A FUTURE FOR THE GLEBE 327 



small producer gives country districts a wide berth 

 because of the difficulty of disposing of his wares. 

 Who is to consume the butter, eggs, and poilltry of a 

 farm, if there be few or no local residents to buy 

 them? whose horses are at hand to eat up the hay, 

 the beans and the oats which the district may pro- 

 duce ? 



The cottager at this moment may inquire in vain 

 how he is to convey his basket of garden-stuff — freshly- 

 cut flowers or honey — into the town at a profit, if he 

 has to sacrifice his day's labour and take them in 

 himself. How is the doctor to be quickly summoned 

 by those who have not the means of employing a 

 mounted express? How are varying supplies from 

 the tradesman to be readily ordered and obtained by 

 the house in the country several miles, or even a 

 mile, from the town ? Still more, how may an out- 

 break of fire be quickly subdued, and not improbable 

 burglars deterred or quickly repelled ? The telephone 

 alone can furnish a cheap and effective reply. 



The night mail usually arrives at the post-town in 

 the small hours of the morning, and the rural post- 

 man starts with the letters at about six o'clock, before 

 a single shop- shutter is down. Therefore he cannot 

 take out parcels posted that morning ; the shops are 

 not open to make them up, and the post-office is not 

 open to take them in. 



In some cases, a second despatch, or day mail, is 

 already sent off from the head post-town to the 

 rural district. It is most frequently taken by foot 



