176 City Homes on Country Lanes 



speakers there were many, for a surprisingly large 

 proportion of the community were graduates of leading 

 American and European universities, while fully half 

 of them enjoyed something more than a common-school 

 education. One of the most spiritual and eloquent 

 preachers I ever listened to had been hiding his light 

 under a bushel, and was induced to take the platform. 

 He soon drew large audiences from the surrounding 

 country, and a few months later was induced to leave 

 us and accept a pulpit in a large city. 



It is, perhaps, only right to note the fact that some 

 harmless cranks were revealed by the census, and that 

 a good deal of tact was required to keep them from 

 monopolizing the limelight. Doubtless the most pop- 

 ular entertainments are the dance and the movies. Both 

 require some restraint ; or, let us say, intelligent direc- 

 tion. It is possible to have the best instead of the 

 worst of these things, since the matter lies within con- 

 trol of a small and homogeneous public, so organized 

 as to be able to give effective expression to its desires. 



There is one feature of the social and intellectual 

 life of a garden city that is capable of very high de- 

 velopment. This is the weekly meeting devoted to 

 Current Events. Many times I have said on such 

 occasions : "We ought to be the most enlightened people 

 on the face of the earth, with higher average knowledge 

 of worth-while things transpiring throughout the 

 world, than any other community." The passing of 

 the years has not changed my view ; I do not think the 

 statement exaggerated. To begin with, the initial ap- 

 peal of the garden city, as shown by experience and 

 careful analysis of its constituents, is to an element 



