PROBLEMS OF RURAL SOCIAL LIFE 357 



several generations. The problems of the beautification of rural 

 roads, bridges, schoolhouses and grounds, church grounds, etc., 

 are enough to occupy the spare time and attention of rural Amer- 

 ica for a hundred years to come. A neighborhood which becomes 

 possessed with a common passion for beautification will never 

 lack for social life. The church which can arouse such an in- 

 terest as this, or any other equally noble interest, will have gone 

 a long way toward solving the problem of a wholesome and 

 agreeable social life in the country. 



But the well-known and regularly established means of social 

 grace must not be overlooked. Most people like to eat and drink, 

 and when they can be brought together around a common table, 

 they have, in a small way at least, every essential of social life ; 

 that is, you have your people together with a common interest. 

 From this as a beginning there is possible a vast widening of 

 the social life. It can scarcely be regarded as profane to suggest 

 that we have, in this elementary social principle, one of the 

 great facts of life which are symbolized in the Holy Communion. 

 Again, there are tlje common social amusements and recrea- 

 tions. Of particular value for rural communities is choral sing- 

 ing, the highest form of social amusement known to man. 

 Where a group of people sing together for their own delecta- 

 tion, rather than for that of an audience, we have one of the 

 best possible solvents of private differences and idiosyncrasies, 

 and one of the highest possible means of promoting a sense 

 of brotherhood and solidarity, as well as one of the oldest and 

 most primitive forms of social communion. Even dancing is 

 not to be despised as a means of grace, where it can be carried 

 on in the proper spirit. 



The example of Denmark. The most remarkable example of 

 agricultural regeneration in modern times is Denmark. In 1864 

 she was facing national ruin. As the result of a disastrous war, 

 itself a heavy drain upon the country, she had lost some of her 



