236 CHAPTERS IN RURAL PROGRESS 



other is a mistake. To assert this is not to 

 quarrel with the statement we frequently hear 

 nowadays that "the church should be the social 

 and intellectual center of the neighborhood;" 

 or that "the school should be the social and 

 intellectual center of the neighborhood;" or 

 that "the Grange should be the social and in- 

 tellectual center of the neighborhood." It is 

 fortunate that these statements have been made. 

 They show an appreciation of a function of these 

 agencies that has been neglected. The first item 

 in rural social progress is that the country 

 preacher, the rural teacher, the country doctor, 

 the country editor, the agricultural editor, the 

 agricultural college professor, and especially the 

 farmer himself, shall see the social need of the 

 farm community. But to assert, for instance, 

 that the church shall be the social center of that 

 community may lead to a partial and even to a 

 fanatical view of things. I would not restrain 

 in the slightest the enthusiasm of any pastor who 

 wants to make his church occupy a central posi- 

 tion in community life, nor of the teacher who 

 wants to bring her school into relation with all 

 the economic and social life of the farm, nor of 

 the leader of the farmers' organization who sees 

 the good that may be done through the social 



