178 FARM HOMES, I^-DOORS AXD OUT-DOORS. 



CHAPTER XII. 

 FARM NEIGHBORHOODS. 



Just as where two or three are met together in His 

 name, there reigns in their midst the blessed Spirit, so 

 where two or four farms front each other, exists the pos- 

 sibility of NEIGHBORHOOD. And a neighborhood is an 

 excellent thing m the country. It is only the work- weary, 

 noise-deafened, and perhaps slightly dyspeptic city mind 

 that ever sings in earnest of the charms of solitude, and 

 the all-satisfying companionship of nature. "If I must 

 choose between men and trees," says a wise and witty 

 somebody, " I must say that I prefer men." Transplant 

 your weary city-ite to the quiet and solitude of some farm 

 lying five miles from its little country post-office, give 

 him the sighing of the breeze and the chirp of the crickets 

 night and day, with an Agricultural Report for reading, 

 and the chickens and calves for companions, and in less 

 than a year's time you will probably have on your hands 

 a man gratefully ready to return to the cheerful activities 

 and ocial advantages of his city home. 



No one wants too much of anything, even of the serene, 

 companionless quiet of a beautiful country region, and 

 the happiest existence must be that which can command, 

 along with green fields and singing streams, something 

 of the good cheer and inspiration of congenial fellowship, 

 both in social and business life. 



A jocose city friend, who is more than half in earnest, 

 however, says life can never possess its full meaning for 

 her until she can have a fine fruit and dairy farm within 

 ten minutes walk of the post-office ! And so, while we 

 recognize the stern fact that we cannot combine all the 



