THE STORY OF A “ BACK TO THE LAND ” MOVEMENT THAT WAS STARTED BY A MOTOR 
CAR—CHAPTER VI—THE SPENCES DISCOVER THE CAMPING POSSIBILITIES OF THE CAR 
Editor’s Note: The man whose business ties him to the city may feel the call of woods and Helds, but the unpleasant prospects of isolation, lack of transit facilities., 
provincialism, etc., have deterred him from making a change. The automobile has solved these difficulties for many and has made a home in the rural country possible even 
for city business men. This is the account of an emigration to a rural district made possible by a motor. The automobile was considered part of the plant, and yet even 
when its original cost was included in the price of the home, they found that it enabled them to buy quite extensive lands for the price of a place in a high-class suburban develop¬ 
ment. How a motor served in a variety of practical purposes, brought friends, made the family independent of distance and time-table, is taken from the experiences of a mam 
who has proved his experiment. This narrative was begun in the July issue. 
BY C. H. C L A U D Y 
4 4 T DECLARE,” mused Mrs. Spence one day, after having 
X used the runabout first for a shopping expedition, later to 
bring the children home from a visit ten miles distant, and finally 
to carry Mr. Spence from the station, “I don't see how we ever 
thought an automobile undemocratic, or a stuck-up, purseproud 
sort of thing to own! I don't believe I could ever live without 
one, city or country, again. People who don’t own automobiles 
don't understand what they do !” 
“You are entirely right, as usual!" Mr. Spence put on addi¬ 
tional power and the little car began to eat the road up, and an 
exhilarating breeze fanned their faces. “There doesn't seem to 
be any end to the tasks we can ask it to perform.” 
“That’s what I think. Now, what would you say to a little trip 
to Eagle Rock?” 
“Why the change of subject so suddenly? And why Eagle 
Rock, of all inaccessible, disagreeable-to-get-to places? You 
surely can’t look back with any pleasure on our one and only 
trip there!” 
“Well—I don’t know—was it so bad?” 
Had Mr Spence known, his wife was but getting him started 
for a purpose. But he rushed blindly to his destruction. 
“You don’t know! You—why, you outrageous person! 
Haven’t I heard you say a thousand times it was the worst trip 
you ever took? You don’t remember the long, hot, stuffy ride? 
The crowded cars? The fat woman who insisted on sitting alt 
over you ? The child with the molasses candy who wanted to- 
love you ? The people in the next seat and the things they said ? J 
Forgotten the long wait at the junction, the heat, and that awful; 
carriage ride, nine miles to the top of the old rock? 1 grant you 
the view is beautiful and it’s nice after you arrive, but the saints; 
defend me from getting there! No, thank you! I’ll pack up and 
go to the Pole or Kamschatka or any other place, but no- 
Eagle Rock!” 
“Well, I agree with you. It was awful. But it was the journey 
which was awful. The place was nice. Dorry and Larry weren’t 
even born then! And I’d like them to see it — I’d like to see it 
again. Why can’t we go in Good Fairy?” 
Mr. Spence turned his head from the flying road and looked at 
his wife, quizzically. 
“Humph!” he answered. “So it wasn't a change of subject? 
You do move in strange and mysterious ways your purposes to 
accomplish! I’m sure I don’t know why not — I suppose we could’ 
manage it. But it looks like a big undertaking to me!” 
“That’s because you still think of it in terms of heated cars, 
sticky babies, and squashy fat ladies!” replied Mrs. Spence. “L 
see in it only a pleasant ten-day tour — day and a half there, day 
and a half back, and a week to stop and let Dorry and Larry find’ 
out what the old State really looks like when you are way up> 
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