Then it is that our allegiance to country life will be strained, if
ever--particularly if we have provided ourselves with a ten-minute walk
to the station. Wading through snow against a winter wind, we see the
"agreeable constitutional" of the milder days in a different light.

We should think of all these things, and of some sacrifices purely
personal. It is better to think now than after the moving man's bill
has come in. Reason as we may, regrets will come, perhaps loneliness.
But the compensations, if we have chosen wisely, will be increasingly
apparent, and we shall be the very exceptions of exceptions if, before
the second summer has passed, we are not wedded beyond divorce to the
new home.

Once determined upon forswearing urban residence, a multitude of
considerations arise. First of these is "Which place?" Our suburban
towns have been developed in two ways. Some are "made to order," while
others were originally rural villages but have come under metropolitan
influence. Living in the latter is likely to be less expensive, and
local life may have more of a distinctive character; but the husk of
the past is almost certain to be evident in the mixture of old and
modern houses and in a certain offish separation of the native and
incoming elements. The "made-to-order" town is likely to exhibit
better streets and sidewalks, to be more capably cared for, to be freer
from shanties, and to possess no saloons. Land and living may demand
greater expenditure, but they will be worth the difference.



SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES