ONE] INTRODUCTION 
ing of children, but for night classes, for lectures, 
and for various musical and art associations. This 
consolidation of the town about the school brings 
the homes and the school into closer relation, and 
harmonizes all the intellectual and moral life of 
the community. 
Our first care must be the creation of real country 
homes. Here we shall have the primal art of nature 
to assist us, with its latest interpretations by science. 
Itis a new thought of high art that is growing among 
the people, that instead of buying pictures to hang 
on our walls, we may better create them on the sod, 
with living plants and running brooks. Literature 
also is turning its face countryward. Nature books 
rival novels in popular use. They express the new 
stage of social evolution, and confirm the desire to 
escape from the limitations of city conditions. In 
other words, we are going back, and to what God 
wrought — intending to cowork with him. 
The object of this book is to meet the growing 
tide as it moves from congested cities into the free- 
dom of home-making in the country; and we shall 
aim to add, as far as possible, influences to broaden 
life in its new environment. Having gone over the 
road myself, with the advantage of having been 
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