ul thought. The City Problem
has been widely discussed. Much thought and effort have been expended in
its solution, and, while progress has been made and the outlook is
hopeful, the end is not yet. Within recent years another problem has
arisen which is scarcely less serious than that which the city presents,
and that is the Country Problem. There are two reasons why this has not
attracted special attention until quite lately. First, the city problem
has been so serious and so acute that it has occupied the public mind to
the exclusion of conditions in the country. And, in the second place,
those conditions have increased in seriousness so rapidly in recent years
and their demand for attention and careful consideration has become so
insistent and imperious that it can no longer be disregarded. No
thoughtful person can now blink the fact that there is a country problem,
that it is equal in seriousness to the city problem, and that the two are
so intimately related that neither of them can be solved by itself alone.
They stand or fall together.

I have no theory to present, nor any philosophy to exploit. I have no
patent way of solving either the city or the country problem. I have only
a story to tell of some things that have been done that may point the way
toward a solution of the country problem. It is the simple account of an
experiment in the work of religious and social welfare that promises to be
successful. The parish that is spoken of may be regarded as an experiment
station, and this story is only the account of the working out of certain
methods. It will be enough if the story shall prove to be some small
contribution to the solution of the important and difficult country
problem.

One of the greatest difficulties I had in writing this story was with
myself. Some of the experiences were so purely personal that I hesitated
to speak of them and I shrank from the so frequent use of the personal
pronouns. In the first draft of the story I resorted to all manner of
circumlocution to avoid their use, but I found it difficult to adopt any
consistent form and the result was to weaken the impression. So, acting on
the advice of able and judicious critics, I concluded to tell the story in
the simplest and most direct way.

H. S. MILLS.

BENZONIA, MICHIGAN,

_August 15, 1914_.

[Illustration: MAP SHOWING THE LARGER PARISH

(WEST HALF OF BENZIE COUNTY, MICHIGAN)]

KEY TO MAP

1. Benzonia Village, Benzo