A single college graduate of the right sort can do wonders in a little country church or grange or club. The rural churches are suffering for trained laymen to make them effective institutions; but the need is sometimes just as acute for the right sort of womanly leadership, trained, tactful, enthusiastic and effective. The same is true of the social clubs and all local institutions which are open to women. With the rising standards in rural life we shall look more and more to such women of culture to bear the burdens of redirecting and vitalizing the work of rural institutions. It is a worthy work and brings its own true rewards if generously and wisely done.
The Rural Association Secretary
Far more is now being done for the country boy than for the country girl in many communities, and a few college women are discovering in this fact a great call to social and religious service.
In a few colleges, through their outside religious work, the girls have become a little acquainted with the life of the younger girls in the surrounding country. Sympathy leads them to try to help broaden the outlook of these younger sisters, and to bring them the religious ideals and the wholesome fun, both of which their lives often lack.
The Young Women’s Christian Association for a few years past has conducted community work in country towns on lines somewhat similar to the county work of the Young Men’s Christian Association. A few young women are working as county secretaries, and they are women with a vision, and a splendid earnestness. The work, however, is still quite new. It needs development and extension into the smaller villages which need it most. Doubtless this will be done as fast as college women of the right sort, with a real consecration to the needs of the country girl, present themselves as volunteers for this service.
College men are finding a splendid chance for life investment today in the rural secretaryship,—as has been described earlier in this chapter. There is no reason why their success with the country boys cannot be duplicated by successful women secretaries with the country girls and women.
It is idle to claim that the average country homes are doing all that needs doing for the country girls, or that the church life and school life are effectively safeguarding them. Moral conditions in too many villages, tardily perceived but often staggering when discovered, belie this false optimism. We must face the fact that country girls need a more wholesome recreational life than most villages afford, and higher ideals of true womanliness than they often gain at home or church or school.
College young women of the right sort, with a winsome personality and some talent for leadership, with social grace and power, with something of athletic skill and a knowledge of organized play, and above all with a wholesome Christian earnestness interpreting religion in practical modern terms, have a great field of service among these country girls with all their social hungers unsatisfied and their latent capacities unawakened. The urgent need of such work in numerous rural counties can hardly be questioned. Its vast possibilities can be discovered only by actual experiment in any community.
In very many ways today the rural problem, so fascinatingly varied and increasingly urgent, challenges the personal interest of the young women of our colleges. They are only beginning to study it. Their eyes have been all too narrowly set on the city and the town. But their rapidly increasing numbers as well as the broadening every year of their outlook upon life gives us reason for the faith that this challenge will not be unheeded. Self-sacrificing womanhood is the salvation of every civilization, urban or rural. It needs only to demonstrate the need; then consecrated womanhood will heed the call. The coming decade should see them by the hundred investing their lives in rural social service and community betterment, that the kingdom of heaven may sooner come.
Nothing could better voice, to the young men and women of America, the heroic appeal of country life leadership and service than Professor Carver’s manly challenge printed on the next page. Though not written exclusively for the country, it fits rural life most admirably.
The Productive Life Fellowship
“It offers to young men days of toil and nights of study. It offers frugal fare and plain clothes. It offers lean bodies, hard muscles, horny hands, or furrowed brows. It offers wholesome recreation to the extent necessary to maintain the highest efficiency. It offers the burdens of bringing up large families and training them in the productive life. It offers the obligation of using all wealth as tools and not as means of self-gratification. It does not offer the insult of a life of ease, or æsthetic enjoyment, or graceful consumption, or emotional ecstasy. It offers, instead, the joy of productive achievement, of participating in the building of the Kingdom of God.
To young women also it offers toil, study, frugal fare, and plain clothes, such as befit those who are honored with a great and difficult task. It offers also the pains, the burdens and responsibilities of motherhood. It offers also the obligation and perpetuating in succeeding generations the principles of the productive life made manifest in themselves. It does not offer the insult of a life of pride and vanity. It offers the joys of achievement, of self-expression, not alone in dead marble and canvas, but also in the plastic lives of children to be shaped and moulded into those ideal forms of mind and heart which their dreams have pictured. In these ways it offers to them also the joys of participating in the building of the Kingdom of God.”[45]
Test Questions on Chapter VIII.
1.—Why are college students discovering a new interest in studying the rural problem?
2.—What proportion of your college enrollment came from country communities, and what percentage of your alumni have invested their lives in the country? Compare this with other colleges mentioned in this chapter.
3.—Show how the vital interests of the city are deeply involved in the problem of rural leadership.
4.—When adequate support is secured, what special opportunities for service do you see in the work of a country teacher?
5.—What elements in the call for trained ministers for country churches appeal to you as most urgent?
6.—Show how the modern minister, equal to his task, has as big an opportunity to-day as ever in the past.
7.—What elements of heroism in the modern ministry make equally high demands on the earnest college man, whether he stays in America or goes to the foreign field?
8.—Why are college graduates avoiding the medical profession to-day more than formerly?
9.—What do you think of the special opportunity and need of trained country physicians?
10.—How do you estimate the chance a trained country lawyer has to-day for Christian influence and service?
11.—Among the various professions connected with modern agriculture, which offers the best opportunity for the investment of a life in worth-while service?
12.—What do you think of the County Work secretaryship as a chance for real rural leadership and community building?
13.—Compare the proportion of women teachers in the United States and in the rest of the world. What does this indicate?
14.—Discuss the opportunities in the country for trained nurses and physicians.
15.—What is the modern opportunity for women in rural religious leadership, and what sort of a woman could succeed as a country pastor?
16.—What do you think of the opening for village librarians and “neighborhood house” workers?
17.—In what details do country homes need expert leadership in household economics and domestic science?
18.—Compare the demonstration centers of rural culture which you have known with the illustration described in this chapter.
19.—What do you think of the work of the County Work secretary of the Young Women’s Christian Association?
20.—What other opportunities for service in rural communities come to college women in country homes?
A Classified Bibliography
Suggested collateral readings for further study in connection with the topics treated in each chapter of this book.
I. The Rural Problem
Its Development and Present Urgency
Bailey, L. H., pp. 31-43 in “The Country Life Movement.”
Butterfield, K. L., “The Rural Problem,” chapter 1 in “The Country Church and the Rural Problem.”
Butterfield, K. L., “Problems of Progress,” chapter 2 in “Chapters in Rural Progress.”
Anderson, W. L., “The Rural Partnership with Cities,” chapter 2, in “The Country Town.”
Anderson, W. L., “The Extent of Rural Depletion,” chapter 3, in same.
Anderson, W. L., “Local Degeneracy,” chapter 5, in same.
Roads, Charles, “Rural Christendom,” chapters 3, 4 and 5.
Gillette, J. M., “Conditions and Needs of Country Life,” pp. 3-11 in “Country Life.”[46]
Hartman, E. T., “Village Problems and Characteristics,” pp. 234-243 in same.[46]
Hibbard, B. H., “Farm Tenancy in the United States,” pp. 29-39 in same.[46]
Cance, A. E., “Immigrant Rural Communities,” pp. 69-80 in same.[46]
Plunkett, Sir Horace, “The Rural Life Problem in the United States.” chapters 3-4.
Rural Resources and the Country Life Movement
Bailey, L. H., “Why Boys Leave the Farm” and “Why Persons Take to Farming,” pp. 89-136 in “The Training of Farmers.”
Bailey, L. H., “Country and City,” chapter 2 in “The Outlook to Nature.”
Butterfield, K. L., “The Solution of the Rural Problem,” chapter 2 in “The Country Church and the Rural Problem.”
Anderson, W. L., chapters 4, 6, 8, 11 and 12, in “The Country Town.”
Carver, T. N., “Shall Rural People Set Their Own Standards?” pp. 370-4 in “Principles of Rural Economics.”
Roads, Charles, “Present Relations of City and Country” and “A Great Future for Rural Districts,” chapters 2 and 7 in “Rural Christendom.”
Ogden, H., “Vital Statistics of Rural Life,” chapter 1 in “Rural Hygiene.”
Plunkett, Sir H., chapter 7 in “The Rural Life Problem of the United States.”
Roosevelt, T., “Rural Life,” in “The Outlook” for Aug. 27, 1910.
True, A. C., “The U. S. Dept. of Agriculture,” pp. 100-109 in “Country Life.”
Bailey, L. H., “The College of Agriculture and the State,” pp. 219-263 in “The Training of Farmers.”
Powell, E. P., “How to Live in the Country.”
Washington, B. T., “How Denmark Has Taught Itself Prosperity and Happiness,” in “The World’s Work” for June, 1911.
III. The New Rural Civilization
Factors That are Making a New World in the Country
Kern, O. J., “The New Country Life,” chapter 1 in “Among Country Schools.”
Roads, Charles, “A Great Future for Country Districts,” chapter 7, in “Rural Christendom.”
Anderson, W. L., “New Factors,” chapter 13 in “The Country Town.”
Carver, T. N., “The Factors of Agricultural Production,” chapter 3 in “Principles of Rural Economics,” (also important paragraphs in chapter 2).
Langford, W., “What the Motor Vehicle is Doing for the Farmer,” in “Scientific American,” for Jan. 15, 1910.
Van Norman, H. E., “Rural Conveniences,” pp. 163-7 in Mar. 1912 issue of the “Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science.”
Dixon, S. G., “The Rural Home,” pp. 168-174 in same.
Parker, Harold, “The Good Roads Movement,” pp. 51-7 in same.
Hamilton, John, “Influence Exerted by Agricultural Fairs,” pp. 200-10 in same.
Bailey, L. H., “Cyclopedia of American Agriculture,” many fine articles in Volume IV on social conditions.
IV. Triumphs of Scientific Agriculture
The Oldest of the Arts Becomes a New Profession
Carver, T. N., “Historical Sketch of Modern Agriculture,” chapter 2 in “Principles of Rural Economics.”
Carver, T. N., “The Factors of Agricultural Production,” chapter 3 in the same.
Butterfield, K. L., “The New Farmer,” chapter 4 in “Chapters in Rural Progress.”
Bailey, L. H., “The Agricultural Shift,” chapter 1 in “The State and the Farmer.”
Davenport, Eugene, “Scientific Farming,” pp. 45-50 in “Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science,” March, 1912.
Hays, W. M., “Farm Development,” especially “Irrigation,” chapter 10.
Moorehead, F. G., “Efficiency on the Farm,” in “Technical World,” Aug., 1911.
Plunkett, Sir Horace, chapter 6 in “The Rural Life Problem of the United States.”
V. Rural Opportunities for Social Reconstruction
Country Life Deficiencies, and the New Cooperation
Bailey, L. H., “Community Life in the Open Country,” pp. 97-133 in “The Country Life Movement.”
Bailey, L. H., “Redirecting of Rural Institutions,” pp. 111-135 in “The State and the Farmer.”
Carver, T. N., “Principles of Rural Economics,” chapter 6 on “Problems of Rural Social Life,” and part of chapter 4.
Wilson, W. H., “Rural Decay and Repair” and “Cooperation and Federation,” also “Rural Morality and Recreation,” chapters 1, 4 and 5 in “The Church in the Open Country.”
Butterfield, K. L., “Federation for Rural Progress,” chapter 17 in “Chapters in Rural Progress,” also chapter 10 in same, on “The Grange.”
Eyerly, E. R., “Cooperative Movements Among Farmers,” pp. 58-68, in March 1912 issue of “The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science.”
Scudder, M. T., “Rural Recreation a Socializing Factor,” pp. 175-190 in the same.
Johnson, G. E., “Education by Plays and Games,” especially chapters 1 and 2.
Stern, R. B., “Neighborhood Entertainments.”
Bancroft, “Games for the Playground, Home, School and Gymnasium.”
Heatherington, C. W., “Play for the Country Boy,” in “Rural Manhood” for May, 1911.
VI. Education for Country Life
How Efficient Rural Citizenship is Developed
Foght, H. W., “The American Rural School,” entire; especially chapter 15 on “Consolidation of Schools.”
Kern, O. J., “The Rights of the Country Child,” chapter 2 in “Among Country Schools.”
Butterfield, K. L., “The Rural School and the Community,” chapter 9 in “Chapters in Rural Progress.”
Zellar, J. W., “Education in the Country for the Country,” in the 1910 Report of the National Education Association.
Bailey, L. H., “The School of the Future,” chapter 3 in “The Outlook to Nature”; also “The Nature Study Idea.”
Bailey, L. H., “The Developing of Applicable Education,” pp. 135-172 in “The State and the Farmer.”
Wilson, W. H., “Schools for Country Life,” chapter 3 in “Church in the Open Country.”
Foght, H. W., “The Library and Rural Communities,” chapter 13, in “The American Rural School.”
Miller, L. K., “Children’s Gardens.”
“Rural Manhood,” rural education number, Sept., 1912.
Gold, G. D., “The Psychology of the Country Boy,” in “Rural Manhood” for April, 1911, and April, 1912.
VII. Rural Christian Forces
The Community-Serving Church and Its Allies
Anderson, W. L., “The Preservation of the Church” and “The Church as a Social Center,” chapters 16 and 17 in “The Country Town.”
Butterfield, K. L., “The Task of the Country Church” and “Difficulties and Suggestions,” chapters 3 and 4 in “The Country Church and the Rural Problem.”
Fiske, G. W., “The Function of the Country Church,” chapter 5 in “The Rural Church and Community Betterment.”
Wilson, W. H., “Church and Community,” chapter 2 in “The Church in the Open Country.”
Wells, G. F., “The Rural Church,” pp. 131-9 in March, 1912, “Annals of American Academy of Political and Social Science.”
Wells, G. F., “The Country Church and Social Service,” in Nov. 1910 issue of “The Gospel of the Kingdom.”
Roads, Charles, “Rural Christendom.”
Ashenhurst, J. O., “The Day of the Country Church.”
Beard, A. F., “The Story of John Frederick Oberlin.”
Tipple, E. S., “Some Famous Country Parishes.”
Roberts, A. E. and Israel, Henry, “The Rural Work of the Y. M. C. A.,” pp. 140-8 in March, 1912, “Annals of American Academy of Political and Social Science.”
VIII. Country Life Leadership
The Challenge to College Men and Women
Butterfield, K. L., “The Call of the Country Parish,” chapter 5 in “The Country Church and the Rural Problem.”
Foght, H. W., “The Rural School Teacher,” pp. 69-115 in “The American Rural School.”
Educational Review, October issue 1910, on “Ways in Which the Higher Institutions May Serve Rural Communities.”
Roberts, A. E., “Leadership,” pp. 133-143 in “The Country Church and Rural Welfare.”
Bailey, L. H., “Woman’s Contribution to the Country Life Movement,” pp. 85-96 in “The Country Life Movement.”
Butterfield, K. L., “Opportunities for Farm Women,” chapter 11 in “Chapters in Rural Progress.”
Woolley, M. E., “The College Woman as a Home Maker,” article in “The Ladies’ Home Journal,” Oct. 1, 1910.
Bailey, Butterfield, et al., “Report of the Country Life Commission.”
Israel, Henry, “The Basis of Appeal for County Work,” in “Rural Manhood” for January, 1912.
Fiske, G. W., “Religious Teaching in the Country,” in “Rural Manhood” for March, 1911.
Pontius, J. W., “College Men and Rural Evangelism,” in “Rural Manhood” for February, 1912.
Abandoned farms, 6
Adelbert College, 227
Agriculture, scientific, 95, 98-109
government patronage of, 246-8
triumphs of scientific, 91-113
teaching of, 163, 241-8, 251
U. S. Department of, 96-8
Agricultural colleges, 37, 51, 167-9, 231, 246-8, 251
professions, opportunities in, 246-8
societies, 50
Allies of the country church, 203-220
Anderson, W. L., 11, 43, 174
Animals and plants, breeding of, 100-4
Automobiles in the country, 72-4
Bailey, L. H., 22, 41, 42, 56
Bible study in the country, 206
Birth rate and rural depletion, 127
Boardman, J. R., 134
Boston University Law School, 242
Bowdoin College, 226
Boys and girls and the farm, 22
Breeding, achievements in scientific, 100-4
Burbank, L., 102
Business cooperation, 122, 139-145
Butterfield, K. L., 117, 120, 218-9, 237
California Fruit Growers’ Exchange, 143
Canada, 10, 101, 102, 157-8, 164, 253, 256
Carver, T. N., 76, 98, 122, 187, 263
Cazenovia church, 214
Challenge to college men, 227-49
to college women, 249-63
to faith, 27
of the difficult, 45-7
Christian forces, rural, 173-223
Church in the country, necessity for, 173-4
opportunity and function of, 173-183
elements of weakness, 183-5
factors which determine its efficiency, 185-203
types of success, 213-19
must serve its community, 189-91
Church efficiency, 178
equipment, 200
finances, 198-200
ideals, old and new, 176
unity and federation, 193-5
City, the, xii, 46, 152-4, 230-1
and country, 4, 18, 25, 46, 63-5
and its boys, 33, 37
City life drawbacks, 39
Cities, growth of, 4
Clark, F. E., 47
College graduates in the country:
men, 227-249
women, 249-264
Colleges, xiii
agricultural, 37, 51, 167-9, 231, 246-8
relation of to rural problem, 227
neglect of rural needs, 228
and rural leadership, 227-264
Columbia University Law School, 242, 243
Comenius, 165
Commission on country life, the, 51-56
Community building, 248
festivals, 136
Communities, classification of, 2
Conservation, 109
Consolidation of schools, 157-61
Cooperation in country communities, 84, 130-148, 218-30, 248, 249
in rural Denmark, 144-5
failures in, 121-5, 184
Cornell University, 227
agricultural department, 36, 38, 41, 245
law school, 242
Country boy, the, xii, 20, 22-25, 42, 154, 234
Country Boy’s Creed, 35
Country life leadership, 223-266
movement, 18, 48-63, 86-7, 111, 233
attractiveness, 41, 86
deficiencies, 117-130
optimism, 33-59
Country, privilege of living in, 39
Country church evolution, stages in, 175
County work of the Y. M. C. A., 132, 167, 207-11
County secretary’s opportunity:
men, 249-51
women, 261-3
Curriculum for rural high school, 162
Davenport, C. B., 16
Deaconess work, 256
Decadence, rural, 7
stages of, 13
Degeneracy, in city and country, 12, 14-17
Denmark, cooperation in, 144
Depletion, rural, 7, 11, 17
District nurse association, 252
District school system, 155
Doctors, need of country, 241, 251-3
Drudgery, emancipation from, 74-82
Dryden, John, 101
Dry farming possibilities, 107-8
Economics, household, 234
and country church, 187
Education for country life, 151-170
rural, 20, 82-3, 151-68, 231-4, 250
Educators, the call for rural, 232-4
women, 250
Efficiency, urban and rural, 91
Electricity on the farm, 79-81
Evergreen Sporting Association, 133
Eyerly, E. K., 142
Farm development, 92-3
life, 45-7
machinery, evolution of, 75-80
Farmers’ Alliance, 50, 121
Farmers, conservatism of, 93-4, 118
needs of, 52
difficulty of organizing, 120
political ineffectiveness of, 121
Farmers’ Institutes, 167
Farmers’ National Congress, 50
Farmer’s wife, neglect of the, 257
Foght, H. W., 156, 160, 234
Franklin, B., 49
Fruit growers, cooperation among, 141
Gardens, rural school, 163-5
Giddings, 12, 18
Girls in country, 20, 23, 24, 28, 261
Government cooperation, 167
Grange, the, 50, 137-8
Grinnell College, 237
Grover, E. O., 35
Gulick, L. H., 128
Hartt, R. L., 12
Harvard Medical School, 239
Hatch Act, the, 96-7
Hays, W. M., 100
Hill, J. J., 109
Hillsdale College, 227
Homes, remodeling rural, 259
Household economics, 257
Hutchins, H. L., 13
Illinois, University of, 227
agricultural department, 37-8
Immigrants and cooperation, 143
Indiana school law, 160
Individualism, rural, 117-120
Interdenominational commissions, 194-5
Irrigation, 104-8
Irvine, Dean, 242
Irving, W., 43
Isolation, triumph over, 65-74
Israel, Henry, 211
Kansas, University of, 226
Kern, O. J., 161
Law faculties quoted, 244-5
Lawyers, country, 244-6
Librarian, opportunity of the village, 256
Libraries, public, 134, 166, 256
Leadership, city, xi, 1, 230
country, 120-1, 227-265, 231
woman’s, in the country, 249-64
Literature, rural, 166-7, 264-75
Machinery, agricultural, 74-81
power, 79
Maclaren, Ian, 243
Manikowski, G., 79-81
Mann, Horace, 155
Mann, A. R., 245
Marietta College, 226
Marshall county churches, 125
Masculine church leadership, 201
Massachusetts Agricultural College, 37, 38, 168
McElfresh, F., 207
Means, Dean, 242
Medical faculties, quoted, 241-4
rural practice 241-4
Meyer, Dean, 248
Michigan University Law School, 242
Minimum wage for rural ministers, 198
Ministry, the rural, 196-9
the call to, 235-40
the modern type of, 237
women in the, 253
Missouri, University of, agri. dept., 37, 199
Morality and the play spirit, 129
Mormon irrigation work, 106
Nam’s Hollow case, 15
Nature, partnership with, 43
Neighborhood house, 133, 257
New England, 8, 9, 17
New rural civilization, the, 117-145
Newspapers, 72
New York State College of Agriculture, 36, 45, 168, 245
North Carolina Agricultural College, 37
Nurses, need of, in country, 252
Oberlin College and Seminary, 230, 237, 254
Oberlin, J. F., 68, 188, 216-18
Ohio Medical School, 240
Ohio State University, 227
Pacific University, 226
Pastors, few resident in country, 253
Patrons of industry, 50
Pepin County Cooperative Co., 139
Physicians, call for country, men, 240-4,
women, 251-3
Physicians and Surgeons, College of, 240
Plainfield church, 214-5
Play, the gospel of, 134, 233
Playground Association of America, 135
Plow, evolution of the, 77-9
Plunkett, Sir H., 26, 144, 152
Political ineffectiveness of farmers, 121
Power of machinery on the farm, 79-81
Princeton University, 226
Quaintance, H. W., 74
Railroads, steam and electric, 69
Reading courses for farmers’ wives, 257
Recreation and organized play, 128, 233-4
Religious cooperation, lack of, 123
plans for, 193-5
Right Relationship League, 141
Roads, C., 70
Roads, country, 13, 68-70
Roberts, A. E., 211
Robertson, J. W., 157
Roosevelt, T., 40, 51-3, 135
Rural Manhood, 135, 167
Rural problem, the, 2, 19, 1-32, 51-4
losses, 5, 7, 8, 11
gains, 5, 8
degeneracy, 12, 14-17
contentment, 35-36, 65
sincerity and neighborliness, 44
self-respect, 63-5
individualism, 117-120
progress, 54, 63, 86-7, 134, 110-1
culture centers, 258
agencies for betterment, 56-8, 84-6
postal service, 71
opportunities for social reconstruction, 117-145
morals and recreation, 125
Rural progress associations, 133
Saunders, W., 102
School, rural problems of the, 156-8
inferior equipment and support, 154
building, 156-7, 161-2
centralization, 157-61
a social center, 137
School improvement leagues, 165
School teachers, men, 231-3, 250
women, 250
Scientific agriculture, 91-117
Scudder, M. T., 136, 230
Secretary, County Work, 249-59, 263
Sectarian divisions, 192, 193, 196
Smythe, W. E., 105
Social reconstruction, 117-145
Social consciousness, the new rural, 83
Social life, lack of, 125-7,
plans for, 134-7
Socialization, community, 130-2, 189
initiative in, 132
plan for, 133
South, country life in the, 64, 204
Stone, H. F., 243
Strong, Josiah, 13, 17, 229
Student recruits for the ministry, 237
Student volunteer bands, 237
Stanford University, 226
Sunday-schools, rural, 203-7
Surveys, community, 202
Swaney School, the, 161-2
Teachers in country schools, 152-4, 232-4, 250
Telephones, rural, 66-8
Text-books, 152-3
Theological study for women, 255
Trolleys, rural, 70
United Christian forces, 191
Unsocial streak, rural, 118-9
Urbanizing of rural life, 20, 152-4
Washington, George, 49
Washington State College of Agriculture, 244
Whitman College, 226
Williams College, 226
Wilson, W. H., 14, 128, 163, 198, 202, 253
Woman’s opportunity in rural leadership, 249-263
responsibility in rural education, 250
Women, nurses and physicians, 251
in the service of the church, 253-5
college graduates, 254-64
Young Men’s Christian Associations, 132, 167, 207-211, 248-251
Young Women’s Christian Associations, 212, 261-3