130 County Young Men's Christian Association 



"The dignity of labor; the close connection 

 between heads and hands; the monthly or weekly 

 meetings of farmers' institutes in hundreds of 

 counties; the special lectures provided by agricul- 

 tural colleges; the movable schools; the farmers' 

 winter short courses, in which thousands of men and 

 women and boys and girls participate ; corn contests ; 

 bread contests; sewing contests; play carnivals; 

 poultry-raising contests ; stock-raising contests ; con- 

 ferences on the country church, country school, good 

 roads all these activities denote the growth of a 

 new and mighty spirit in the country life of America. 



"We need further demonstrations, together with 

 concrete thinking, a lot of constructive programs, 

 and a deal of hard work and self-sacrifice, in which 

 the county work department of the Young Men's 

 Christian Association can have no little share, to 

 speed on the great epoch of rural social renaissance." 



BOYS LEAVE THE FARM TOO YOUNG 



It is a tragic story when the whole truth is known, 

 that of the young boy running off to town in search of 

 some employment that will bring him a little ready 

 cash for spending money, and also in search of the 

 sociability so woefully lacking in the rural home 

 environment. Too long have the country parents 

 attempted to argue and scold and force their boys 

 to remain at home where they are confronted only 

 with the monotony of hard work and a very dim 



