A LIVING FROM THE LAND 



When such partial or complete breakdown 

 of the superstructure occurs, thoughtful people 

 are brought "down to earth," both collectively 

 and very intimately in thousands of individual 

 cases. They begin to get back to fundamentals 

 and to seek means of becoming so reestablished 

 as to avoid future cataclysms. The family 

 attracted to the city by the lure of high industrial 

 wages and by crowded avenues finds in such a 

 breakdown that it has lost its moorings. 



In seeking means of reestablishment free 

 of the terrifying complications of industrial 

 life, the mind turns to the country, to the soil, 

 to growing things that are not visibly affected 

 by economic cycles. The open country seems 

 ready to welcome back her errant children 

 graciously and to enfold them within her protect- 

 ing bosom. We cannot go back, however, 

 to pioneer days. Free land is not available and 

 we have not the arts or the patience to practice 

 the means of livelihood of those days. To make 

 the new or renewed relationship with the soil 

 a success, it is necessary to understand that 

 country life, too, has changed during industrial 

 revolutions. Mother Earth is now, as ever, a 

 generous but exacting parent. To try to re- 

 establish relationships in a blind and haphazard 

 manner is likely to lead to further disaster. 

 Such a debacle is quite needless, provided some 



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