THE TRAINING OF FARMERS 



except the technical agricultural books and 

 bulletins. It is often said that farm homes 

 are greatly lacking in books and in maga- 

 zines. This is often true. One reason is 

 that there is so little literature that is 

 really applicable to the farmer's general 

 condition and also because his whole train- 

 ing -leads him to think in terms of experi- 

 ence rather than in terms of books. There 

 are many farm homes that are well sup- 

 plied with good literature, and the number 

 is rapidly increasing. In the old days one 

 would be likely to find a copy of ' ' Pilgrim's 

 Progress, "the novels of Scott and Dickens, 

 a copy of " Robinson Crusoe" and other 

 books of the earlier order. The Bible is 

 found everywhere, but it is too often read 

 in the country, as in the city, from the point 

 of view of " texts" and not interpreted in 

 terms of present-day life. If I were mak- 

 ing out a set of books for reading any- 

 where, I should want to include some of 

 the modern expositions or adaptations of 

 biblical literature in order that the Scrip- 

 ture might be made applicable and vital to 

 the lives of the people. 

 38 



