20 HOW TO LIVE IN THE COUNTRY 



All of which means look out for shady roads, and 

 do not buy where the people have squatted down with- 

 out regard to comfort or beauty. Besides, the time 

 may come when you wish to sell, and in that case a 

 well-shaded home, reached by a well-shaded and well- 

 kept avenue will double the market price of your 

 property. 



You will naturally look out for the schoolhouse 

 and the church and the store and the depot and for 

 the sort of neighbors you are to find. Children 

 should not be compelled to go a very long distance 

 to school, although town schools are now sweeping 

 out the district schools. The old red schoolhouse is 

 about done for, and I am glad of it ; but where there 

 is no public conveyance to the town graded school it 

 is hard on the boys and girls if they are compelled to 

 go more than a mile. 



It is not improbable, however, that many of the 

 new country home-makers will do, what I have done 

 myself, employ tutors at home. Every country 

 homestead has its own material at hand, and the chil- 

 dren need but little guidance to make them fairly ex- 

 pert in half a dozen sciences. Nor will they get a 

 good knowledge of country life and country work in 

 any other way than by careful home training. 



Country churches are now almost entirely deserted 

 in many places, so here again comes in the question 

 of how far are you willing to live from the village 

 or the town church. This weekly gathering in the 

 country is hardly a question of religious faith, but of 



