row," by
Christopher Holdenby, a picture of rural life in England. In such a book
as that one realizes the full meaning of the phrase, "the rural mind,"
and one sees how far the men and women that live on the farms in the
United States have yet to go, how much they will have to coagulate, how
many centuries they will have to sit still in their places with wax in
their ears and weights on their eyelids, before they will have acquired
psychological features such as Mr. Holdenby gives to the folk of the
English furrow.

A traveler in the Old World frequently sees illustrations of this. For
instance, in passing through some European picture gallery, he may meet
a woman of extraordinary strength and beauty, dressed in a style
representing the rural life in that vicinity. She will wear the peasant
skirt and bodice, and will be without gloves or hat. A second look will
reveal that the skirt is made of satin so stiff that it could stand
alone; the velvet bodice will be covered with rich embroidery; and heavy
chains of silver of quaint workmanship will be suspended around the
neck.

On inquiry one may learn that this stately woman was of what would be
called in this country a farmer family, that had now become very
wealthy; that she did not consider herself above her "class"--so they
would describe it--no, that she gloried in it instead. It was from
preference only that she dressed in the fashion of that "class."

Now, whether desirable or not, such a thing as this would never be seen
in America. No woman (unless it were a deaconess or a Salvation Army
lassie or a nun) would pass through the general crowd showing her rank
or profession in life by her style of dress. And that is how it happens
that neither by hat nor by hatlessness would the country woman here make
known her pride in the possession of acres or in her relation to that
profession that forms the real basis of national prosperity. Hence no
country girl counts such a pride among her inheritances. Therefore if it
is not easy to find and understand the country girl as a type, it is not
because she is consciously or unconsciously hiding herself away from us;
she is not even sufficiently conscious of herself as a member of a
social group to pose in the attitude of an interesting mystery. She is
just a human being happening to live in the country (not always finding
it the best place for her proper welfare), just a single one in the
great shifting mass.

Although it m