EDITORIAL 



Why I Live in the Country. 



[This article was written in response to 

 the request of the editor of "The Country- 

 side Magazine" and part of it was published 

 in the December number of that magazine 

 together with brief expressions of opinion 

 from a great variety of lovers of the country. 

 We think our readers will be interested in 

 the entire article. — E. F. B.] 



"The Covintryside Mag'azine" asks 

 why I live in the country. Because, 

 as a place of residence, the country is 

 better than the city. I am not one of 

 those countryites that decry the city 

 "because they have tried it and found it 

 a disappointment or because they know 

 nothing of its merits. I love the city 

 in which I was a resident for thirteen 

 years, but I do not count those years 

 as the unlucky thirteen. They are not 

 lost years. The city is in many re- 

 spects an ideal place for human be- 

 ings. It usually affords better home 

 facilities, greater conveniences, better 

 doctors, markets, schools, churches. 

 These are powerful attractions ; the 

 -conveniences are alluring. With all 

 my enthusiasm for the country, I 

 should need pretty carefully to search 

 the field for arguments in favor of the 

 •country sufficiently strong to overbal- 

 ance these in favor of the city. If I 

 were compelled to live in the country, 

 where I should be entirely deprived of 

 •civilization's facilities, as occasionally 

 ■occurs to some unfortunate persons, 

 then I would not live there. It is the 

 city conveniences in the country that 

 make the country comparable in desira- 

 T)ility with the city. Even these are 

 not enough. If I could carry the city 

 facilities and the city's life into the 

 l)ack country, and could there estab- 

 lish a luxurious home, I would not. 

 The city's spirit is best in the city. I 

 liave seen bits of the city planted in 

 the remote country but they were out 

 •of place. I vividly recall a visit to a 

 magnificent country home in the wild 

 woods on the shore of a beautiful lake 

 in Michigan. As I entered the house 

 I said to my host, "What a delightful 



life you must lead in this charming 

 country place !" You may imagine my 

 astonishment, if you can, when he re- 

 plied, "Yes, we manage to endure it 

 by having automobile parties come to 

 us from the city, so that almost every 

 evening we play cards and dance and 

 have a fairly good time." Only court- 

 esy prevented me from crying aloud 

 in indignation. He seemed to be hy- 

 pocritical and to be talking nonsense. 

 I said, "You are not living in the coun- 

 try. You have not yet arrived. You 

 are not acquainted with even the pri- 

 mordial elements of country life." 



He lead me to the rear of the house 

 to show me the view. The house was 

 on the top of a hill. My first exclama- 

 tion of delight was : "How you must 

 enjoy the evenings here as you look at 

 the stars." He replied as if he were 

 tired, "My wife and I have little time 

 for such things. We leave them to 

 you fellows." He directed my atten- 

 tion to the plants in the garden. Again 

 I tried him with a burst of really sin- 

 cere enthusiasm, "How you and your 

 wife must admire and love these 

 flowers." "No," he said, "we have no 

 time for that. I employ a gardener 

 and two assistants. They do all the 

 work. I have not even been in this 

 garden for more than a month." 



I cite this particular example as a 

 type of those people that travel for 

 miles into the country but never get 

 there. Such a home should be moved 

 back to the city, not perhaps into the 

 business center, but to the suburbs. 

 Life in the country can be better than 

 life in the city only on one basis : love 

 for the things of the country. Among 

 these I would place first the stars that 

 there may be seen undimmed by elec- 

 tric street lights. City people never 

 see the stars. They could not if they 

 would. But, O ye gods, does man 

 possess any gift diviner than the abil- 

 ity on a clear, frosty night, in an iso- 

 lated country place, with a film of snow 

 glistening on the ground, than the 



