PROBLEMS 183 



Clothes-poles straggle irregularly over the back 

 yard, pitching this way and that at dangerous an- 

 gles. The ash-piles and the chicken-coops hold 

 melancholy sway over the rear of the premises 

 (Fig. 22), which are so unkempt as to make it seem 

 quite natural for women to appear there in un- 

 studied costumes and curl-papers. 



The picture has not been painted too black. In 

 some of the most prosperous of our small cities 

 and towns in the Middle West respected members 

 of the community often allow their houses and 

 grounds, exteriorly at least, to present a most dis- 

 reputable appearance. Things that litter up the 

 inside of the house and are thrown out to be carted 

 away are frequently left where they are dropped, 

 and allowed to remain there for months. It is not 

 that way inside the house. There all is order and 

 precision; but, as a rule, the average American 

 citizen is so obsessed with his own individual opin- 

 ions and problems that he does not remember that 

 he has a duty to his neighbors, and that that duty 

 may consist in keeping the surroundings of his 

 house in a decent condition. 



How may this hypothetical, and too often actual, 

 place be helped without too great an outlay of 

 money, and in such a way that its owner will take 



