RURAL LIFE IN LITCHFIELD COUNTY 



munity life and a rugged and normal individual life that 

 should be the outgrowth of their environment. 



There is a growing tendency, too, among city people 

 of liberal means and good intentions to want to do some- 

 thing for the betterment of life in the country. Such en- 

 deavor, when rightly directed, is to be commended. It 

 cannot be done, however, by transferring the city to 

 the country. Whatever can be done to make the coun- 

 try people see and enjoy the advantages of the country, 

 is to be commended. The one thing that country people 

 lack is a full realization of what they have to enjoy. 

 Country children especially need to be taught how to 

 enjoy life in the country and how to see and appreciate 

 Nature in her many and varied phases. The boys' and 

 girls' club contests in the growing of poultry, vege- 

 tables, fruits and flowers will tend to develop a healthy 

 rivalry that cannot fail to arouse interest in growing 

 things. The Boy Scouts and the Camp Fire Girls are 

 forms of wholesome endeavor and recreation that are 

 tending to arouse a spirit of self-reliance and an inter- 

 est in one's community, as well as to develop a vigorous 

 physical life. The country fair, in its rural simplicity, 

 such as Norfolk has so well illustrated, is to be com- 

 mended and has wholesome recreational and educa- 

 tional advantages well worth while. But when the 

 cheap side-show and the "midway" are engrafted on the 

 country fair, it is likely to be perverted from its 



