EFFECT OF COMMUNITY GROWTH

When other homes were built in the neighborhood a larger community life began.  The neighboring homes came to depend upon one another and to cooperate in many ways.  The store at the crossroads provided for many wants that each home had formerly provided for itself.  The doctor who came to live in the community relieved the home of much anxiety in case of sickness.  The education of the children was in part, at least, turned over to the community school.  And so, as a community grows, the home shifts much of the responsibility for providing for the wants of its members upon community agencies.

DEPENDENCE OF THE CITY HOME

This shifting of responsibility for the welfare of citizens from the home to the larger community is carried furthest in cities.  Almost everything wanted in the home may be bought in the city shops, and work that is done in the home for the family, such as repair work, dressmaking, laundry work, and cooking, is likely to be done by people brought in from outside.  Water is piped in from a public water supply and sewage is piped out through public sewers.  Gas and electricity for lighting and heating are furnished by city plants.  Since many city homes have not a spot of ground for a garden or for outdoor play, they depend upon public parks and playgrounds provided by the city.  These are among the many so-called advantages of city life.

THE OBLIGATION OF THE HOME

When so much is done for the citizen by the larger community agencies, there is danger that the family may forget its own responsibility for the welfare of its members in connection with every want of life.  For no matter how good the community’s arrangements for health protection may be, the health of every citizen depends more upon the home than upon any other agency (see Chapter xx).  No matter how good the schools, the home always has great responsibility for the education of the children, both within the home itself and through cooperation with the schools (Chapter xix).  No matter how many social organizations and places of amusement the community may afford, the social and recreational life of the home is the most important of all and the most far-reaching in its influence (Chapter XXI).  No matter how excellent the form of government in a community may be, its results will be very imperfect unless the government in each home is good.

IMPORTANCE OF THE HOME IN RURAL COMMUNITIES

The home has especial importance in the rural community of to-day.  The rural home is no longer so isolated and self-dependent as the pioneer home, but the life of the rural citizen is much more dependent upon efforts within the home itself than the life of the city resident.  The business of farming by which the family living is secured is carried on at home, and, as a rule, all the members of the family have some part in it.  It is a cooperative family enterprise to a much greater extent than any other modern business.