The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1915-05-23

J
! But the country about bore
| no other suggestions Of
spring in the East In the first place, those noun
| tains told me that we were unmistakably in the
| region of California And the abundance of South
crn California was revealed in the wide variety OF
the growths.
| We climbed out of the machine and wandered
| up the slope. Our guide, a ranchman from a
| neighboring town, who came here every Wednes-
day for the weekly class in psychology was lead
ing to what presently revealed itself as lath
| house A dozen people were there, women and
! men, some of the women knitting. Presently the
lecturer sat at end of the big table vigorous
| smooth-faced man of 40 or so, dressed in khaki.
He took up theme that he had apparently been
discussing the week before. Occasionally he would
turn to the blackboard behind him and jot down a
note. He evidently an experienced teacher.
Now | found myself transported to Brook
Farm. These pleasant-faced people. just as they
appeared now, might easily have been members
ference here The idealists were more prac-
teal than the Brook Farmers. They did not live
in close a community. They had their own
houses. They enjoyed more personal indepen-
dence As heard them in discussion with the
lecturer, much better equipped and so much
keener than college students to be found in lee
ture room, | thought could see for myself why
they had been drawn into this association. They
were having the advantage of life in the country,
in the real country, without the drawbacks Of iso-
lated living.
At the close of the meeting we left the lath
house and took places at rough table where
preparations quickly made for a simple lunch
con. Boxes were opened, containing sandwiches.
distributed As the meal proceeded the talk car
ricd on the discussion in the lecture room, and
good talk it was too.
On introduction. the lecturer proved to be Prof
the faculty at Nassar. where he lectured on psy-
chology. and among the first of the Little Landers
to try his fortune here. At the close of the meal
a copy of a novel by Henry James. The Tragic
Muse" brought out and one of the younger
men proceeded to read aloud. taking it up at the
place where they had stopped the week before.
Presently some of the Little Landers had to
go back to their farming. So we broke up Under
the guidance of Bawdcn and several other men,
bers OF the community those of us who were guests
walked down to Bawdens farm, On the way
learned something of the experiment 1t
started half-dozen years ago. During the first
few weeks there only three settlers on the
$50 acres. Now there were more than so families.
many problems and trials and vexations and dis
appointments. But the experiment had been de-
cidedy worth making
cultural village, where the residents could main
tain democratic community with all the ad-
vantages of the latest methods in farming and
where the rise in land values. the unearned ncre-
ment. would go to the community not to the ex-
ploiters of enterprise Already they had succeeded
in establishing a thorough system of irrigatng.
Water was delivered to the houses and the farms
at cost. The members were showing what could
be done by people of small means small parcels
of land cultivated by intensive methods. They
were raising flowers and vegetables and many
kinds OF fruits, including apricots, peaches, figs,
oranges, lemons and guavas. Several members
were specializing in poultry and one had thriving
rabbit farm.
For disposing OF their produce the colony had
established in San Diego, less than twenty miles
away, the Little Landers Cooperative Market In
the matter of buying comparatively they had not
was told greatly to my disappointment, that they
Surely the trouble here must have been method.
There could not be any doubt that cooperative
buying in its nature, carried the seeds of
One OF these days it was going to be widespread.
On Bawdcn's farm the principles of the
colony working out with fine results. 1t might
have served model exhibit. The irrigation
pipes spraying the ground, were keeping the grow
ing things in perfect condition. As l listened to
the casual remarks made by Bawden about his ex-
pericncc here, | could understand why he had
chosen to come and why his experiment had far
reaching importance 1t indication of the
kind of experiment that going to be extern
sively tried throughout California during the next
few years by the steadily increasing numbers of
people who longed to escape from the limiting
conditions of city life to the freedom and the in
dependence of the country