These figures show that the town churches are growing more rapidly 

 than the country churches, in spite of the fact that the ])oi)ulation of l)oth 

 town and country has increased aljout equally. Api)arently the tendency 

 to concentrate the church work in the towns and neglect the country 

 fields is present also in Gibson County. 



Membership 



The total membership of the white town churches is 5,600 and of the 

 white country churches 6,900; that of the colored town churches is 1,573 

 and of the colored country churches 1,808. The total church member- 

 ship, therefore, is 15,880, or 38 per cent, of the entire population. 



The total number of accessions during the past church year in the 

 white churches is 536 for the town churches, an increase of 9.6 per cent., 

 and 578 for the country, an increase of 8.4 per cent. 



The church relation of 317 young people who have grown up in country 

 neighborhoods in the last ten years and are now between 20 and 30 years 

 old, is shown in Table XVIII. 



TABLE XVIII.— CHURCH MEMBERSHIP OF YOUNG PEOPLE 



BETWEEN TWENTY AND THIRTY YEARS OLD IN THE 



COUNTRY 



Total Church 



Number Members 



Not 



Church 



Members 



Boys 200 45% 55% 



Girls 117 75%) 25% 



The church attendance of the young people is shown in Table XIX. 



TABLE XIX.— CHURCH ATTENDANCE OF YOUNG PEOPLE 

 BETWEEN TWENTY AND THIRTY YEARS OLD 



Total Per Centage Attending 



Number Well Occasionally None 



Boys 127 61.4 19 19.6 



Girls 110 81 15 4. 



These figures emphasize the generally recognized difference between 

 the religious susceptibility of boys and girls. 



A study of 484 white country families showed that 72 per cent, of the 

 heads of these families were church members. It showed further that 

 57 per cent, attended church well (i.e., more than 75 per cent, of the 

 preaching days), 21.5 attended church occasionally, while 21.5 per cent, 

 did not attend at all. Diagram No. 2 shows the church attendance of 

 heads of families arranged according to the degree of wealth. In the 

 diagram the width of each block indicates the proportionate number of 

 men represented in it and the length represents the percentage of church 

 attendance. 



36 



