I think it's the later; I went back and found the actual quote:
"The Browns had retreated to their 'farmhouse' in the country and were trying to raise crops on its stony acres; they talked warmly about primal simplicities but couldn't help longing sometimes for electric light and running hot water, and couldn't cope with the potato bugs. (Large numbers of city dwellers thus moved to the country, but not enough of them engaged in real farming to do more than partially check the long-term movement from the farms of America to the cities and towns.)"
(The context here is an extended... analogy?... about how different typical families - "the Smiths", "the Browns" - coped with the financial downturn.)
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Date: 2024-01-20 06:16 pm (UTC)"The Browns had retreated to their 'farmhouse' in the country and were trying to raise crops on its stony acres; they talked warmly about primal simplicities but couldn't help longing sometimes for electric light and running hot water, and couldn't cope with the potato bugs. (Large numbers of city dwellers thus moved to the country, but not enough of them engaged in real farming to do more than partially check the long-term movement from the farms of America to the cities and towns.)"
(The context here is an extended... analogy?... about how different typical families - "the Smiths", "the Browns" - coped with the financial downturn.)