128 FLIGHT FROM THE CITY 



Is there a saner way, not as a temporary expedient, but 

 as a permanent program? 



and a way which would enable us not only to keep 

 housed, clothed, and fed, but to have some freedom of 

 movement, some chance to participate in the good things 

 which our urbanized, industrialized, capitalistic civilization 

 does afford, along with its evils? 



That there is such a program is shown by the let- 

 ters which follow, one from a letter received shortly 

 after This Ugly Civilization was published and the 

 other, from a letter received from the same writer 

 two and a half years later: 



I have just finished reading This Ugly Civilization, and 

 cannot rest until I have made an effort to let you know 

 what it means to me. Though I attained the age of thirty 

 only a few days ago, I have long been preaching many 

 of the reforms you advocate. And as librarian and instruc- 

 tor in an institution filled with herd-minded students and 

 instructors, controlled by quantity-minded capitalists and 

 politicians, and located in a hopelessly conventional and 

 very religious college community, you may be able to 

 imagine the inhibitions and morbid mental confinement 

 of my existence. Having the sweet companionship of your 

 book in such an iron-clad environment of bondage is com- 

 parable to the Mormon conception of Joseph Smith find- 

 ing the golden tablets. 



As librarian I am ever searching the publications which 

 list and advertise new books and when I first saw yours 

 advertised, I began to hope that my long search, with its 

 many disappointments, had at last found its reward. In 

 reading page after page I rejoiced to find not only my 



