[The Cost of Shelter by Ellen H. Richards]@TWC D-Link bookThe Cost of Shelter CHAPTER IV 8/15
Shelter should not suggest a prison. The education of the child demands that housing shall include land for pets, for vegetables and flowers; not merely to increase beauty and selfish pleasure, but for the ethical value of contact with things dependent on care and forethought.
The thoughtful sociologist recognizes as one of the greatest needs for the children of to-day a closer companionship with fathers--is urging that even money-making should be secondary to the time given to moulding the character of the little ones, instead of leaving them to nurses and coachmen or to the school of the streets.
Companionship in the garden-work will secure this opportunity in a natural way. It is only by going into the country that sufficient land for a simple house with yard in front and garden in the rear--the ideal English home--can be had.
There will be a sacrifice of some of the things the city gives, but a compromise is the only possible outcome of many claims. 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.
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