Those who are feeling the return to Nature, who find pleasure in gardening and in all the soothing effects of country life, or who can bring themselves to it with moderate pleasure for the sake of the children who must be encouraged to delight in it, should go out at least ten miles from the city.  In a well-regulated household the early breakfast will be a natural thing, and the meal will be no more hurried than any other.  It is the class which tries to be both city and country that fills the columns of the magazines with the trials of the commuter.  The father need not see less of his children, and the common occupation and interest will furnish opportunities for wise counsel.  Much nonsense is written about the perils of habit and the dangers of routine.  It all depends upon what those habits are.  All animal functions are better performed as a matter of habit, without thought; it saves energy for more intellectual pursuits, which, I grant, are better kept under volitional control.  The animal act of breakfasting at a given hour, of taking a given train, can be accomplished as unconsciously as breathing.  Early rising should be the rule, because the children are then available as they are not at night.

We shall assume that the sane man will hold the little home in the country with all outdoors to breathe in as worth the half-hour journey and the early breakfast, and that the woman will have time set free by the labor-saving devices sure to come as fast as she will use them wisely.  This free time she will give to the aesthetic side of life and will make of her home a more attractive place than the club.

But once a week let them both go into town either to the club or to some other place for dinner and an entertainment afterward.  This will be sufficient to keep them out of an intellectual rut, will brighten the appetite with needed variety, and make the next quiet evening more delightful.

Once a week is sufficient to break the monotony of diet and routine, and not often enough to create that insatiable appetite for the glare of lights and the rush of people which makes all family life “deadly dull,” as one cafe-haunting woman confessed.

While this country life is the only thing for a family of young children and for those who really enjoy the country, there is a larger number needing rational housing which will be left behind, let us hope with more room because of the flitting of these others.

Much as I deprecate the evils of the present apartment system, I do believe that an idealized modification will be needed for many years, especially for the elderly, for the commercial traveler, for the bachelor men and maids temporarily or permanently living single, for the newly married as yet unsettled in business or profession, for the man who does not know his own mind or whose employers do not know theirs.  An instance has come to the writer’s knowledge of a young man who, after his wedding cards were out, was ordered to take charge of an office in another city.