Synopses & Reviews
From Tenement House to Farm Colony A Circular Solution of an Angular Problem By Bradley Gilman- INTRODUCTION. THE publishers of this important book have asked me to write a few lines of introduction, if only to beg readers to take the book most seriously, as an impor tant contribution to one of the great central questions of the time. They have asked an old man to say this, who has had to fight the worst tendencies of city life in most of his mans work, in the daily routine of a working minister. They have thought that his word might carry enough weight with it, to persuade se rious readers to take the book, not as another Utopia, but as a real contribution to the scientific sociolog ical work of this new century. Mr. Frederick Law Olmsted, that eminent improver of cities, who has done so much for the beauty and health of American towns, once said to me that, while he was greatly praised for his work in the ruralising of the cities, he considered the complemen tary work of the urbanising of the country to be an enterprise far more important in the life of America. This careful opinion of a leader like him will be shared by all men who will diligently study the most difficult problems of our social order. It must be observed that whatever is done must be done in accord, by a considerable number of peo ple, who are, from the beginning, to bear one anoth ers burdens, and whose success depends, as most success depends, on the victory of together. The prejudice, natural enough, which keeps George Hammer, the blacksmith, in a crowded tenement- house, where his next neighbours are Will Penman, the teller in the Commercial Bank, and Henry Jalap, the apothecary at the corner, springs from aneffort which Frank Question-mark made eleven years ago, when the Prospect Hill speculators advertised their lots for sale. Trains went out one day to Prospect Hill, and no one had to buy tickets. This was the when lots were sold at auction. There was a day pretty pavilion on Everett Square, which was an oval space in the middle of the lots. There was a nice free lunch, oysters and salad, yes, with a little champagne. The viewwas exquisite. Even the birds sang, and the visitors gathered long-stemmed violets for their wives. The lots were put up for sale, and they sold with spirit, so that when Nos. 23 and 24 were sold, Frank was able to purchase, at exactly the price he had dreamed of. He and Fanny did not mean to build, that year but, next year, Oh, it would be lovely Yes But when Fanny was well enough to ride out, and they took her on her first ride with the nurse and the baby, things did not look so attractive. The grass was now very high, and it even grew in the roadway as well as in the house-lots. There were awful gulches in the roads, where the waterhad run riot in a summer storm a few days before. A deserted shanty had a door swinging open, on which was a sign that the agent would be found at No. 4 Mammon Block, in town. Frank told Fanny that all would be quite different in the next year and they rode home, but rather silent, and they did not go to the nursery to buy plants for their garden. Before long the tax-bill came in for the new house- lots. Frank paid the tax-bill, but found, a little to his disgust, that no other purchaserhad materialised, and that he was the only householder on Prospect Hill. He holds the deed of histwo lots still...
Synopsis
This book aims at setting forth the hopeful possibilities of country life, in contrast with the forlorn and desperate actualities of crowded city life. It depicts in fictional form the concrete conditions under which country life should be undertaken, and it points out many of the resources and opportunities of the country. A wonderful book full of interesting information and helpful tips, this text will greatly appeal to those with an interest in rural relocation and is not to be missed. The chapters of this book include: 'The Problem Introduced', 'A Lesson from a Pie', 'Circle City on Paper', 'Circle City in Reality', 'From Hedges and By-Ways', 'Ab Urbe Condita', 'Education - Secular and Religious', 'Rulers of the People', 'Finished Products and Others', and more. This text was originally published in 1901, and we are proud to republish it now complete with a new introduction on the subject.