CHAPTER III 

 THE EXPANSION OF FARM LIFE 



Narrowness is perhaps the charge most often 

 brought against American farm life. To a cer- 

 tain extent this charge may be just, though the 

 comparisons that usually lead up to the conclu- 

 sion do not always discriminate. It must be 

 remembered that there are degrees of desirability 

 in farm life, and that at the least there are multi- 

 tudes of rural communities where bright flowers 

 still bloom, where the shade is refreshing, and 

 the waters are sweet. But, granting for the 

 time that in the main rural life is less pleasantness 

 rich, less expansive than city life, we shall urge 

 that this era of restriction is rapidly drawing to 

 a close. There are forces at work that are mold- 

 ing rural life by new standards, and the old 

 regime is passing. We shall soon be able to 

 say of the country that "old things have passed 

 away; all things have become new." 



This statement may seem too optimistic to 

 some who can marshal an array of facts to prove 

 that bigotry, narrowness, and the whole family 

 of ills begotten by isolation still thrive in the 



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