CHAPTER III 

 RURAL LEADERSHIP 



SOMEONE has said he would rather meet a flock of lions 

 led by a sheep than a flock of sheep led by a lion. This 

 statement invites consideration of the subject of leadership. 

 The one dominant thought in the preceding chapter, unless 

 the writer has failed of his purpose, is leadership. It is 

 leadership that is responsible for the progress Rural America 

 has made, and it is leadership of a still more exalted type 

 that will be the means of placing the crown of a higher 

 civilization on the brow of the new Rural America. There 

 are three classes of leaders in Rural America : those who 

 know they are leaders and exercise their leadership ; those 

 who know they are leaders, but because of modesty and diffi- 

 dence fail to make use of their God-given talent; and those 

 who are totally ignorant of their capacity for directing others. 

 So a great responsibility rests on the leaders of the first class, 

 since they must not only exercise their leadership, and of 

 course exercise it rightly, but inspire the leaders who fail for 

 want of courage to do their duty and reveal to the leaders 

 ignorant of their powers the hidden talents of their natures. 

 There might be mentioned a fourth class : those who are mis- 

 taken in the belief that they are leaders and therefore prove 

 to be a handicap to progressive work. 



Leaders are born, not made, and fortunately an intensive 

 study of rural sections warrants the generalization that there 

 is an abundance of leadership in the country. Rural America 

 is like a sleeping giant that is just beginning to rouse himself. 

 What a change there will be when the sleeping giant, having 

 become fully awake, begins to utilize to the utmost all the 

 powers of his nature ! Among the inspiring sights of the 

 Great West are the wonderful reservoirs where billions of 



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