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N the present advanced stage of indus
trial life, the city has apparently con
centrated the interest and thought of
the great majority while the country
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has been allowed to keep the even tenor of
its way. But people are now awakening to
the fact that the country districts have their
needs and problems, imperative and difficult
as those of the city, and the thinkers on so
cial problems find these more and more ab
sorbing.
Undue congestion is the problem of the
city; undue segregation is that of the coun
try. The home, the school and the church
all present questions for solution.
The country home should not be merely a
workshop or a coaling station. It should have
comforts and conveniences; especially should
it have books and music which are the most
potent educating and elevating influences
known. Chas. R. Henderson says in substance
that in the present day too much attention is
paid to the country as a productive factor, too
many books treat of improving agricultural
conditions, making two ears of corn grow
where one grew before, while too little en
couragement is given to the farmer and his
fami'y to become w T ell rounded individuals.
The betterment of agriculture is one of the
most important steps of the present day, but
the betterment of the individual is and ever
will be more important. No longer is it thought
that any one can farm, that no education and
very little intellect is required to wrest a liv
ing from the soil. Now college training and
all that broadens the intellect and softens the
heart are acknowledged to be the heritage of
him who feeds the nations.
The country home should be attractive so
the son or daughter when educated wi'.l not
desire to go to the city as so many have done,
but will go back to the soil.”
It seems to us that all the country problems
culminate in the education of the individual—
educated people do better work and make bet
ter homes.
Lack of education has ever been the re
proach and drawback of the country commu
nity. The school is often poor and has a short
Grove,” T. L. Haecker, head of the Dairy
School, College of Agriculture, Minn.
What can the country church do to promote
the intellectual and social life of the commu
nity ?
What can it do to stimulate reading and the
intellectual life in general? Dr. R. H. Pitt,
editor of the Religious Herald. Richmond, Va.
What can it do to develop an interesting
elevating social life? Rev. J. J. Gravatt, of
Rapidan, Va.
The Relation of the Village Church to the
Open Country—Miss Anna B. Taft, assistant
superintendent, department of church and
country life, board of home missions, Pres
byterian church, New York.
Is it possible for the country church to work
for more wholesome and attractive homes?
What can it do for sanitation —J. A. Far
rell, assistant secretary, state board of health,
Raleigh, N. C.
How can it make the homes more artistic and
attractive —Everybody.
At Richmond, in Addition to the Conferences
PROBLEM OF THE COUNTRY
The Golden Age for April 3, 1913
SALLIE V. CLEMENTS
term. The country boys and girls become dis
couraged and cease to care for education at all
or leave the country forever to find the learn
ing which they crave.
One great aid in this line is the consolida
tion of schools. One good school in the center
of a circle 8 or 10 miles in radius is better
than a half dozen poor and insufficient equip
ped ones. Wagons can collect the children
and convey them to and from school. This
is now being agitated in a number of states
and is working successfully in many places.
The school should correlate its interests with
those of the home and farm, thus awakening
enthusiasm and becoming a center of improve
ment for the whole rural district. The corn
and tomato clubs of the south are promoting
education and agriculture as well. The rural
school, however, should not -teach agricultural
subjects merely; it should broaden the pupil’s
mental horizon in every possible way and im
plant within every pupil thq desire to un
fold to fullest fruition every talent given to
their keeping.
Stagnation is the great peril of the rural
districts. The school should be a pure spring,
whose life giving waters refresh the whole
country and “passing thro’ the valley of Ba
raca make it a well.”
Some educators of ability are even now giv
ing all their power and influence to the accom
plishment of these high ideals for the rural
schools. But more are needed to help wake
the country residents to the co-operation and
effort necessary to attain such. Every country
school teacher should work with enthusiasm
toward this end. Yet one of the greatest
hindrances to fuller development of home and
school in the country is the industrial oppres
sion which even at the present time the farmer
undergoes. His just profits are denied him,
not that the consumer may save expense, but
that the middle man may gain money. The
farmer stands at the starting point of the
three economic processes of production, dis
tribution and consumption. His part is most
important; his remuneration least adequate.
It is now time for the farmers to form unions
to protect their interests, to study industrial
on the Country Church, April 16-18.
The Farmers’ Conference to get at the best
means of marketing farm products and of
financing farm operations.
The Business Men’s Conference to consider
the question of Commercial Aid for farm and
country-life development.
A Conference of School Workers to find an
effective means for making the rural school
serve farm needs.
The College Conference to plan extension ac
tivities in country communities.
General conferences on “Co-operation Among
Farmers;” “Rural Credit Societies;” “Educa
tion of Women in the Country,”' in which all
join.
General Programs and an Extensive Exhibit
setting forth what is being done for rural up
building in the South by farm demonstration,
health, rural school and other agencies.
Reduced railway rate, lines between Poto
mac and Mississippi, three cents per mile one
distance plus 25 cents for the round trip.
Full programs can be had from A. P. Bour-
conditions and use intelligent methods of sell
ing.
The days when the gold bricks of commerce
could be passed off on the unsuspecting farmer
must be and now are past.
If the country school is so vital a factor, what
of the country church? It likewise is a prob
lem. The country church is too poor finan
cially to have a resident pastor and too often
it tends to become a social center where the
men exchange farm news and the women house
hold gossip instead of a real spiritual force.
But to us it seems that this danger is not
very great. The country church is usually
sincere and even enthusiastic. Lack of “sa
voir faire” is the greatest drawback. The
country church has not the problems of coun
ter attractions to face that the city church
has and in general is to a marked! degree
influential in rural life. Country churches
should bestir themselves so that they may
have services every Sunday and with better
educational advantages, the people will know
how to run the Sunday school and auxiliary
societies in a more interesting manner than
ever before. n
Thus the problems of the country to our
mind resolve themselves into the one great
problem of the training of the individual. We
must not be understood to say that religion
is not powerful without education; it is for
we have seen it tried, but we do say that
trained minds are best in every sphere of life
and certainly the country is no exception.
The day will surely come when Markham’s
picture of the “Man with the Hoe” will be
a relic inapplicable to any recent time. The
day will surely come when country life will
become full and rich; when education will be
considered a necessity, not a luxury; when
the trained mind and noble heart will unite
to follow the precepts of Him who came 41 that
all might have fife and have it more abund
antly.”
And let us who can, aid in the great awaken
ing of the country to its wondrous possibilities
“And its paper, aid its type,
Aid it for the hour is ripe;
Aid its tongue and aid its pen,
Aid its hearts of honest men.”
land, executive secretary, 725 Southern build
ing, Washington, D. C.
“WE LOVE IT AS NO OTHER PAPER.”
In Mr. J. J. Hodnett, Lineville, Ala., The
Golden Age has a practical, substantial friend.
Sending a check for $4.50 covering his own
renewal and sending the paper to two friends
whose families he wants to enjoy its blessing
and inspiration every week, Mr. Hodnett says:
Give Dr. Broughton a good, warm, hearty
handshake for me while he is in Atlanta and
tell him he has been a great blessing to me
through his sermons in The Golden Age.
I wish to say this much more: We love The
Golden Age in our home as we love no other
paper. God bless the man who edits the pa
per and gives his readers something that is
worth reading—because his heart seems to be
burning with the desire to inspire and lift up
humanity and honor God. May the Lord bless
not only the editor, but all the officers and as
sociates who are helping to make The Golden
Age such a blessing to the world.”
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