ONE] INTRODUCTION 



ing of children, but for night classes, for lectures, 

 and for various musical and art associations. This 

 consolidation of the town about the school brings 

 the homes and the school into closer relation, and 

 harmonizes all the intellectual and moral life of 

 the community. 



Our first care must be the creation of real country 

 homes. Here we shall have the primal art of nature 

 to assist us, with its latest interpretations by science. 

 It is a new thought of high art that is growing among 

 the people, that instead of buying pictures to hang 

 on our walls, we may better create them on the sod, 

 with living plants and running brooks. Literature 

 also is turning its face country ward. Nature books 

 rival novels in popular use. They express the new 

 stage of social evolution, and confirm the desire to 

 escape from the limitations of city conditions. In 

 other words, we are going back, and to what God 

 wrought — intending to cowork with him. 



The object of this book is to meet the growing 

 tide as it moves from congested cities into the free- 

 dom of home-making in the country; and we shall 

 aim to add, as far as possible, influences to broaden 

 life in its new environment. Having gone over the 

 road myself, with the advantage of having been 



