inciple, though rural observation does not always
justify it, that human life is not only intrinsically more valuable to
the individual or family than the life of an animal of the herd, but
it is actually worth more to the community.

155. =The Village Improvement Society.=--To secure good health
conditions, interested persons in the community may organize a health
club. Its feasibility is well proved by the history of the village
improvement society. There are two hundred such societies in
Massachusetts alone, and the whole movement is organized nationally in
the American Civic Federation. Their object is the toning up of the
community by various methods that have proved practicable. They owe
their organization to a few public-spirited individuals, to a woman's
club, or sometimes to a church. Their membership is entirely
voluntary, but local government may properly co-operate to accomplish
a desired end. Expenses are met by voluntary contribution or by means
of public entertainments, and its efforts are limited, of course, by
the fatness of its purse. Examples of the useful public service that
they perform are the demolition of unsightly buildings and the
cleaning up of unkempt premises, the beautification of public
structures and the building of better roads, the erection of drinking
troughs or fountains, and the improvement of cemeteries. Besides such
outdoor interests village improvement societies create public spirit,
educate the community by means of high-class entertainments, art and
nature exhibits, and public discussion of current questions of local
interest. They stand back of community enterprises for recreation,
fire protection, and other forms of social service, including such
economic interests as co-operative buying and marketing and the
extension of telephone or transportation service.

The initial impulse that sets in motion various forms of village
improvement frequently comes from the summer visitor or from a teacher
or minister who brings new ideas and a will to carry them into
action. In certain sections of country, like the mountain region of
northern New England, summer people are very numerous, through the
weeks from June to October, and not a few of them revisit their
favorite rural haunts for a briefer time in the winter. It is not to
be expected that they are always a force for good. Sometimes they make
country residents envious and dissatisfied. But it is not unusual that
they give an intel