ly accepted.

The well-known conservatism of the farming class is doubtless largely
due to class isolation. Habits, ideas, traditions, and ideals have long
life in the rural community. Changes come slowly. There is a tendency to
tread the well-worn paths. The farmer does not easily keep in touch with
rapid modern development, unless the movements or methods directly
affect him. Physical agencies which improve social conditions, such as
electric lights, telephones, and pavements, come to the city first. The
atmosphere of the country speaks peace and quiet. Nature's routine of
sunshine and storm, of summer and winter, encourages routine and
repetition in the man who works with her.

A complement of this rural conservatism, which at first thought seems a
paradox, but which probably grows out of these same conditions of
isolation, is the intense radicalism of a rural community when once it
breaks away from its moorings. Many farmers are unduly suspicious of
others' motives; yet the same people often succumb to the wiles of the
charlatan, whether medical or political. Farmers are usually
conservative in politics and intensely loyal to party; but the Populist
movement indicates the tendency to extremes when the old allegiance is
left behind. Old methods of farming may be found alongside
ill-considered attempts to raise new crops or to utilize untried
machines.

Other effects of rural isolation are seen in a class provincialism that
is hard to eradicate, and in the development of minds less alert to
seize business advantages and less far-sighted than are developed by the
intense industrial life of the town. There is time to brood over wrongs,
real and imaginary. Personal prejudices often grow to be rank and
coarse-fibered. Neighborhood feuds are not uncommon and are often
virulent. Leadership is made difficult and sometimes impossible. It is
easy to fall into personal habits that may mark off the farmer from
other classes of similar intelligence, and that bar him from his
rightful social place.

It would, however, be distinctly unfair to the farm community if we did
not emphasize some of the advantages that grow out of the rural mode of
life. Farmers have time to think, and the typical American farmer is a
man who has thought much and often deeply. A spirit of sturdy
independence is generated, and freedom of will and of action is
encouraged. Family life is nowhere so educative as in the country. The
whole family co-operat