s not
always fuse readily with the native element. This is true of
immigration from the country village as well as from a foreign
country, but an American, even though brought up differently, finds it
easier to adapt himself to his new environment. An increasingly large
percentage of children are born and grow to maturity in the city.
There are thousands of urban communities of moderate size in America,
where there are few who come in from any distance, but for nearly a
hundred years in the older parts of the country a rural migration has
been carrying young people into town, and the recent volume of foreign
immigration is spilling over from the large cities into the smaller
urban centres, so that the mixture of population is becoming general.

180. =The Attraction of the City.=--Foreign immigration is a subject
that must be treated by itself; rural immigration needs no prolonged
discussion once the present limitations of life in the country are
understood. Multitudes of ambitious young people are not contented
with the opportunities offered by the rural environment. They want to
be at the strategic points of the world's activities, struggling for
success in the thick of things. The city attracts the country boy who
is ambitious, exactly as old Rome attracted the immature German. The
blare of its noisy traffic, the glare of its myriad lights, the rush
and the roar and the rabble all urge him to get into the scramble for
fun and gain. The crowd attracts. The instinct of sociability draws
people together. Those who are unfamiliar with rural spaces and are
accustomed to live in crowded tenements find it lonesome in the
country, and prefer the discomfort of their congested quarters in town
to the pure air and unspoiled beauty of the country. They love the
stir of the streets, and enjoy sitting on the door-steps and wandering
up and down the sidewalks, feeling the push of the motley crowd. Those
who leave the country for the city feel all these attractions and are
impelled by them, but beyond these attractions, re-enforcing them by
an appeal to the intellect, are the economic advantages that lie in
the numerous occupations and chances for promotion to high-salaried
positions, the educational advantages for children and youth in the
better-graded schools, the colleges, the libraries, and the other
cultural institutions, and such social advantages as variety of
entertainment, modern conveniences in houses and hotels, more
bea