s."

"Bravo! George! Now, you are talking more like your old self, more like
a reasonable man. You are making great progress, in mastering the
underlying principles and practical work of the co-operative movement! I
think, Miss Houghton, that you ought to join in offering
congratulations. Will you not?"

"Yes, Mr. Flagg! I shall be glad to do so! First, I want to compliment
Mr. Gaylord, on his excellence as a listener! Then again, I wish to
thank him, for his kindly summing up, of the impressions, which came to
him from my rather long sermon on practical religion.

"Now gentlemen, you must excuse me! I have an engagement, which demands
my immediate presence at the kindergarten."

CHAPTER XLII.

RURAL LIFE UNDER THE REIGN OF CO-OPERATION.

"I wish, Fillmore," said George Gaylord, "to question your statement, as
to the ability of the co-operative movement, to check the rush from
country to city life. The tide of the movement is a strong one, that has
been constantly increasing in volume, for the past twenty years. I fear
that even the popular co-operative movement, will fail to turn the
flood."

"The thing is sure to be accomplished, George! But, to understand the
workings of the underlying force, which shall make this change possible,
we must first study the units of rural society. Of course, the financial
basis of these units, must be supported by agriculture. Agriculture is,
and must continue to be the main support of all rural populations. Fifty
years ago, agriculture as a whole, comprised a vast collection of small
farms and farmers. Then, the small farmer and his family, as the stable
unit of suburban society, was financially and practically independent.
Questions of over-production of food products, rise or fall in the price
of exchange, panic in the money market, or an adverse balance of trade,
disturbed them not.

"Under the spur of necessity, and as a part of the legitimate farm work,
the farmer and his family, in a crude way, practiced many of the
industrial arts, such as leather working, harness making, boot and shoe
making, cloth making, the carding, spinning and weaving of wool; the
preparation, spinning and weaving of flax or linen fabrics; the
manufacture of many farm implements, brooms, baskets, harrows, sleds and
carts; tailoring, making all kinds of underwear, hosiery, gloves and
mittens; linen furnishings, for table and bed, together with many other
articles of household use. Often, t