182 City Homes on Country Lanes 



The city-minded will continue, as they ought, to dwell 

 in town. Capital and enterprise, catering always to 

 popular taste, have brought wonderful improvements 

 in the conditions of urban living and will doubtless 

 continue to do so. The modern apartment house is a 

 monument to the craze for city life. It brings within 

 reach of the many conveniences that could not be bought 

 with a price a generation or so ago. Municipal ad- 

 vantages of every kind have been highly developed and 

 are improving all the time. For the city-minded, 

 capital and genius have wrought well in every depart- 

 ment ; and yet, from the standpoint of the country- 

 minded, the sum of this fine achievement is as "dust 

 and ashes," because it leaves their souls utterly un- 

 satisfied. It represents only the dry husk of living. 

 There is no nourishing kernel at the core of it. 



The country-minded will never be happy until they 

 can set their feet on a spot of ground all their own. 

 Like the birds of the air, they want a nest of their own 

 designing and fashioning, in the shelter of the trees, 

 under God's blue sky. They simply can not make a 

 home in an apartment house, be it ever so aristocratic 

 and expensive, and equipped with every convenience 

 that the human brain can devise. These country- 

 rainded people will always be spiritual aliens in a flat. 

 They will never be at peace with themselves until they 

 strike their roots into their native soil. Having done 

 everything for our city-minded, the time has come 

 when the craving of the country-minded should be al- 

 ia ved, if for no better reason than that of quieting 

 social unrest, and thereby conserving our institutions. 

 The city-minded should stay in town, and doubtless 



