playmates are moral or vicious in their tendencies. Therefore, at the
formative period of character children should be guarded from the
debasing influences of improper companions, as well as such institutions
as saloons and low dance-halls which are generally found to be the local
causes of bad neighbors.

Of course, a neighborhood should be selected where there are good public
schools, churches, and allied institutions for education and culture.
It is always a loss to a child in this democratic country to be educated
in a private school, and yet, especially in cities, careful parents are
often compelled to resort to private instruction for their girls and
boys because of the lack of refining influences in the public schools.
This is why it is often better for families, when the father works in
the city, to live in the suburbs, where, as a rule, the best public
schools are to be found.

But it may not be feasible to live out of the city, especially in the
first years of married life, and therefore the home life must begin in
an apartment. The same sanitary considerations that obtain in choice of
a neighborhood are essential in the choice of a flat. Good air, light,
space, proper plumbing, and general cleanness are to be sought. Owing
to the general demand for these advantages, and a limited supply of
them which is due to economic conditions prevailing in our cities, they
unfortunately require money, therefore, the flat-seeker is compelled to
do the best he can with that part of his income which he may safely
appropriate for rent. As a rule, this amount is not more than one-fourth
of income.

When an apartment house has been properly built, and the walls are
settled and the plastering dry, it generally comes up to the standard