208 Missouri Agricultural Report. 



weeds grown up in the church lawn and the plastering off the 

 church and having many times the appearance of a shed, and 

 nothing at all inviting about the church building. Now that is 

 very bad evidence for the religion in the community. If any 

 one of the buildings in the whole community should be kept 

 in tiptop condition it is the church, not only the church itself, 

 but the surroundings. It does not cost very much to plant a 

 few trees or shrubs or put a few good vines around the church 

 premises, and I am sure that if every community, if every 

 congregation would be careful and try and make the church 

 beautiful that that would be attempted in almost every home in 

 the community. It would do a great deal to inspire the aesthetic 

 genius and taste in the community, and the environment, too, 

 has a good deal to do. It has a good deal of influence on the 

 morals of the community, too. 



That is something we can all do with the rural churches. 

 We can do something to make them more beautiful, and the 

 rural schools as well, and not only more beautiful but more 

 modern. 



Now the Sunday school is a great teacher of the church, 

 and it is impossible to build character unless it be on truth. 

 Truth is God's word, and the Sunday school is supposed to be one 

 of the great agencies of the church for teaching the word of God. 

 Now I am sure that no modern institution, no educational insti- 

 tution today, would tolerate at all the conditions for teaching 

 which we find in many of our rural churches today — maybe a 

 dozen classes reciting in one room and nothing but a babel of 

 sounds. It is impossible to do good teaching under those con- 

 ditions, and why should we tolerate such conditions as that? I 

 am sure that in many of those churches, if you are not able to 

 rebuild them, tear out the old seats and seat with chairs instead, 

 and by a system of curtains that would not cost much the room 

 could be divided by partitions so that it would be possible to 

 have the classes largely apart, especially for the children. We 

 learn a good deal more through the eye than we learn any other 

 way, and if the eyes, if they can see everywhere, and if they are 

 reciting in a room together that way, it is almost next to impos- 

 sible to concentrate attention of the children to do any effective 

 work under those conditions, and I am sure many communities 

 could build if they were inspired to do it, could have better 

 churches. 



