FLIGHT FROM THE CITY 5 



become so accustomed, without the countryman's 

 material and spiritual compensations for them. 



We went to the country with nothing but our city 

 furniture. We began by adding to this wholly un- 

 suitable equipment for pioneering, an electric range. 

 This was the first purchase in the long list of domestic 

 machines with which we proposed to test our theory 

 that it was possible to be more comfortable in the 

 country than in the city, with security, independ- 

 ence, and freedom to do the work to which we as- 

 pired thrown in for good measure. 



Discomforts were plentiful in the beginning. The 

 hardships of those early years are now fading into a 

 romantic haze, but they were real enough at the 

 time. A family starting with our handicaps had to 

 expect them. But almost from the beginning there 

 were compensations for the discomforts. 



Before the end of the first year, the year of the 

 depression of 1921 when millions were tramping the 

 streets of our cities looking for work, we began to 

 enjoy the feeling of plenty which the city-dweller 

 never experiences. We cut our hay; gathered our 

 fruit; made gallons and gallons of cider. We had a 

 cow, and produced our own milk and butter, but 

 finally gave her up. By furnishing us twenty quarts 

 of milk a day she threatened to put us in the dairy 

 business. So we changed to a pair of blooded Swiss 

 goats. We equipped a poultry-yard, and had eggs, 

 chickens, and fat roast capons. We ended the year 

 with plenty not only for our own needs but for a 



