What the Countryman Is 65 



occupation and his contact with nature, not 

 from mere extraneous attractions. Herein hes 

 the root of my concern in nature-study and 

 nature-sympathy: the countryman must be 

 able to interest himself spiritually in his native 

 environment as his chief resource of power and 

 happiness. Many a country family rusts and 

 dies for want of a local stimulus. 



Holding that it is fundamentally important 

 to preserve and encourage originality in the 

 open agricultural country itself, it will then be 

 necessary to stimulate re-directive movements 

 to prevent the country from tumbling head- 

 long into the small city or town. The tendency 

 of farmers to move into town is to be depre- 

 cated. It is not necessary to pause here to 

 combat the prevalent but superficial notion 

 that farmers would better live in hamlets be- 

 cause European farmers live in them, but only 

 to say that the European custom is the result 

 of historical and social conditions that do not 

 obtain in this country, and to consider that 

 Europe itself would undoubtedly be better off 

 if it were possible for a different condition to 



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