314 RURAL RECONSTRUCTION 



has comforts of its own. The German woman, whatever her fail- 

 ings may be, never belies her character of a hausfrau. Scrupulous 

 and attractive cleanness itself, so we know, distinguishes the cottage 

 of the Dutch labourer. And his neighbour, the Belgian, has, as 

 shown, learnt not a little from his Cercles de Fermieres, and from 

 the message which M. de Vuyst brought across the ocean from 

 America. 



It was there, on both banks of the St. Lawrence, that the syste- 

 matic schooling of the country woman for her best and most becoming 

 work was first taken in hand systematically. And it is there that 

 the movement so started may be seen at its strongest and best. 

 We have, as observed, had a taste of it. British Columbia, one of 

 the foremost provinces in the matter, though in point of time the 

 last to take it up, a year or two ago lent us the assistance of Mrs. 

 Watt, the Secretary of the Advisory Board of the Union of Women's 

 Institutes of her province, whose message ran like wildfire around 

 the country, and whose lectures caused " Women's Institutes " to 

 spring up in literally hundreds of places. Indeed, more than a year 

 ago, already, there were reported to be some thousand " Women's 

 Institutes " in existence in England, with more than 60,000 members, 

 organised on a democratic basis, so that, as was made a boast, " the 

 carter's wife and the peer's daughter here know one another as good 

 daughters of England, standing shoulder to shoulder, speaking their 

 minds without fear or hesitation." One may hope that that is a 

 fully true description, and that the institution — which we may take 

 pride in reflecting had its birth in Canada, the progressive province 

 of Ontario taking the lead — will produce here the same beneficial 

 effects which it has brought forth in abundance in its own native 

 land. However, it is to be doubted whether we have yet caught 

 quite the right spirit. We have the weight of our traditional heir- 

 loom, handed down from feudal times, resting upon us, like the 

 " Man of the Sea " on Sindbad's shoulders, refusing to be quite 

 shaken off. That heirloom means " classes." And " classes ' 

 stand hopelessly in the way of the true fraternisation that is wanted. 

 There is always something — like the " slit " in Jeanette's petticoat, 

 that disturbed Sterne in his dance with the Languedoc maiden- 

 something to prevent true equality pro hac vice. There is plenty of 

 kind feeling among our " easy " classes, no doubt. We have had 

 our time of " slumming," which was thoroughly well meant. How- 

 ever, there is something in the " above " and " below," the " giving " 

 on one side and taking on the other, the directing and following, 

 which imparts a bytaste to the dish. When kind women in the 



