PROBLEMS OF RURAL SOCIAL LIFE 343 



or club. This is probably, in the end, a vicious tendency, but it 

 does, at any rate, help to make the city man relatively independ- 

 ent of the social conditions of his immediate neighborhood. 

 But the farmer cannot pick and choose in this way. Perhaps it 

 is well that he should not, but this at least shows that he is de- 

 pendent upon his neighborhood. As a result of this dependence 

 he is compelled, more than any other class of -men, to take an 

 interest in neighborhood affairs. The safety and well-being of 

 his own family depend upon his having good neighbors and 

 good moral and social conditions within his neighborhood. This 

 is doubtless a good thing in the end, because it forces him, if he 

 is interested in his family and the future careers of his children, 

 to give time and energy to the work of neighborhood improve- 

 ment. But temporarily it may be a hardship to the man of clean 

 habits and sound principles, because, before he can get the 

 neighborhood cleaned up, his family may have suffered from 

 the lack of a wholesome social life. 



Whatever may be said upon that point, it can scarcely be 

 denied that the farmer, more than any one else, has reason 

 to bike an active interest in the local church, the school, the 

 grange, the library, local sports, and every other agency which 

 may contribute to the social life of the neighborhood. If he 

 allows these things to degenerate, it will profit him little to 

 have come into possession of broad acres, to have grown big 

 crops, and to have built big barns to hold them. 



The country church. Among the agencies for the building 

 up of a wholesome social life in the country the rural church 

 deserves first mention ; if for no other reason, because it is the 

 oldest. Unfortunately there has been a close parallelism between 

 the practices of the rural churches in America and the type of 

 agriculture which has prevailed. In the pioneering stage agri- 

 culture has consisted mainly in harvesting the soil, and very 

 little attention has been paid to soil building. Similarly, the 



