THE HUMAN COUNTRY.
That lively and most original quarterly The Countryman (published from Idbury Manor, Kingham, Oxford) contains an admirable discussion (all by women) on the relative values of Town and Country Life, especially in household economy. I like the summing up of the Oxfordshire dweller"; " and "the general emphasis on the 'human friendlineSS of the country :— " In the country your grocer is your tried friend . . . he expects
to be asked and does contribute to your village outing or other fund with tea or sugar or other good things. Your butcher charges you a high price, but you may take your meat from his cart blind- fold. . . . Your maids have planned to work for you while they were still at school ; and waiting queue of fourteen-year-olds is for ever yours, if you but ' take an_ interest ' in their welfare. . . .' As for public service all true ebuntry people are community helpers." -
The essential attribute of Mr. Robertson Scott's quarterly is that it is human : it deals -with people first" and things afterwards ; and this virtue more than atones for the "excessive brevity of some of its wit and wisdom.
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