164 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



CLUB ORGANIZATIONS FOR THE COUNTRY GIRL. 

 By MRS. LINN J. CRAWFORD, Cooperstown, Pa. 



"Uncle Sam" has a large and ever-increasing family; his care and 

 his devotion to its welfare is increasing. He has been especially 

 solicituous of late years for us, who are the inhabitants of the rural 

 districts. The farmer is taught the best means of farming by lec- 

 tures, demonstrations, and bulletins. The farmers' wife is not for- 

 gotten; she profits by her share of the instruction, and makes better 

 butter, is more successful with her poultry, and is becoming recon- 

 ciled to her new labor-saving machines. The boy has been inter- 

 viewed, exhorted, coaxed, and bribed to stay on the farm, and finally 

 the farm girl comes in for her share of the attention, and clubs are 

 being organized for her benefit. After all, the girl is the important 

 member of the family; the mistake "Uncle Sam" made was not to 

 begin with her in the first place; organizing clubs for her benefit 

 is the master-stroke of his policy, for I assue you, if by this new 

 plan of education he can persuade the girl to stay on the farm, the 

 problem is solved regarding the boy. 



To educate our girl in the best sense of the word, we must give 

 her the opportunity to become such a woman as the inspired writer 

 pictures, whose price is "far above rubies"; who "looketh well to the 

 ways of her household" ; whose "children rise up and call her blessed" ; 

 whose husband "praiseth her." We must see that she develops along 

 the lines that insure character, poise and culture. We do not know 

 what powers lie dormant in her mind until we try to develop them, 

 and the more highly developed each faculty becomes, the greater 

 the increase of her power and skill to do well her life work. 



The object of education is to develop the power of attending to 

 the right things in the right way. To teach the girl, we must bring 

 her mind into contact with that which has educational value, but 

 the subject must be made interesting to her, for without her interest 

 we can neither get her attention nor keep it; but with work that is 

 congenial to her tastes, the hours of labor speed profitably and 

 happily by. 



Many reasons are given for the country girl deserting her home 

 for what looks to her the greater attractions and advantages of the 

 city. No use to tell her of the meagre wage, the hardships, the 

 drudgery, the little hall bedroom, the unwholesome food and insuf- 

 ficient meal, and the many temptations she will encounter. All she 

 thinks of is escaping the ceaseless monotony and round of toil that 

 does not satisfy her youthful as7)irations. The real reason she leaves 

 the farm is because she has no vital interests there. You may think 

 she is interested in the things you are; you remember the old adage 

 you were raised on, "Satan finds some mischief still, for idle hands 

 to do," and you proceed to give her work, regardless of her inclina- 

 tions as to kind. She may uncomplainingly wash the dishes three 

 times a day if she is a good, dutiful daughter, when the soul within 

 her loathes the very sight of a dish-pan, and rebels at the thought 



