102 City Homes on Country Lanes 



is amazing to observe how much comfort and even 

 luxury has been obtained in thousands of instances, 

 even by a crude approximation to the ideal. As to this, 

 no one is better able to testify than I, who have so often 

 been the guest in little homes where the thing is done, 

 and where it has become a matter of genuine religion. 



Dear, dear, such dinners, compounded no more of ma- 

 terial products than of spiritual ingredients — the meat, 

 vegetables and fruit liberally mixed with love and pride! 

 I recall one memorable Thanksgiving when away from 

 home, where all the elements of the sumptuous annual 

 dinner reached me by express. The turkey was a twen- 

 ty-pounder; and that lordly bird, together with the 

 vegetables, fruits and preserves, had all come from 

 "farms" not exceeding an acre in dimensions — nearly 

 all from a single acre. Better even than the food was 

 the letter tied to the turkey's leg — a letter that tri- 

 umphantly acclaimed our new way of life. 



Is it not inspiring to realize that the very best things 

 in the world, even on the material side, are within reach 

 of us all, when we shall command the genius to make 

 the most of our environment? And this genius, I insist, 

 will prove to be the genius of democracy — the expres- 

 sion of a divine aspiration for a better, freer and ampler 

 life on the part of the masses of men and women who 

 bear our burdens in war and peace. Even so, there 

 must be leaders and prophets, men of vision who see 

 clearly a little ahead of their time; tall men who hear 

 the whispers of the Infinite. Of such men, in this line 

 of work, the incomparable Leader and prophet is my 

 friend and comrade, Luther Burbank, 



