THE STUDY OF RURAL LIFE 5 



he fails to find a rural environment that corre- 

 sponds in some degree to his own and that of his 

 friends, he is quick to conclude that the country 

 has nothing to offer him, that only the city 

 ministers to the higher wants of man. He for- 

 gets that he is one of a thousand in the city, and 

 does not represent average city life. ^He fails to 

 compare the average country conditions with 

 the average city conditions, manifestly the only 

 fair basis for comparison. Or he may err still 

 more grievously. He may set opposite each other 

 the worst country conditions and the better city 

 conditions. He ought in all justice to balance 

 country slum with city slum; and certainly so 

 if he insists on trying to find palaces, great 

 libraries, eloquent preachers, theaters, and rapid 

 transit in each rural community. City life goes 

 to extremes; country life, while varied, is more 

 even. In the country there is little of large 

 wealth, luxury, and ease; little also of extreme 

 poverty, reeking crime, unutterable filth, moral 

 sewage. Farmers are essentially a middle class 

 and no comparison is fair that does not keep this 

 fact ever in mind. 



We sometimes hear the expression, " Country 

 life is so barren that to me is its most discourag- 

 ing aspect." Much country life is truly barren; 



