Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1900-11-01
A COMING CHANGE.

A COMING CHANGE.
While for the past 10 years there has
been very marked trend on the part
of country people to the cities, this
brought about by variety Of causes
the isolation Of farm life, its limited
educational and social advantages, and
the natural desire to be In more ready
touch with Il busy and progressive CIV
ilization-we think that this migration
cityward has spent its force and that
In the near future we shall see it Who'll
ly cease, If indeed it be not reversed,
the city resident turning to the country
as place of residence. Agencies ara
at work which are rapidly removing
many of the old objections to life in the
Countrywide betterment of the high
ways the building Of trolley lines, the
rural telephone system and the daily
rural mail route are each and all tend
ing to make country living more desir-
able and city living less attractive.
The very best type of English living is
found In the country homes of Great
Britain, and the same will yet be true
of America. The possibilities connect
ed with the identifying and refining Of
the American farm home are almost
illimitable, and when once accomplish
ed no sensible man or woman would
care to exchange the pure air, the I'M
fettered environment, the immunity
from restrictive municipal ordinance
and the burden of city taxation, the
ever pleasing rural associations always
wholesome, healthful and inspiring, for
anything which the city has to offer in
the way Of n home. To accomplish this
most desirable change there must first
be campaign Of education among the
jewellers in farm homes along the line
of improving the home and its sur
roundings, and now that improved
business conditions have so largely re-
lieved the burden Of Indebtedness it is
easily possible to accomplish much
practical and good work on this line.
To do this there must be more or less
Of sentiment developed, for it is true
that many things which contribute to
the making of refined and beautiful
home, whether in city or country, will
not bring their reward in dollars and
cents, but rather in the betterment of
the intellectual and moral life of the
people who live in it. This education
will have to cover a wide field and will
include improvement in farm methods,
in the quality of stock, knowledge Of
soils and climatic conditions, utilities
| and economies both on the farm and
the home, some knowledge Of horticul-
ture and Horticulture, that sense Of the
fitness of things which will put the
pigs and the COWS and the poultry in
! their proper places, which will keep
the house and buildings neatly painted,
the fences in good repair, the weeds In
subsection and front the home with 4
large and pleasant dooryard ever bar
red to foraging farm animals Of all
kinds. In the home it will multiply
good books and papers and tighten the
burden Of the wife and mother with all
modern and useful household applt-
ances for the doing of her work. A
telephone will put the family in instant
touch with the outside world, and a
rural mail route will deliver the daily
paper. No better or more promising
field Of work is now open to that man
who would better the condition Of his
| fellow men than in the line of helping
to bring about such change in coun-
try living as shall make a country
home the best home to be found in all
the land.