324 RURAL RECONSTRUCTION 



congress of women, with politics and religion brushed aside, and 

 with only one object in view, viz., the betterment and uplifting of 

 the home and the country in which we live." 



Similar opinions come from Belgium, where M. de Vuyst's replica 

 of the American women's institute the Cercle de Fermieres, introduced 

 in 1906, has become numerous and a highly valued institution. 



By the side of this home life, women also receive in these institutes 

 and cercles very efficient instruction in farm work, which in country 

 life can never be kept out of sight with impunity. There is so very 

 much that women can do towards increasing and perfecting agri- 

 cultural production. On this point I have already quoted familiar 

 sayings current in Alsace and in Belgium ; and it is a great help to 

 have such work well taught to those who may be called upon to 

 perform it, and to have the reasons intelligently explained which 

 determine the choice of the several methods applied. However, in 

 the present connection I would prefer to lay chief stress upon the 

 making of " home," and the raising, not of the best farm produce, but 

 of the level of living and of the entire tone of country life, creating a 

 better atmosphere and developing those healthier attractions, for- 

 mative of higher character, with less seeds of mischief mingled with 

 them, which, as M. de Vuyst insists, are not merely to wean country 

 folk from the foolish craving for the deceptive glitter of town amuse- 

 ments, but eventually to exercise their attractive power also, through 

 country populations, upon town populations, and introduce a 

 healthier tone and a higher pitch of being into urban populations. 

 We observe from the excellent influence of allotments and of garden 

 suburbs what a healthy and elevating effect country pursuits and 

 even only semi-rural surroundings have upon town populations. 

 That effect may, and wants to, be carried further. 



" Home," then, is the dominant note, the " call " which summons 

 women to the shelter and the labours of the institute. But, as has 

 been already indicated, the newly discovered cement, which more 

 firmly unites the family and keeps the young folk at home, 

 content to stay there rather than, like the prodigal son of the parable, 

 stray into the absorbing vortex of the town, where a meal of 

 " husks " is for the unequipped intruder as likely as not to succeed 

 sumptuous repasts, wants to be made to act as a binding link 

 also in a wider sphere. There is more still that is necessary for the 

 perfecting of rural reconstruction, towards the attainment of which 

 woman may render effective help. If we are to have sound country 

 life, we must necessarily have, as one of its essential features, com- 

 munity life, to group individuals and families together so as to 



