RURAL SOCIOLOGY 



Cooper Di-ershiycr. 



\Yrilit Shepherd of the Hills. 



DouMeday From Cattle Ranch to College. 



K^leston Hoosier Schoolmaster. 



K.,\ Trail of the Loin-some Pirn-. 



Dickens David Copperfield. 



\\ jster Tlii- Virginian. 



Eggleston Last of the Flatboats. 



Dixon Leopard Spots. 



It is to be noted that "Treasure Island" heads both lists and 

 the presence of the "Last of the Mohicans," "The Spy," "Tom 

 Sawyer," "Tale of Two Cities" and "The Call of the Wild" 

 upon both lists indicates that boys are boys in the country and 

 in the city. It is rather interesting to note also that in addition 

 to these- excellent books which are indicated upon both lists, 

 the country boys selected Scott's "Ivanhoe," Dickens' "David 

 Copperfield," Eliot's "Silas Marner," and Wallace's "Ben- 

 Hur." While some deplore that only fiction is represented upon 

 these li::ts we suspect that a perfectly sincere expression from a 

 group of adults would have given much the same results in this 

 particular. On the whole the investigation indicates that the 

 tastes of the American boys, whether in the city or country, are 

 clean and wholesome. City and country boys alike have an evi- 

 dent fondness for books of violence and heroism, but the vio- 

 lence is not lawless and the heroism is genuine. 



The vote taken by the boys living in rural Wisconsin bears evi- 

 dence that good use will be made of book facilities when they 

 are offered. The Wisconsin boy's acquaintance with the best 

 books grows out of the fact that under the Wisconsin law each 

 school district is required to expend for books out of the funds 

 coming to it from the state at least ten cents for each person 

 of school age within the district. Something over sixty-five thou- 

 sand dollars is, thus spent annually for books in these school- 

 houses. None of this is spent in the largo cities, so that this; 

 sum goes into the smaller cities and villages and into the coun- 

 try districts. In addition to this the state expends a consider- 

 able sum of money in maintaining a state traveling library s\ -- 

 tern, and during the last year over forty thousand volumes were 

 sent out to over six hundred different rural communities scat- 

 tered over the entire state. 



