moment are near to us, and powerful in the way of motivation.
These, however, are the aspects of human environment which appeal most
strongly to the child, to the savage, and to the uneducated person. If
we are optimists, believing that the race is progressing, and that our
own people and country are progressing as rapidly as or more rapidly
than any other, we must believe that motives which appeal to our deeper,
saner, and more disciplined nature will win out in the long run. Let us
see, then, what some of the appeals to this saner stratum of human
nature, in behalf of rural life, are.

=Fewer Hours of Labor than Formerly.=--The hours of labor have been
reduced everywhere. In the olden time labor was done by slaves or serfs,
and neither their bodies nor their time was their own. They labored
when, where, and as long as their masters dictated. Even a generation
ago there was little said, and there was no uniformity, as to how long a
working-man should labor. In busy seasons or on important pieces of
work, he labored as long as the light of day permitted. It was from sun
to sun, and often long after the sun had disappeared from the western
horizon. Sixteen hours was no uncommon day for him. Under such
conditions there was no room for mental, social, or spiritual
advancement. Later, the hours were reduced to a maximum of fourteen.
This proved to be so satisfactory that laws were passed providing for a
further decrease in hours. This standardizing of the day of labor, while
not general in the country, had its effect. The twelve-hour day, while
still long, was a decided betterment over the sixteen-hour day. There
was beginning to be a little possible margin for social, mental, and
recreational activity. But the twelve-hour day must inevitably get the
better of the human system and of the spirit of man. It is too long and
too steady a grind, and habit and long hours soon tell their story. They
inevitably lead to the condition of the "man with the hoe."

As improvements in machinery were perfected and inventions of all kinds
multiplied and spread both in the factory and on the farm, the ten-hour
day was ushered in. It was inevitable in this age of inventions and
improvements. Capital had these inventions and improvements in its
possession and a laboring man could now do twice as much with the same
labor as formerly. But society as a whole could not assent to the theory
and the practice that the capitalist, the owner of the m