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     COUNTHY LIVING 
     
    

    
     Although, judged by present day standards, country life may appear to 
     
     have been staid and monotonous, in our view it was the best of all 
     
     possible lives. It had a pervading sense of stability, of permanence, of 
     
     security, that has long been lost without compensating replacement. There 
     
     was a Spirit of mutual interest and common cause. If a farmer had the 
     
     misfortune to lose a horse by accident or disease, his neighbors were 
     
     prompt to help him with the planting, the haying, or whatever the current 
     
     activity might be. I remember an instance where a man lost a pair of . 
     
     horses by lightning. His neighbors not only took over the harvesting; they 
     
     also passed the hat to help him buy another team. When lightning struck 
     
     and destroyed another neighbor's barns, money was donated throughout the 
     
     district to help him rebuild.,, furthermore, all gave freely of their time 
     
     and skills to assist in the construction. 
     
    

    
     When illness struck, neighbors were quickly at hand to offer all 
     
     possible assistance. When death occurred, the neighborhood housewives 
     
     took charge of the housekeeping duties. They brought food and prepared it 
     
     so that the women of the bereaved family need have no concern. The men 
     
     took care of the farm chores. Attendance at funerals included the entire 
     
     community; it was customary, too, to select pallbearers of each religious 
     
     affiliation. Under normal conditions, people lived their individual lives, 
     
     but in adversity they became part of a closely knit unit, with all 
     
     differences forgotten. They lived in accordance with the high principles 
     
    
   
   
    
     established by the folk who had founded the comunity, and kept alive by 
     
    
   
   
    
     those who followed them. 
     
    
   
   
    
     SETTER ESSE