32 LIVING OUTDOORS 



ing the summer house a real centre of outdoor life having a place 

 for dishes, a place for books, a place to write letters of friendship 

 even a place to sleep. Indeed, the outdoor sleeping movement 

 is growing faster here, I believe, than in England. We are build- 

 ing houses especially for it and have perfected a device for which 

 rich and poor may enjoy it even in the centres of our largest cities. 



There are a great many delightful features of English outdoor 

 life that I should like to dwell upon, such as the band concerts, 

 flower shows, historical pageants, the swans on the Thames, and 

 ornamental water-fowl on private estates, the mazes which amuse 

 the children, the protection of song birds, the rearing of pheasant, 

 grouse, and quail the foot-paths, the local guides everywhere for the 

 wheelman and pedestrian, the way-side inns and their charming 

 gardens that bear the sign of the automobile association's approval, 

 and the column in the newspaper about the delights of the country, 

 not forgetting even the bryony of the hedgerows and the momen- 

 tous question that agitates the nation every Friday the weather 

 prospect for the week-end. 



But all these things will come in time. We need not worry 

 about America's never becoming as charming as England. A 

 thousand years will attend to that. Meanwhile, the important 

 thing on which we all can and ought to concentrate is this : to have 

 a garden and really live in it. We must learn how to relax, how 

 to eat properly and how to enjoy life more. All these things 

 will come easily and naturally if we get the week-end habit and 

 spend two sevenths of the week visiting people in their homes 

 or entertaining them in ours. And here is a "check list" for 

 immediate reforms: Do you play golf or bowl? Have you 

 a garden, a screened veranda, a summer house, an arbour, and 

 provision for outdoor sleeping? 



