THE BEADING HABIT 



WHAT the farmer reads has great 

 influence on his training. The li- 

 braries carry a distinct obligation here, 

 particularly since traveling libraries and 

 rural libraries are being greatly extended. 

 To a large extent the effect of library work 

 is to cause persons to read for entertain- 

 ment. The countryman, however, needs to^ 

 read for courage, that he may overcome 

 his fatalism and inertia. Herein is where 

 library schemes are likely to be fundamen- 

 tally weak, if in fact not radically wrong 

 for the countryman. I would not eliminate 

 the natural desire of anybody to read for 

 entertainment ; but I would make a special 

 effort to develop in the countryman a habit 

 of reading such things as will give him per- 

 sonal mastery over his conditions. 



Rural literature 



There is very little good literature that 

 is specially adapted to rural communities 

 37 



