and subways, and live in little dark, narrow flats and apartments, with one window opening out on sunlight and fresh air, and all other windows opening on courts and so-called light and air-shafts.  Golf, tennis, baseball, rowing, etc., are good forms of exercise for these men—­but few of them care for games.  Gardening, forestry, carpenter work, mountain climbing, hunting, or fishing are out of the question in a city flat.  So the majority jump up in the morning, hurry on their clothes, snatch a bite of breakfast, run for a car, get to work, burrow in the warrens of industry until lunch time, rush out, snatch a sandwich and a cup of coffee at some lunch counter, and back to work again until dinner time.  Another dive into the bowels of the earth in the subway, home to the little flat, dinner at seven o’clock or even later, and then the short evening.  This little time from eight o’clock until ten at night is practically the only time the worker has for himself, except for holidays and his annual two weeks’ vacation.  How shall he get sufficient physical exercise during that time to satisfy all his needs?  If he is so constituted that he enjoys such things, he may go to a gymnasium or to a bowling alley, but he is just as likely to go to a pool room or to a dance hall.  Of course, it is far better for him to play pool or to dance than to sit quietly at home, as many do.

SOLUTION OF THE PROBLEM

This whole question is a serious one.  Even those who have the time, the means, the opportunity, and the inclination find themselves confronted with problems.  Even with all of their opportunities, most of them do not get enough outdoor physical activity.  And so they fret, they fume, they beat their wings against the bars, they are unhappy, dissatisfied, and therefore, oftentimes inefficient and unsuccessful.  Even when they are successful, they have fallen far below what they might have accomplished had they been engaged in some vocation which would have given them not only physical activity out of doors, but some intense vital interest in the result of that activity.  In other words, their vocation should supply them with the necessary physical exercise as part of the day’s work.  They should see themselves advancing, making money, achieving something worth while, creating something beautiful or useful, making a career for themselves, instead of merely playing or exercising for the sake of exercise.  Then they would be happier.  Then they would be better satisfied with their lot.  They would be more efficient and far more successful.

Current literature abounds in true stories of those who have gone forward to the land and have found help, happiness, and success in the cultivation of the soil.  This one has redeemed an abandoned farm in New England.  That one has taken a small ten-acre farm in southern California.  Another has carved out health, happiness, and a fair degree of fortune for himself on the plains of Washington or Idaho, or among the hills of Oregon.  Old southern plantations have been rehabilitated at the same time with their new owners or tenants.