TWENTIETH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART II 143 



has always been a common impression among the older people, I think — 

 I know I was that way before I became acquainted with club work^that 

 anything connected with boys and girls in the fairs or institutes, or 

 places of that kind, was more or less "kids' play," as they called it, and 

 really wasn't a job that older people were interested in. I am glad to 

 say that this impression is being overcome very rapidly. I want to say 

 that the boys' and girls' work is a big enough problem that any one can 

 work at it and not be ashamed of what they are trying to do. There are 

 certain definite things that we have in mind when we talk of boys' and 

 girls' club work, and I trust that you will take home, as part of your 

 plan, these three things, at least: 



In the first place, when you attempt to do boys' and girls', or junior 

 work, you want the boys and girls in that work to do something worth 

 while. You don't want them, as you might say, to fool around with some- 

 thing that is not worth while; you want them to feed a calf or feed a 

 pig, or grow an acre of corn — something worth while, and that is just 

 one principle of club work. 



The second one is that they shall demonstrate to the community the 

 something they are doing. That is really where the fair can play an 

 important part. The young people are urged to demonstrate, not to set 

 themselves off and do only the thing which they are asked to do in the 

 club work, but to demonstrate that thing to the community. 



The third principle that we try to put into the work is something of 

 the social side. That is, club work provides a means so that the boys 

 and girls get together and study things in which they are interested. 

 They have clubs, which are always formed in convenient groups, and 

 these groups are asked to get together as often as they can when the 

 club is in operation, probably once a month. In that way they get the 

 social as well as the educational advantages. We all know that there 

 is nothing more needed in the rural communities than that very thing. 

 There is nothing that will put life in your boys' and girls' work better 

 than to get them together in a group and talk over and discuss their 

 work, and then have a play period. 



Those three things, then, are always emphasized in club work. The 

 first, doing something worth while; the second, demonstrating something 

 to the community; and the third, putting something of a social nature 

 into the club work. 



Club work simply means the organizing of a group of boys or girls to 

 study the same subject. Our club work has gone very largely to the 

 organization of rural clubs, though some of the clubs are largely town 

 clubs, such as poultry and garden clubs. 



Some have the impression that they must show results out of club 

 work in dollars and cents. We realize that this is an important feature 

 and that unless the boys and girls show dollars and cents value, the work 

 will not be supported. But that is the lowest measure of value you can 

 put on the work. However, if you took only the dollars and cents value 

 in club work, in this past year for every dollar spent by every agency 

 in the state there was practically $28 produced by the boys and girls in 

 their work. If you want to look at it that way it would be a paying 



