Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-05-01
TAKING A FAMILY
BACK TO THE SOIL
Being the Experiences Of a Gov
eminent Clerk Who Sets Out
to Lower the High Cost Of
Living.

This weeks story is going to be de-
voted to answering questions. ] have
SO much work on hand that it hasn't
seemed possible to answer personally
all the letters 1 have received from
readers of The Star who have become
interested in our adventure back to
the soil We have appreciated the
kindly spirit which prompted writing
of the letters and have enjoyed read
ing them.
Some of the letters have contained
suggestions which We have tried and
found helpful. Other suggestions.
though no doubt equally good. have
not seemed applicable to conditions
with which We are confronted. These,
TOO, we have appreciated, for they show
that the thing We are trying to do
makes an appeal to wide circle of
people in a wide variety of circum-
stances
While / have not attempted to keep
score. I should say that men and wom-
en- have been represented about equally
as writers. majority of the let
tiers. probably, have been from govern
ment employees. but two three have
been from men whose names are well
known in business, and one, which in
terested me very much. was from a
street car motorman. He and his wife,
he said. were putting in the savings
bank every penny they could spare
from the bare necessities of life. their
ambition being to buy a few acres of
land and a small house In the country.
Visions of Green Fields.
"A street car motorman,' he wrote.
has lots of time to think. and I think
of nothing but the country. I was
born and grew up on a farm. but was
foolish enough to listen to the big
tales some of the fellows from our
neighborhood told of the money they
earned in the city It's true a man
but after paying rent and buying food
and clothing for himself and wife and
two children, there's mighty little left
in the weekly pay envelope.
Running a street car. even on the
busy downtown streets, gets to be me-
chanical. Sometimes Pennsylvania ave-
nue., with it's automobiles and wagons,
fades away, and j seem to be moving
through green fields with cows and
sheep in them. That's because / am
thinking of the country so hard and
longing for it. All l want is a little
house and few acres of land. I'll
know how to make a living from it. all
right. And when I get in the country
again. you can bet I'll have sense
enough to stay there"
Doesn't it strike you that this mo-
torman is getting more out of life right
now than most of his fellows, no mat
ter how much better circumstanced
they may be, are getting? He has
vision and imagination and the future
is a thing of promise. I'll bet he gets
his place in the country and that he
makes go of it.
Women Long for the Soil.
1 have been surprised. not to say
amazed, at the number of women who
are hoping and working, just as the
notorman is, for a home in the coun-
try. Let US say that l have heard
from dozen women who cherish such
ambitions. When you consider what a
small percentage of them would trou-
BILE to write me a letter, there must be
ton.
Most of the women 1 have heard from
are in the government service and
most of them have never married.
Judged by their letters, they do not ex-
pect to marry. Their collective ambi-
tion, epitomiZed, seems to be to have
acre or two of ground with a cot
tage, preferably white with green shut
ters and rambler roses over the porch,
and to raise chickens and small fruit
and have a garden.
Their purpose in writing me is to
ask: Can l make living that way?
No question / have had asked me is
more difficult to answer. fairly and
satisfactorily. So much would depend
on the woman. A good deal would de-
pend. too, on what she meant by
living. If she meant, could she earn
an income equal to the salary she is