heroine, Dorinda Oakley, describes her
emotional and economic reaction to the post World War I period:

With the return of peace she hoped that the daily life on the farm
would slip back into orderly grooves; but before the end of the
first year she discovered that the demoralization of peace was more
difficult to combat than the madness of war. There was no longer an
ecstatic patriotism to inspire one to fabulous exploits. The world
that had been organized for destruction appeared to her to become
as completely disorganized for folly.... The excessive wages paid
for unskilled labour were ruinous to the farmer, for the field
hands who had earned six dollars a day from the Government were not
satisfied to drive a plough for the small sum that had enabled her
to reclaim the abandoned meadows of five oaks.... She was using two
tractor-ploughs on the farm; but the roads were almost impassable
again because none of the negroes could be persuaded to work on
them. Even when she employed men to repair the strip of "corduroy"
road between the bridge and the fork, it was impossible to keep the
bad places firm enough for any car heavier than a Ford to travel
over them....[4]

Thus, social and technical advances that had long been desired in rural
areas bolstered the farmer's optimism. Yet curiously enough this same
progress often jarred his expectations and financial security. Improved
roads meant improved markets, and increased contact with outside
communities but, along with the advent of the radio, they resulted in a
homogenizing of city and country ways, and lured many away from the
farm. Concern for rural welfare prompted all levels of government to
design programs to aid the farmer--programs which indeed furthered
agriculture, but at the price of well-meaning interference in a
previously highly individual sphere. Amid regulations and forms the
farmer felt a nagging loss of independence. Perhaps most strikingly,
widespread use of gasoline-powered equipment changed the pace of work,
made him reliant on outside sources for fuel and parts, and involved
investments which often prohibited purchase or encouraged
specialization.

Hence, the family farm retained its size and shape but it could no
longer revel in complete self-reliance.

The model farm at Frying Pan Park is a representation of this changing
way of life. It recognizes especially th