FIFTY MILLION STRONG 



time get results. The student of rural life finds Rural America 

 today in a marvelously plastic condition. Even during the 

 wonderful years preceding the crusades, the people of Europe 

 were in no more plastic condition than Rural America 

 is at the present time. The crusades heralded the Renais- 

 sance, the real birth of modern civilization. The stirrings in 

 Rural America today herald the coming of a new day that will 

 re-fashion country life and thus create a greater America. 



The County Young Women's Christian Association is still in 

 its pioneer days, but it now has organized counties in ten 

 states, and on January i, 1916, there were six field county 

 secretaries and fourteen local county secretaries. The first 

 county conference was held in August, 1915, at Lake Geneva, 

 Wisconsin. The purpose of the County Young Women's 

 Christian Association is to furnish an adequate plan by which 

 all the girls of a county can have trained Christian leadership 

 for the development of all sides of their lives. It makes use 

 of all available local leadership and resources, and makes 

 possible county-wide events, such as camps, field meets, exhib- 

 its and girls' congresses. Besides the regular county associa- 

 tion work, there is a form of work known as Eight Week 

 Clubs which is placed in the hands of college girls in their 

 home communities during the summer months. Large numbers 

 of college girls throughout the United States have taken 

 courses in country leadership and have led such clubs during 

 the past three summers. 1 



The County Young Men's Christian Association is operating 

 in 1916 in 94 counties, having 124 employed secretaries, includ- 

 ing 7 international and 15 state secretaries, and 2,250 leaders 

 and assistant leaders and expending in its work over $220,000. 

 The communities engaged in the work in 1915 numbered 925, 

 which had a membership of 25,640. During the year, lectures 

 and practical talks were attended by almost 100,000 persons. 

 There were 95 educational and literary clubs and 35 educa- 

 tional classes. The socials numbered 1,263. Attention to 



1 Data furnished by Miss Jessie Field, Secretary for County Work for 

 the National Y. W. C. A. Board. 



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