No. 7. DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE. 681 



strength and bond of honor is stimnlatcd. It will keep the boys 

 from frequenting doubtful loafing places, and give to the girls 

 thought for discussing the various traits in the make-up of the men. 

 The parents will be honored to have gatherings of this nature at 

 their own homes. The tendencies to dissipation, which are fre- 

 quently found in country districts, will be reduced to a minimum, if 

 not altogether stamped out of the community. Yes, the teacher who 

 is alive and awake to the interests of her district can wield a re- 

 markable power for good if she once begins to assert herself. These 

 matters can safely be discussed where teachers gather to discuss 

 problems relating to their school work. Let questions as to how to 

 improve the social conditions of a district be discussed; then steps 

 taken to inaugurate reforms and amusements, and in ninety-nine 

 cases out of a hundred the comniunit}' will rise to a man and call the 

 teachers indispensable factors in solving the social problems con- 

 fronting them. 



In many cases the teachers have not really been alive to the inter- 

 ests of a communit}'. And I greatly fear that too often the thought 

 becomes patent that they are simply employed to teach the children 

 in school. Nothing is farther removed from the importance of a 

 teacher's influence than such a thought. A community ought to 

 expect all the good from a teacher that is found in her. And a 

 teacher who fails to embrace an opportunity to do good outside of 

 her school room is falling far short of the ideal teacher. 



It has often been pronounced that as the teacher is, so is the 

 school; but I am willing to say that as the teacher is alive to the in- 

 terests of her district, even so will the district grow and improve 

 in the social scale of a farmer's life. And depend upon it that the 

 dangers of boys and girls drifting away from the parental roof need 

 not be feared so much when a good, live teacher takes in hand to 

 mould the social conditions of a country. In the country where 

 elements working in this direction are not so numerous, she -can not 

 at once use her best efforts with telling effects. 



THE NECESSITY OF A HIGHER EDUCATION IN COUNTIJV 



SCHOOL DISTRICTS. 



By MRS. SARA WILCOX, Millers- Statum, Pit. 



The fact that our rural schools needs to attain a higher and more 

 thorough course of education is evident. Why do not children in 

 the country need as thorough an education as those living in the 

 cities? And why should the schools not be such that they may 

 a<'(|uire their education without leaving home? 



There is, at present, a new interest in rural affairs; especially are 

 economic and social aspects of agriculture and the rural school re- 

 ceiving more attention than for years before. It may be that so far 

 as this interest is manifested in the multiplication of magazine 

 44 



