96 RURAL RECONSTRUCTION 



" they manage these things better in France." But they are more 

 in earnest still about organising " home life " among our trans- 

 Atlantic relatives. 



There is one undesirable blank in present rural life that we have 

 thus far eclectically fixed our eyes upon. The country admittedly 

 is dull. " In our Arcady," so wrote Canon Jessop, " a laugh is never 

 heard." There is none of that variatio which delectat. There 

 are no attractions in its life, as there are in the life in towns. Well, 

 let us give these rural people who, as we assume, run away from 

 the country and go into towns, because in the one thay have no 

 amusements, while in the other apparently they have plenty — give 

 them clubs, and concerts, and libraries, and cinemas, and those 

 " circuses " which thirty-eight years ago the late Lord Salisbury 

 would have it that they would prefer to " the vote ! ' ; 



That is all very fine and, as I have said, all admirably intended. 

 But then, the people who run away from the country do not by any 

 means all run away into towns. A large number of them — the 

 best, in fact, and the largest number — go beyond the seas, to 

 seek there land to till on their own account and a free home of their 

 own. If that outflow is to be stopped, or seriously reduced, a 

 genuine " home " — untied, independent, making our man char- 

 bonnier " cJiez soi " — must first be given. 



That is a problem for authorities and housing societies, for county 

 councils and allotment associations. But the further step wants to 

 be taken into consideration. For the conversion of the abject, cap- 

 in-hand villager into a self-conscious, self-reliant, full-blown 

 citizen is not the work of a day. There is much that is being done 

 elsewhere towards the organisation of happier, more self-respect- 

 ing and self-governing communities, which will have to be spoken 

 of under other heads — women's institutes, cercles de fermieres, and 

 the like, not of the " slumming " pattern, which tends in this way. 

 We have thus far looked at the matter from the patronising side : 

 " Be kind, tell them to do this, teach them to do that," and so on. The 

 aim of proper organisation is : " Induce people to do these things 

 for themselves." The thing wants to be in grain, not a mere veneer. 

 Patronage is patronage, whatever shape it take, whether that of a 

 circus or a library, or else that of a coal charity —the still unfortu- 

 nately inert mass moved, and moved in the first instance from the 

 outside, if there is no organ in the inside strong enough to do it. 

 Well, then, open the sluice — but let the outpouring water run by 

 itself. We have very apt examples to give us a lead, showing— 

 mutatis mutandis, of course, for our circumstances are not those of 



