THE LANDSCAPE BEAUTIFUL 



the open country, — the regions that God 

 made, (You remember the saying that 

 God made the country, but man made the 

 city.) Neither civic artist nor rural im- 

 provement society has yet undertaken to 

 bring the country any help. So far as I 

 know, the affair has not been seriously 

 discussed, and probably most persons 

 assume that the country cannot be im- 

 proved. 



It will appear, however, even on a 

 brief consideration, that the same principles 

 which are being so beneficently worked 

 out in the building of modern cities and 

 the improvement of prosperous towns will 

 apply with equal effect to the enrichment 

 of the rural districts. This essay under- 

 takes only to carry out the comparison. 



In city planning we hear a great deal 

 about civic centers. The villages and towns 

 are the natural, though inevitable, civic 

 centers of the country-side; and if village 

 improvement will make of them all they 

 ought to be, then rural improvement begins 

 with one problem solved and may pass at 

 once to others. 



Every country district ought to be 

 reasonably accessible. There should be 



208 



