SOCIAL CAUSES OF UNREST 131 



The country is lackinsr in social life. This lack is 

 seen not merelv in what is often called society, but in 

 its very elements. The fewness of women in the coun- 

 try brings seyere social strain. Domestic help for farm 

 homes cannot be obtained. In times of illness a trained 

 nurse can be secured. During the recoyery of strength 

 neighlx)rs render what assistance they can, but not eyen 

 the services of a washerwoman can be had for hire. In 

 May last T conducted the funeral of a wife and mother. 

 The household consisted, in addition, of the husband and 

 two sons under twenty. For six months a trained nurse 

 had been in charge, but the husband and the sons had 

 perforce to l>ecome the housekeepers. Since the funeral 

 they have lived alone, bereaved indeed. They are well- 

 to-do. They are eminently respectable. Yet attempts 

 to secure a housekeeper have been in vain. 



Tho financial relation between farmers ami thoir 

 children has caused many a tragedy. I could cit(> an 

 instance of a man of thirty-five, married, with happy 

 children, an elder in his church, serving upon a rich 

 farm, without a dollar t<t own (»r to control except with 

 the express consent of his father. The son, but not the 

 father, holds the respect and the afi"ection of the com- 

 munity. A form of trial which has made this one man 

 strong through discipline has made countless hundreds 

 fail. Scant appreciation, little relaxation, iiiid Inck of 

 financial provision annually drives nuuiy promising 

 youths from the (■<»untry to the city, Financial (-(piality 

 iK'hveen husband and wife; wise rewards to the ciuM 

 for mastering tasks, leading on to a deliiiile under- 

 standing over indep(;ndent responsibility, are called for. 



Means of social life, in the ordinary accej)tance of 

 that term, are lacking in the country. .V (juestiounairc 



