THE COUNTRY CHURCH PROGRAM.\lE 189 



complex day, and to grapple with them to a solution." 

 The whole social fabric must become a metaphrase of 

 the Christian life. What is needed is a body of 

 opinion within the church which shall understand the 

 school at its best, criticize it constructively, inspire it 

 with the leavening, uplifting, conserving influence of 

 religion ; and shall guide the public to accept from the 

 school, and to ask of it, not only the intellectualizing of 

 the children committed to its care, but that it shall voca- 

 tionalize, socialize, and moralize them as well. When, 

 for instance, wo find in a recent report issued by the 

 Ontario Government the statement that " neither the 

 pupils nor the parents seemed to have any desire to 

 have agriculture taught in the school," we are face to 

 face with a condition in which character and motive are 

 the chief factors — and the church is the agency to deal 

 wnth these. 



In order to solve the rural problem there is need of 

 widely difl"usod education in agriculture. The Pro- 

 vincial agricultural colleges cannot give this to many, 

 though they give it thoroughly; the coming county 

 agricultural high schools will be its finest agency, but 

 cannot give it to all. The public schools must give a 

 training that shall Ik* in some degree vocational. Our 

 Provincial Departments of Education arc ofi^ering 

 through the public schools elementary teaching in for- 

 estry, agriculture, and horticulture; but in the^e efforts 

 meet with a widespread lack of moral support. To 

 secure this is the task of the church. 



But the school must do more than vncationalize the 

 pupil ; it n)ust do its part in socializing and moralizing 

 him HH well. Heyond all other classes farmers find it 

 difficult to organize and to co-opr-rjite f(.r mutual good. 



