EDUCATIONAL ORGANIZATION 353 



In the early communitv life, the church played a 

 large part in the social and educational activities, as 

 well as in the moral direction of the community. 

 Eural population was relatively more dense in many 

 parts and there were fewer distracting attractions. 

 Allegiance to the church had not been shaken by 

 conflict with natural science in its modern develop- 

 ment. It had not met historical criticism nor had 

 it come under the economic and social stress that has 

 tried many churches. Barring denominational dif- 

 ferences, it was a fairly unified institution. The 

 w^ell-built roomy structures usually with towering 

 spire or belfry and commodious hitching sheds that 

 grace every village and some countrysides are for the 

 most part monuments to that day of unity and 

 strength. 



The rural church as an institution, however, in 

 common with the city church, has suffered a decline. 

 It does not gather the people or hold their interest 

 and devotion as it once did. In prosperous agri- 

 cultural regions, as well as in those less well condi- 

 tioned, the same symptoms generally appear, growing 

 indifference to the functions of the established church. 

 It is not a question of denominations as they are rep- 

 resented. It is rather a general condition. To main- 

 tain the churches and secure and reasonably pay good 

 pastors is an increasingly difficult problem. Some 

 of the most acute examples of moral neglect or indif- 

 ference may be found in the more remote and less 

 prosperous agricultural sections. They are compara- 

 ble with the w^orst in the cities' back streets. 



