The School of the Future 113 



folk. There is a sincerity about it that I seem 

 to miss elsewhere, a kind of native heartiness 

 and simplicity that satisfies the soul. I always 

 enjoy the unlabored melody of the singing at 

 farmers' meetings, with the absence of trills 

 and effort ; in comparison, the elaborate music 

 of many of the city churches, with its hired 

 singers and its instruments, seems not to be 

 worship so much as performance. 



Wi(h all this untutored experience there 

 come a hardiness and a natural courage that are 

 not shaken by weather or by common discour- 

 agements. As civilization provides the means 

 of rapid locomotion, so it develops the desire 

 to avoid the natural environment of our lives, 

 and we fly South in winter to escape the cold, 

 and North in summer to escape the heat. So 

 far as this means change for health and recrea- 

 tion, it may be commendable ; but when it is 

 a desire merely to escape weather, it tends to 

 breed weakness and evasion of duty. 



(5) The farm effort is steady. It is char- 

 acterized by perseverance. It is probably 

 more completely divorced from the gambling 



