112 CHAPTERS IN RURAL PROGRESS 



in some Grange hall, the Grange furnishing en- 

 tertainment for the guests. There were usually 

 three sessions — Friday evening and Saturday 

 forenoon and afternoon. The average attendance 

 was nearly five hundred, about one-tenth being 

 teachers ; many teachers as well as farmers went 

 considerable distances to attend. 



The Kent County association did not collect 

 any fees from its members, the Teachers' Insti- 

 tute fund of the county being sufficient to pro- 

 vide for the cost of lectures at the association 

 meetings. Permission for this use of the fund 

 was obtained from the state superintendent of 

 public instruction. Some counties have a mem- 

 bership fee ; at Hesperia, the fee is 50 cents, and 

 a membership ticket entitles its holder to a 

 reserved seat at all sessions. The Kent County 

 association also suggested a reading-course for 

 its members. 



The success of the work in Kent County was 

 due primarily to the fact that the educators and 

 the farmers and their leaders are in especially 

 close sympathy. And right there is the vital 

 element of success in this work. The initiative 

 must be taken by the educators, but the plan 

 must be thoroughly democratic, and teacher and 

 farmer must be equally recognized in all particu- 



