SOCIAL SIDE OF COUNTRY LIFE 289 



this advantage that where a dozen families are 

 planted near each other we are able to secure a 

 cooperation in industries apart from agriculture. 

 In other words, we establish a community instead 

 of a family. Two families going out together and 

 intending to occupy twenty acres each can build 

 their houses in adjacent corners so that their neigh- 

 borliness may be felt, especially in times of sickness. 

 It is the woman that suffers most, and by this sort of 

 building she is not cut off from a daily chat with her 

 neighbor. 



I have seen this scheme carried out on a larger scale 

 by four families, each building on the corner of a 

 sixty acre lot. Their drives ran into each other, 

 and their fields were separated only by a line of 

 wire. These four families had a common kitchen, 

 with breakfast room and broad verandas in the cen- 

 ter of the plot. There is no reason why every 

 family in the world should have its own food labora- 

 tory. By combination the labor is greatly reduced 

 and the cost of feeding four families is cut right in 

 two; or carry this plan farther to a group of eight 

 or twelve. Indeed it might be made to cover as 

 many country homes as you please, only considering 

 convenience. 



Now plant your union school at the most con- 

 venient and central point. Organize your union 

 church and allow it to occupy the school auditorium 

 and you have a completed community. Or you may 

 go still farther and have your community bank in 



