supper is so inexpensive that it matters little how many are on hand
Sunday evenings. Also the chore of washing dishes after the last
guests have gone is reduced to lowest terms, likewise an item not to
be overlooked.

This trend toward country living, now so far flung as to be a
characteristic of American life, is not just a fad. It has been a slow
steady growth and has behind it a tradition of a century and more.
When our larger commercial centers first began to change from villages
to compact urban communities, there were those who found even these
miniature cities far too congested. It was incomprehensible to them
that a family should exist without land enough for such prime
requisites as a cow, a hen-yard, and a vegetable garden. No family
that really lived and properly enjoyed the pleasures of the table
could be without them. Besides, epidemics of yellow fever came with
summer as naturally as sleighing with winter.

So for health and good living they began to move far into the
country,--that is, three or four miles out of town,--and stage coach
routes were established to transport the heads of such families to and
from business either the year around or for the summer months. These
stages or the private carriages of the more ostentatious were, of
course, horse-drawn which limited the distance which could be
traveled.

The next step was the railroads. Hardly were they practical means of
transportation that could be relied on day in and day out, before
commutation tickets were offered for those hardy enough to endure
daily trips of a dozen miles or more between home and office.
Gradually the peaceful farming villages surrounding cities were