Getting the Rural Savor into City Life 61 



type of rural citizenship, but a luminous example of 

 that rich and satisfying blend of city and country life 

 that is the essence of what I am saying. He divides his 

 time between New York and Washington, London and 

 Paris, on the one hand, and, on the other, his dear 

 little farm in the Connecticut Valley of Massachusetts. 



It is my theory, and also my conviction, that his 

 home in the valley would not seem half so sweet, nor 

 his senses half so keen, if he did not come there from 

 the noise and bustle of the town to hoe a row of corn 

 while listening to the music of the birds and breathing 

 the incense from the earth; to walk beneath the shade 

 of his trees; to smile, as he hears the cackle of the* 

 hens, or the cheerful munching of the old mare at her 

 meal ; to chat with Harriet on the porch, or drink 

 from the brook before he sits down to stretch his legs. 

 "There is a poem in stretched legs," he tells us. That 

 is a poem, I think, born of Broadway, as much as of 

 the corn-rows and the new ditch across the meadow. 

 I insist upon full credit for Broadway! 



Let me drive it in, because it is a vital point : With- 

 out Broadway, the valley farm would not be the joy 

 it is; nor would Broadway be so interesting, so sig- 

 nificant, without the valley farm. This is the verdict 

 of the fortunate who may do as they choose. Is it not, 

 then, sound gospel for the rest of us? 



To take another example : A big New York business 

 man wrote a magazine article that attracted wide at- 

 tention, though the theme, "Farming vs. Golf," seemed 

 simple enough. He had been in the habit of playing 

 golf (and naively insists that he was a pretty fair 



