THE STUDY OF RURAL LIFE 7 



of polish that may be met with in the country, 

 do not necessarily accompany a condition barren 

 of the essentials of the higher life. 



Sometimes rural communities are ridiculed 

 because of the trivial nature of their gossip, 

 interests, and ambitions. There may be some 

 justice in the criticism, though the situation is 

 pathetic rather than humorous. But is the 

 charge wholly just? In comparing country 

 with town we are comparing two environments; 

 necessarily, therefore, objects of gossip, interests, 

 and ambitions differ therein. We expect that. 

 It is no criticism to assert that fact. The test is 

 not that of an existing difference, but of an essen- 

 tial quality. Is not Ben Bolt's new top buggy 

 as legitimate a topic for discussion as is Arthur 

 John Smythe's new automobile ? Does not the 

 price of wheat mean as much to the hard-work- 

 ing grower as to the broker who may never see a 

 grain of it ? May not the grove at Turtle Lake 

 yield as keen enjoyment as do the continental 

 forests ? Is the ambition to own a fine farm more 

 ignoble than the desire to own shares in a copper 

 mine ? It really does not matter so much what 

 one gossips about or what one's delights are or 

 what the carving of the rungs on ambition's 

 ladder; the vital question is the effect of these 



