SOCIAL CAUSES OF UNREST 131 



The country is lacking in social life. This lack is 

 seen not merely in what is often called society, but in 

 its very elements. The fewness of women in the coun- 

 try brings severe social strain. Domestic help for farm 

 homes cannot be obtained. In times of illness a trained 

 nurse can be secured. During the recovery of strength 

 neighbors render what assistance they can, but not even 

 the services of a washerwoman can be had for hire. In 

 May last I conducted the funeral of a wife and mother. 

 The household consisted, in addition, of the husband and 

 two sons under twenty. For six months a trained nurse 

 had been in charge, but the husband and the sons had 

 perforce to become the housekeepers. Since the funeral 

 they have lived alone, bereaved indeed. They are well- 

 to-do. They are eminently respectable. Yet attempts 

 to secure a housekeeper have been in vain. 



The financial relation between farmers and their 

 children has caused many a tragedy. I could cite an 

 instance of a man of thirty-five, married, with happy 

 children, an elder in his church, serving upon a rich 

 farm, without a dollar to own or to control except with 

 the express consent of his father. The son, but not the 

 father, holds the respect and the affection of the com- 

 munity. A form of trial which has made this one man 

 strong through discipline has made countless hundreds 

 fail. Scant appreciation, little relaxation, and lack of 

 financial provision annually drives many promising 

 youths from the country to the city. Financial equality 

 between husband and wife; wise rewards to the child 

 for mastering tasks, leading on to a definite under- 

 standing over independent responsibility, are called for. 



Means of social life, in the ordinary acceptance of 

 that term, are lacking in the country. A questionnaire 



