116 COMMISSION ON COUNTRY LIFE 



and travelling libraries may become parts of it. 

 This may mean that the library will need itself 

 to be redirected, so that it will become an active 

 rather than a passive agency; it must be much 

 more than a collection of books. 



Another new agency is the county work of the 

 Young Men's Christian Association which, by 

 placing in each county a field secretary, is seek- 

 ing to promote the solidarity and effectiveness 

 of rural social life, and to extend the larger in- 

 fluence of the country church. The Commission 

 has met the representatives of this county work 

 at the hearings, and is impressed with the pur- 

 pose of the movement to act as a coordinating 

 agency in rural life. 



The organizations in cities and towns that are 

 now beginning to agitate the development of 

 better play, recreation and entertainment offer 

 a suggestion for country districts. It is impor- 

 tant that recreation be made a feature of country 

 life, but we consider it to be important that this 

 recreation, games and entertainment, be devel- 

 oped as far as possible from native sources 

 rather than to be transplanted as a kind of theat- 

 ricals from exotic sources. 



