72 City Homes on Country Lanes 



votion of its faculty. And yet with all these advan- 

 tages and its 3,000 pupils, it offers less in a spiritual 

 sense than the school from which he came in California, 

 where there were only 150 pupils. It is assumed that 

 the reader knows that California schools are by no 

 means to be compared with average rural schools men- 

 tioned in an earlier chapter. California is in a class 

 by itself — not only with respect to climate and scenery, 

 but in the magnificence of its school fund, and the 

 progressive spirit of its people. 



The point is that the Washington school suffers from 

 its bigness, while the California school gains by its 

 smallness. The loss and gain are wholly in the matter 

 of the spirit, not in physical or technical conditions. 

 It is really true that work outside of the prescribed 

 programme, and dependent upon the voluntary interest 

 of the students, as, for example, the debating society, 

 draws the larger attendance in the small school, the 

 lesser in the big one. 



The principle applies to all departments of social 

 and intellectual life. While a community may be too 

 small for the successful cultivation of such interests, 

 it may also be so large as almost entirely to efface 

 them. The garden city offers ideal soil for the culti- 

 vation of the social plant. Not only is it right as to 

 the quantity, but also as to the quality, of its citizen- 

 ship. It is not so large as to suffocate the neighborly 

 instinct, nor is it likely to foster class distinctions 

 arising from differences of wealth and position. These 

 considerations have a deep significance with respect to 

 our national character. 



