The Western Democrat

LEAVING THE STATE

Westward ho! has become a word of very frequent use in our State. Very many too, who go west return in a few years fully satisfied as to the "error of their ways," and content to conform to the usages of old Rip Van Winkle in all after life.

It is really astonishing that so many of our young men, on completing their education, securing license to practice law, or receiving their Medical Diplomas, resolve to leave their native State, and seek for fame and fortune abroad. The reason most commonly urged for such a course, is, that talents are not sufficiently appreciated in North Carolina, and they must go where they can support themselves by their professions.

Now, it is certainly a mistaken notion, that talents are not appreciated as highly here as in any part of the World. All experience proves, that good doctors and lawyers have ever found abundant employment in our State, and quacks, or indifferent professional men, will find it a hard task to succeed anywhere.

True, there are many well read young men who leave the State, without giving it a fair trial, and succeed abroad, but these would have succeeded in time, if they had remained at home. There will always be room for good professional men. The old champions, who by their industry and application have won fortunes and filled the country with their fame, are passing away - and their places must be filled.

Our own young men - natives of our State are the most proper persons to fill their places. Why, then, should they not do it, rather than go to some distant western State, where they would be regarded as intruders, and as persons who were unable to cope with the talent and energy of their native State? Our young men are needed at home - and by application and industry they may become as successful here as on any part of the globe.

The spirit of emigration is also rife among our farmers. They complain of the poor and worn out lands of North Carolina, and the want of sufficient "elbow room," and forthwith, pack up all their store, and go west in search of richer lands. This they easily accomplish, but they find also the invariable accompaniment of rich lands in the west - an unhealthy, moist climate, abounding in fevers that in a very few years undermines the soundest constitutions, and leave the healthiest body and stoutest arm in a situation far too weak to perform the ordinary duties of the farm.

And why should our farmers go West, in search of rich lands or "elbow room," when there is such an abundance of both at home? Our State is sufficiently varied in climate and soil to suit the most fastidious taste. If our farmers wish to enjoy the advantages of good society and level fertile lands - eastern North Carolina furnishes both. If they wish for room and game and pleasure of living with but little labor, the western portion of the State yet comparatively unsettled, furnishes all these advantages.

There immense forests of oak and hickory and chestnut stretch for miles over beautiful and fertile lands, without a single human habitation. Here game of almost every kind abound. The scenery, too, is of the grandest and most sublime character; mountains may be seen, lifting their proud summits on every side, and nearly every valley and stream is watered by crystal fountains. We never saw scenery that would compare in wildness and beauty with that to be found in the western part of North Carolina. It is a perfect luxury to travel in the summer time, among those mountain ridges not only on account of the sublime views presented from their summits, but also to enjoy the health inspiring breezes by which they are ever fanned.

No country can afford greater advantages for raising stock of all kinds, than this. Grasses of the most nutritious kinds every where in abundance. There is no country where a man can live easier, than in the western part of our State. The only objection that can be raised to it, by the most scrupulous, is its unhandiness to any large market. But for this, it might be regarded a farmer's paradise, so easily are all the necessities of life procured. - N. Carolina Argus.