THE COUNTRY CHURCH 415 



voice and on the piano, violin, and cornet. Some of them had 

 thought that they possessed no talent for music ; they got their 

 start in the singing-school. 



This musical talent was put to good use. The chorus choir 

 has done fine work singing around in the different homes one 

 or two evenings every week for the sick, for the aged, and for 

 those who can not go anywhere to hear music. Our quartettes 

 have been in demand to sing in the surrounding towns on special 

 occasion, such as funerals and farmers' institutes. There are 

 many special entertainments at the church in which our musi- 

 cians take a prominent part. At our last Children's Day service 

 a chorus of eighty voices sang, accompanied by a number of in- 

 struments. Some of our young women are now teaching music 

 in the community. 



Parallel with the music, we cultivate the art of public speak- 

 ing. Even the very small children are given places on our pro- 

 grams. Extemporaneous speaking is practiced in all our so- 

 cieties. 



These public occasions are a great stimulus to our young folks 

 to do their best in declaiming. In many cases the parents be- 

 come interested and send their children to some teacher in elocu- 

 tion for more thorough training, especially when the son or the 

 daughter is to read or debate at some big event. Last fall a 

 team from our young men's society debated the income tax ques- 

 tion with a team of business men from town. At different times 

 we have given plays in the church. The last was a story from 

 one of the magazines which a woman of this parish dramatized 

 for the occasion. 



These home-talent entertainments have proved to be more pop- 

 ular than the attractions we get from the lyceum bureaus, some 

 of which cost $100 a night. We have had audiences of between 

 400 and 500 people. Many town-folks drive out to their country- 

 neighbors ' entertainments. We have found that to the great 

 majority of our people this kind of work is far more attractive 

 than the cheap amusements which they are apt to get outside 

 of the community at the public parks and shows in the surround- 

 ing towns. 



The pride of the community is our band of athletes. It is a 

 sight to see these husky farmer boys in base-ball suits. We have 



