.. There was a wife left there with three ... small children,
not of school age. My father not only did our work, but he went
over and did their work too.[225]

Mutual assistance, concern and hospitality were the bedrock of community
relations.

[Illustration: A map of the Floris community, c. 1930, drawn from memory
by Joseph Beard.]

Rapid communications made information on everyone's activities
neighborhood knowledge. County agent Derr noted that it was "remarkable
how rapidly news travels, whether good or bad," and that this was in
fact an asset to his work.[226] The postal agent and telephone operator
were two other information catalysts. The postmaster, Thomas Walker, was
notorious for reading the postcards which passed his way, and often
called the recipients to inform them of impending visits by relatives,
or tidings of birth or death.[227] Telephone lines were put up in 1916,
"strung on trees, just old poles up and down the road"[228] and this
greatly speeded channels of gossip and necessary information. The
telephone operator worked from her own bedroom and was the source for
all the latest news. "If you didn't know what was going on in the
neighborhood, all you had to do was ask the telephone operator," one
Floris resident observed. "She knew everything."[229] In a more
pragmatic sense the operator was depended upon for help during
emergencies. The fear of isolation, a chief liability of rural areas,
was much reduced by the improved roads and telecommunications of the
first decade of the 20th century.

The telephone operator was particularly helpful in locating rural
doctors when they were needed in an emergency. Like the veterinarians,
doctors were not relied on for minor illnesses but were called on in
extreme cases. Jack Day and William Robey were among the doctors who
travelled by horse and buggy (and later in early model Fords) to make
housecalls. They were loved and accepted by the community: "We thought
of a family doctor about like we did our minister."[230] Fees were
usually $1.00 for a housecall though farmers would sometimes offer a
bushel of corn or a chicken in payment for their treatment.[231]

The doctors contributed a great deal to the well-being of the community.
Rural families, however, were resourceful in finding home remedies for
many ailments. Some of these were long-respected herbal preparations,
but others were used more because of tradition than effectiveness.
Franc