a while I heard that A. had been leaving his wife at night and was gambling with the other boys and soon that he had been losing heavily. He was now acting as city treasurer and was cashier of the bank. The next thing we heard was that he had been robbing the city and the bank for some time and that he had taken flight in the night. Only Mr. X.'s money saved A. from the penitentiary. The bank has changed hands and one of the young men with whom he played is cashier.

"The second case was that of a young druggist who died suddenly of 'heart- disease' after losing his store and home. His wife was quite a society woman but knew nothing of household duties. She drank and played cards with the 'fellows,' etc. Only a few knew that he took something before his death and was foaming at the mouth when medical aid reached him.

"The third case occurred in June. A young dentist left with an 'affinity.' E. was a church-member and considered an exceptionally good, moral young man. He married one of the girls of our crowd. They have never really kept house since they were married and H. was one of a number of young married women who do not want to be 'tied-down' with children. She seemed to live only for society (which consists of card clubs and card parties here). E. got to drinking and gambling and now it is doubtful what will become of him.

"The wives have had the deepest sympathy in all three cases, but I wonder sometimes if they were not just a little to blame. There may be wives here, but I know of none, who do not play cards and whose husbands do not gamble. I know of several cases however of men who gambled before marriage but quit