TOWN DRUDGERY. 233 



i 



fruit to support my family in comfort." And he 

 does it in the book. Again, it is the family of 

 the merchant who dies bankrupt who give up 

 their city house in order to find pleasure and 

 profit in keeping cows and selling butter at a 

 dollar a pound in the book. I have quite a 

 collection of books written by enthusiasts upon 

 country life, and I know some persons who 

 have acted upon the suggestions given, some- 

 times with very unfortunate results. But in- 

 variably this country life is considered as an 

 asylum. So long as a man can live in the city 

 and pay his notes and buy dresses for the fam- 

 ily, it is not for him to think of trying the 

 country. The man who falls behind in the 

 race is advised to retreat to the country and 

 take to strawberry raising. 



I contend that the strawberry raising or 

 whatever outdoor work is chosen as a means 

 for making a livelihood should be preferred, 

 taken all in all, to the city life even if this city 

 life is fairly successful in a commercial sense, 

 and I hold this for the simple reason that it 

 offers emancipation from some of the worst of 

 city evils, while its drawbacks and there are 

 drawbacks are insignificant as compared to 



