Missouri Country Life Conference. 207 



benediction or a closing prayer, and it did not seem at all out of 

 place, and I am sure did much to sanctify the social life and 

 entertainments of the young people. 



I recall one time we were giving a little play in our church, 

 entitled "Hunkers Corners," setting a country store with post- 

 office, and there were about forty different characters in it. 

 You know all the interesting characters that gather around a 

 place like that. This little play called for ten rehearsals, night 

 rehearsals, and one family living nine miles away came out for 

 every one of those rehearsals, and the night of the entertain- 

 ment, making ten times they had come, in all, one hundred 

 miles, which these young people had driven for that entertain- 

 ment. And right in the midst of the corn shucking, so you may 

 know what that meant for those young people. Now that was 

 early in our pastorage, and I learned that it was a very foolish 

 thing to plan anything like that in such a busy season. 



Now the way we manage that now is to have those kinds 

 of entertainments in the winter time, and instead of coming out 

 nine times for a rehearsal the young people come together on 

 Saturday, bring their luncheon with them, and they will re- 

 hearse probably three or four times in one day, and under 

 wholesome influence and supervision, and it is a social gathering 

 as well as a cultural. Now we must not get the idea that our 

 entertainments must be simply for the sake of entertainment, 

 but this was cultural and had a good deal to do with the training 

 of those young people, and besides, was a social event, and a 

 good deal of the social life and enjoyment of the country may be 

 associated with gatherings of this kind if they have them at 

 times when it is possible for the people to come together. 



The next point that I would consider or emphasize in the 

 country church administration is the equipment. It is pathetic, 

 indeed, to see some of the rural churches that we find scattered 

 out through the country, a little old-fashioned church that was 

 built by our grandfathers, incommensurate entirely with the 

 surroundings of the community. But all that our forefathers 

 would recognize in the community, if they came back here — those 

 that have been called Home — would be that little old-fashioned 

 church; they would not recognize the splendid modern machinery 

 we have now and the way of doing the work on the farm. Now 

 it is impossible to gather a twentieth-century spiritual harvest 

 from an antiquated and inadequate equipment. Now a great 

 many of these churches are an eyesore to the community. I find 



