CITY AND COUNTRY LIFE 33 



breathe, as plants do ; and they get a few 

 feet of pavement where they play ball when 

 the police are not looking. The poor 

 creatures become like animals in cages, 

 and their delight in grass, trees, hills, and 

 running waters, when they reach them, is 

 pathetic. Their parents cheat them of 

 their birthright. 



Pessimism, which we find in all forms 

 of art, even in the drama, which has 

 brought an Ibsen, a Zola, a Sudermann, 

 and a Maeterlinck to its service, is a phil- 

 osophy of exhaustion. It is as foreign to 

 the natural man as it would be to brutes. 

 That it is not accepted by the masses is 

 hopeful ; that many are acquiring country 

 places and prolonging their vacations, is 

 hopeful ; that a new interest has been 

 aroused in science nature is hopeful; 

 that fresh-air funds have been started in 

 every city, is most hopeful. Out of the great 

 hives of brick and mortar another genera- 

 tion may send away many to live in health, 

 to think their own thought, to become the 

 staminates of a mushy and ineffectual so- 

 ciety. In that generation the delights 



