第60章 TO THE COUNTRY!--THE FARM COLONY.(7)

There will be no attempt to enforce upon the Colonists the rules and regulations to which Salvation Soldiers are subjected.Those who are soundly saved and who of their own free will desire to become Salvationists will,of course,be subjected to the rules of the Service.But Colonists who are willing to work and obey the orders of the Commanding Officer will only be subject to the foregoing and similar regulations;in all other things they will be left free.

For instance,there will be no objection to field recreations or any outdoor exercises which conduce to the maintenance of health and spirits.A reading room and a library will be provided,together with a hall,in which they can amuse themselves in the long winter nights and in unfavourable weather.These things are not for the Salvation Army Soldiers,who have other work in the world,but for those who are not in the Army these recreations will be permissible.Gambling and anything of an immoral tendency will be repressed like stealing.

There will probably be an Annual Exhibition of fruit and flowers,at which all the Colonists who have a plot of garden of their own will take part.They will exhibit their fruit and vegetables as well as their rabbits,their poultry and all the other live-stock of the farm.

Every effort will be made to establish village industries,and I am not without hope but that we may be able to restore some of the domestic occupations which steam has compelled us to confine to the great factories.The more the Colony can be made self-supporting the better.

And although the hand loom can never compete with Manchester mills,still an occupation which kept the hands of the goodwife busy in the long winter nights,is not to be despised as an element in the economics of the Settlement.While Manchester and Leeds may be able to manufacture common goods much more cheaply than they can be spun at home,even these emporiums,with all their grand improvements in machinery,would be sorely pressed to-day to compete with the hand-loom in many superior classes of work.For instance,we all know the hand-sewn boot still holds its own against the most perfect article that machinery can turn out.

There would be,in the centre of the Colony,a Public Elementary School at which the children would receive training,and side by side with that an Agricultural Industrial School,as elsewhere described.

The religious welfare of the Colony would be looked after by the Salvation Army,but there will be no compulsion to take part in its services.The Sabbath will be strictly observed;no unnecessary work will be done in the Colony on that day,but beyond interdicted labour,the Colonists will be allowed to spend Sunday as they please.

It will be the fault of the Salvation Army if they do not find our Sunday Services sufficiently attractive to command their attendance.

SECTION 3.--AGRICULTURAL VILLAGES.

This brings me to the next feature of the Scheme,the creation of agricultural settlements in the neighbourhood of the Farm,around the original Estate.I hope to obtain land for the purpose of allotments which can be taken up to the extent of so many acres by the more competent Colonists who wish to remain at home instead of going abroad.