164 Farmer and his Wife as Leaders of the Young 



OTHER LOCAL POSSIBILITIES 



It will be understood that the possibilities of church 

 and Sunday school work in a rural neighborhood are 

 not intentionally slighted. Little is said in regard 

 to them here simply because of the fact that there 

 is a country-wide organization with well-directed local 

 branches and with a flood of excellent literature 

 constantly at work in building up the church and 

 Sunday school life. The reader may be reminded, 

 however, that this field still presents many excellent 

 opportunities for serving the highest interests of 

 the home community. 



The matter of purely social gatherings for the 

 boys and girls is important. It will perhaps be 

 found that they are running to cheap, degrading 

 dances, either in the home neighborhood or in a 

 near-by town. If the rural leader can break this 

 thing up and substitute a literary club, a better form 

 of social intercourse, or any other gathering, for the 

 cheap dance and its resultant debauch, the effort will 

 certainly be most commendable. It is not as a rule 

 advisable to condemn and denounce these cheap 

 affairs, but rather to begin at once a movement in 

 the interest of the better substitute. Just as soon as 

 the latter begins to take form, the young people will 

 naturally discontinue their degrading affairs. Chap- 

 ter XIII of this book will offer a more extended 

 discussion of the social problems of country youth. 



