680 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



world. It is but perfoetly natural for the farmers to combine and 

 for their own special benefit discuss problems pertaininf-: to their 

 interests, and how they may continue to maintain this important 

 eminence of their need to the world. It is here in these farmers' 

 meetings where one comes in touch with new ideas and methods. 

 These are of importance not only to the farmer, but especially so 

 also to the people dependent upon the farmer. The day has long 

 since gone by when the farmer depended solely upon the richness of 

 the virgin soil. So much of a drain has been made upon it that it 

 refuses to give more in return than it has to give; hence the farmer 

 is discussing the need of how to supply the missing quantity in the 

 soil. 



While he speculates and experiments upon this phosphate and 

 that fertilizer, his children come and grow up to importance, and 

 another weight is added to his calculations — a weight, the burden 

 of which he can hardly realize, much less had he made distinct prepa- 

 ration for its successful carriage. He begins to soliloquize with 

 himself. He sees the need of education. The farm training he can 

 supply in a large measure himself, but that is not enough; his chil- 

 dren must become rational, self-sustaining members of his family. 

 He sends them to school to an experienced teacher who knows the 

 needs of a farmer boy and girl. That teacher can mould and fashion 

 the child's intelligence as she will. She can bring about a kindred 

 love and pride for the child's surroundings, so that the child will 

 never desire to leave the parental roof, but be a continued help and 

 blessing to both family and the farm; or by some subtle and seduc- 

 tive way, she can instil into the woof and fiber of the child's make-up 

 a desire to know of things beyond the farm, and sooner or later the 

 child grows out of its leading strings and concludes to tempt the 

 unknown existence beyond the farm. So he becomes alienated from 

 the parental roof, work becomes drudgery, the seductive and inviting 

 influence of the town or city have him in their grasp, and away he 

 goes. 



The farmer looks for a remedy and instinctively turns to the 

 teacher. The teacher now realizes that there is more required of her 

 than the daily routine of planning to develop symmetrically the 

 child's mind. And now she finds that her social strength must also 

 be reckoned with. The community in which her teaching is felt 

 must also feel her social work. She begins to study the social 

 problem. She finds that by skillfully combining the forces at her 

 command she can bring about a much needed addition to country 

 life. The young men and young ladies need wholesome amusements 

 so that the social qualities maj^ best be brought out. She inaugu- 

 rates young people's clubs, reading circles, or debating societies, 

 where the young may assemble and thus be of mutual benefit to one 

 another. Entertainments are prepared in the various schoolhouses, 

 and the interest in the community is enhanced. Pride grows, de- 

 sire for further knowledge is fostered, opportunity is afforded, 

 giving room for personal influence, individual power and ability are 

 brought to the surface, and so the community becomes richly blessed 

 by means, the beginning of which the teacher was the prime mover 

 to inaugurate. As the tone of the gatherings is elevated, so the 

 young men and young ladies feel themselves elevated, and the 



