32 THE RURAL PROBLEM. 



be raised so that there shall be no diminution of the time given 

 to other subjects, especially the " three R's." 



The needs of the rural school may be summed up in three words — 

 y finance, teachers, and inspiration. Experiments are being made 

 in the organising of facilities for secondary education and the 

 suppl}^ of books in village schools ; but more experiments are 

 needed. In the provision of facilities for study for youths and 

 adults there is an enormous scope for the work of the Workers' 

 Educational Association, the Adult School Union, and similar 

 bodies. Here again finance and teachers are required. Inaccessi- 

 bility of villages and the small number of the group to be catered for 

 often makes village work expensive, and it is not so easy to find I 

 teachers as in the urban areas. In two directions misapprehensions 

 are apt to arise with regard to village work. It is sometimes 

 thought that the educational provision for the villager must be 

 " light." There is no greater mistake. It must be interesting, 

 but it may still be solid and strong— as experiments have proved. 

 Then it is sometimes thought that it is necessary to obtain the 

 interest of the " upper classes " before anything can be done. 

 They should be interested in every possible way, but too much 

 patronage and too much " arrangement " for the villagers weaken 

 their sense of initiative, and destroy the element of self-government 

 which is one of the chief advantages of this type of work. 



THE VILLAGE CLUB. 



The village club or reading-room is an institution about which 

 little is known, and to which little attention is paid. But there are 

 large numbers of these institutions of almost every t3^pe and 

 character. In a county like Berkshire one village out of every four 

 villages has some such institution. Sometimes these have been 

 provided by the landlord for the village, sometimes by the landlord 

 for the church, sometimes by the rector and a group of parishioners 

 for the church, or more often for the whole village, sometimes 

 they are provided by village charities, or by the villagers for them- 

 selves. In some cases they sell intoxicants, but usually they do 

 not. Often they sell light refreshments. But their chief purpose 

 is to supply newspapers, periodicals, and games for the winter 

 evenings. Some, perhaps the majorit}^ do not open during the 

 summer, others open all the year round. A library is often attached, 

 but is usually absurdly out of date, having been composed in the 

 first instance of books cast out of other people's studies. But the 

 supply of newspapers and periodicals is often good, and much 

 broader and more comprehensive than many people would expect. 

 And in many villages the club is the centre of liberal and intelligent 

 thought. 



Occasionally the club is provided or dominated by a political 

 faction, but this is not usually the case. Interest is social and 

 general, and there appears to be scope for some guidance and help 



