A Year Of Living Gentlemanly

I do not care what kind of a start 2025 is off to. Me and the boys talked about it and decided we are going to be more joyful and wholesome than ever. Deep in his heart, a country gentleman is a man-at-arms, who finds chivalric adventure in the kind of everyday deeds that hold a place together. Regardless of what happens out there in the world I aim to make this a good year. A year of living gentlemanly.

The first post on The Country Gentleman was January 31st, 2024. So, I have not quite been at this a year. But the beginning of a new calendar year feels like as good a time to take stock as any. Over the 47 weekly posts, only missing a couple while on my honeymoon, a little over 2,000 people have subscribed. Something which I am touched by and deeply grateful for. This all started as a way to scratch my own itch, writing the kind of things I wanted to read, but which no one seemed to be doing anymore. About rural life and culture, our all but forgotten history, and disappearing folkways. I had no idea if anyone would read.

Your readership kept me going and it drives me to get better. This year I will focus on increasing word counts, to go into greater depth with topics, and more frequent posts with different types of writing. To include how-to articles, serialized fiction, explainer posts on the philosophy of ruralism, and guests post featuring prominent rural voices. All of these will be part of a paid subscription coming in February. But it has always been my intention that these weekend posts would stay free to read. So, if you are not interested in going paid your experience of reading The Country Gentleman should not change at all.

In looking back and thinking about what comes next, I realized that one topic I have never addressed is why The Country Gentleman? I could have come at rural living and culture any number of ways. It began with a conversation between Ryan B. Anderson and me about why someone did not bring The Country Gentleman back. It was an American rural life magazine published from 1853 until 1955 putting most of its run in the public domain. It featured articles on agronomy and animal husbandry, advice for gardeners, diverting reading, and selected poetry. A kind of agrarian Saturday Evening Post. Although my newsletter is not affiliated with the original, and does not republish any of its content, it is strongly inspired by it.

You see someone needs to say that it is ok to be happy with a quiet life. Quiet does not mean it has to be boring, or that you cannot do great things. It only means that you are conscious about what you let into it. The cynics will tell you that nothing is sacred anymore. That we are all too concerned with knowing things, and too little with being enchanted by them. But if you spend any time with children, you cannot help but be infected by their natural sense of awe and wonder. We would venerate more things if only we could learn to regard them with a childlike joy.

This world and our place in it are granted on certain terms. Which we should take with gratitude and not for granted. Most of us would be better off if we stopped trying to be happy and tried to be useful. Chop wood, carry water. The Country Gentleman is my effort to be useful to the world, beyond my own life, and the boundaries of my little New England town. I hope you find something useful here.