240 RURAL SOCIOLOGY 



mendous success. Dozens of communities in the State have al- 

 ready asked for permission to present it. The action throughout 

 the play was superb. 



"Back to the Farm," written by a student of the Minnesota 

 Agricultural College, was presented on three successive nights 

 during the Tri-State Grain-Growers' Convention, which is held 

 every year in the city of Fargo. Seven hundred and fifty per- 

 sons, 90 per cent, of them country people, witnessed this produc- 

 tion. Hundreds were turned away from the theater. The cast 

 of characters in the play was made up entirely of young people 

 from the country. 



Last fall, Cecil Baker, a young farmer from Edmunds, N. D., 

 who has caught the social vision of the soil, came to my office 

 with a manuscript of a play which he had written entitled "A 

 Bee in a Drone's Hive, or a A Farmer in the City." Mr. 

 Baker wanted his friends to present it, and they did. Two 

 hundred and fifty people saw the production. Some said it was 

 the greatest argument in favor of country life that had ever 

 been presented. Others were astounded at the naturalness of 

 the make-up and the costuming of the characters. Everybody 

 was more than satisfied. 



The influence of the Little Country Theater in the State as 

 well as the Nation has been far-reaching. Scarcely a day passes 

 but somebody writes asking for data in regard to it, or for 

 copies of plays, and matter for presentation on public programs. 

 These letters tell an intensely interesting story of the social 

 condition of the community. During the past few years, in 

 North Dakota, hundreds of people young and old have partici- 

 pated in home-talent productions and community programs. 

 Thousands of pieces of play-matter and pamphlets have been 

 loaned to individuals, literary societies, farmers' clubs, civic 

 clubs, and other organizations. While the Little Country 

 Theater is located in North Dakota, it nevertheless stands ready 

 to assist other communities in every way possible to develop 

 community life. 



