332 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



this their oj)p<)i'tunitv, wliit-li they are always {^lad to improve, thus 

 largelj' adding to the interest of the institute. No wise board of 

 managers will ignore or neglect our young people, when they make 

 up the programs, but will see to it from the start that they have 

 plenty given them to do in the way of committee work, such as 

 selecting and preparing the music and recitations, and giving them 

 the usher work to look after, wliich is very important when the 

 halls are crowded. We should be sure and make the young people 

 feel at home and have them understand that we need them. 



You will pardon me if I go back to what I believe should be the 

 preparatory work, in order that onr institutes be made to accom- 

 plish the most good, and reach the greatest number of our farmers 

 and their families — for every county chairman knows that no insti- 

 tute will be a success if the farmers in the locality are not interested 

 and willing to work to accomplish that end, for where no thought or 

 preparation is given for weeks in advance, in nine cases out of ten 

 such institute will prove a failure. I have found, as a rule, the 

 farmers in the locality where they are wanting an institute held, 

 are ready to help make it a success if they are given to understand 

 what is required of them, and that their institute will not run itself. 

 Hence, the county chairman should call them together, at least six 

 weeks before the date of the institute, and explain to them what 

 it will be and what will be expected of them, and awaken their local 

 pride by telling them of the success of institutes in other places, 

 thus putting them on their mettle, so that, after the first or second 

 session, the largest hall in town would be too small — we want to 

 impress upon them that the responsibility of the institutes rests 

 entirely with them. Their efforts have generally brought out the 

 best people in the community, and few, indeed, are the farmers 

 in these days who feel themselves too wise to attend our institutes. 

 At these meetings, I suggest they get the ladies interested and 

 secure of them the loan of as many house-plants as possible to 

 decorate the hall and platform. I also urge the farmers to bring 

 as much as possible of their products for exhibition — all these add 

 much to the interest of the meeting, and always at the close a peti- 

 tion is presented asking for another institute. 



The chairman should also be wise enough to adapt himself to 

 the peculiarities of the people in the different localities where insti- 

 tutes are held. In most counties the make-up of the people in 

 some sections is entirely different from other sections. For in- 

 stance, in one part of my county is a community of Quakers, in an- 

 other is a large settlement of Schrenkfelders, in another a large 

 German settlement, where the farmers and their families still talk 

 the Pennsylvania Dutch; they are industrious and among our best 

 farmers. Several years ago they asked for an institute in their part 



