are meant to help men and young men live the life they must live. 

 First of all the church ought to make the farmer a good farmer. It 

 ought to study his needs and help to satisfy them. The preacher ought 

 to talk the language of the country. He ought to know the events of 

 the week. He ought to be able to "heal the hurt of the people." The 

 minister will be greatly helped in this if occasionally the church is open 

 for a lecture on good farming. It puts things in the right light if good 

 farming and good Gospel are made one, as they are in the Old Testament. 



Furthermore, the young men of the community are interested in the 

 play life. They will soon get over it, but for the time being they think 

 more about play than about work. This is not wicked on their part; 

 it is natural, and they will soon get to be sober and staid enough; that 

 too is natural. While they are young they ought to have encouragement 

 from the church. The women of the churches feel this; and attempt 

 to give some social life to the community, but the men are generally 

 against it. The church ought to be open, and the homes of the people 

 ought to be open, regularly, for social opportunities that will enable the 

 young people to work off their steam, to get acquainted; and to feel that 

 the older people, and the leaders of the church especially, are their friends. 

 It will do a great deal to cultivate good sense among the young and good 

 feeling among all, if religious people take the lead in providing recreation 

 and social life for the young people of the community. It is another 

 way of getting the church in the right place as a leading organization 

 for the good things in the community. Everything that is good is dear 

 to the Lord and ought to be upheld by God's people. 



Fourth. The survey shows that the people of this county believe in 

 organization among country people. A wise old farmer in Iowa, who 

 knows the people of the country generally, says: "What the farmer needs 

 is organization." The farmers' union and the fruit-growers association 

 are serious attempts on the part of the farmers to organize and they 

 should not be allowed to fail. We have no interest in these unions, but 

 we believe that the farmer should be organized in the interest of getting 

 a better income, for the purpose of taking care of his own business and 

 for the protection of his home and his community against the big organi- 

 zations which threaten him from without. The lesson of working to- 

 gether for the common good, of subordinating our own interests to the 

 welfare of all, is the most important of Christian teachings, and we 

 believe, therefore that the churches of Gibson County ought to lend 

 encouragement to these attempts at cooperation. 



The duty of cooperation among farmers ought to be taught in gather- 

 ings of church people, not necessarily on Sunday, but on the days of the 

 week. At picnics, on social occasions and at other times the church 

 ought to make very plain its support of the leadership of farmers among 



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