26-1 City Homes on Country Lanes 



common as public school-houses; and, indeed, they are 

 indispensable to any system of education in a nation of 

 free men. 



The ideal demonstrator is a man with a wife who 

 shares with him both the ideals of the garden home, and 

 a comprehensive knowledge of its technique. This is 

 true because this sort of a home is in the highest sense 

 a domestic establishment. I love to think of it as the 

 perfect setting for domestic happiness — this enduring 

 provision for food and shelter in the midst of congenial 

 neighbors. To make it precisely that is the crux of 

 the demonstration. 



The final test, the conclusive teaching, comes with 

 experience. The best text-book and the best demonstra- 

 tion can only show the way. There will be varying de- 

 grees of success ; and there will be disappointments, 

 ranging all the way from partial to total failure. The 

 end to be aimed at is good average success. This 

 largely turns upon the psychology of the community, 

 and that is a matter which depends much upon the 

 quality and spirit of leadership in various departments 

 of the community life. 



It has been well said that leadership is never con- 

 ferred ; it is assumed. Happy is the community where 

 it is assumed by the right men and women — by those 

 who deeply realize that the New Earth is to be a holy 

 place, and that the opportunity to assist in its evolu- 

 tion, in a capacity however humble, is a call to holy 

 service. 



