Farm Boys and Girls Part 13

Education in the Country for the Country. J. W. Zeller.

Annual Volume N.E.A., 1910, p. 245.

Teachers for the Rural Schools; Kind Wanted; How to secure Them. L. J. Alleman. Annual Volume N.E.A., 1910, p. 280.

The State Board of Health of Maine (Augusta) issues a series of practical pamphlets on health and sanitation in the school and the home.

The Most Practical Industrial Education for the Country Child. Superintendent O. J. Kern. Annual Volume N.E.A., 1905, p. 198.

Among School Gardens. M. Louise Green, Ph.D. Charities Publication Committee, New York.

A Model Rural School House. Henry S. Curtis. Educational Foundations, April, 1911. A. S. Barnes & Co. Dr. Curtis is a national authority on the question of the school playground.

Education for Efficiency. E. Davenport. D. C. Heath. A most able plea for making the schools serve every worthy interest.

Changing Conceptions of Education. E. P. Cubberly. Monograph.

Houghton Mifflin Company.

Methods of conducting Book and Demonstration Work in teaching Elementary Agriculture. O. H. Benson. Bureau of Plant Industry, Washington, D.C. An excellent guide.

Report of Committee to investigate Rural School Conditions.

Superintendent E T. Fairchild and others. Address the Secretary N.E.A., Winona, Minn.

CHAPTER IX

_THE COUNTY YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN a.s.sOCIATION_

Among the movements of first importance looking toward the uplift of young men is that named at the head of this chapter. Parallel with the intensive and systematic effort to build up the commercial life of the city and allow the country district to take care of itself, has been a like effort to provide for the care and development of the city boy and the uniform neglect of the needs and interests of the country boy. Now, here at last is a movement that is proving a real means of salvation of the rural youth, mind, body, and soul.

President Henry J. Waters, of the Kansas State Agricultural College, struck the keynote of this young country-life movement most effectively in a recent address when he said: "We believe in the existence of a social renaissance. One needs only to read the daily and weekly papers printed in hundreds of prosperous villages and cross roads corners, the faithful chroniclers of the community's activities, to find buoyant hope of the future of farm life.

"The dignity of labor; the close connection between heads and hands; the monthly or weekly meetings of farmers' inst.i.tutes in hundreds of counties; the special lectures provided by agricultural colleges; the movable schools; the farmers' winter short courses, in which thousands of men and women and boys and girls partic.i.p.ate; corn contests; bread contests; sewing contests; play carnivals; poultry-raising contests; stock-raising contests; conferences on the country church, country school, good roads--all these activities denote the growth of a new and mighty spirit in the country life of America.

"We need further demonstrations, together with concrete thinking, a lot of constructive programs, and a deal of hard work and self-sacrifice, in which the county work department of the Young Men's Christian a.s.sociation can have no little share, to speed on the great epoch of rural social renaissance."

BOYS LEAVE THE FARM TOO YOUNG

It is a tragic story when the whole truth is known, that of the young boy running off to town in search of some employment that will bring him a little ready cash for spending money, and also in search of the sociability so woefully lacking in the rural home environment. Too long have the country parents attempted to argue and scold and force their boys to remain at home where they are confronted only with the monotony of hard work and a very dim prospect of a possible land or other property inheritance. So at last there is being raised the very important questions, What is the matter with the country boy? and What can be done to help him? Knowledge of the fact that more than one-half of the boys of the United States are living in farm homes makes the problem of their individual salvation a.s.sume momentous proportions.

There can be no reasonable thought of holding all the boys on the farm.

Many of them are best fitted by nature to go elsewhere and find suitable employment, but there is every good reason for preventing the great exodus of immature youths who run off to the cities, not knowing what they are to face and without any well-defined purpose. Yes, the great concerns of the towns and cities must continue to call many of the brainiest young men from the rural districts. In fact, the country may with every good reason be considered the proper breeding ground for the virile minds destined to control the great affairs of nation, state, and munic.i.p.ality. But every reasonable effort must be put forth to keep the boy in his country home until his character is relatively matured and his plans for a future career are fairly well defined.

PURPOSES OF THE COUNTY Y.M.C.A.

Doubtless the first chief purpose of the county a.s.sociation is that of building up the boy's character and finally perfecting his spiritual nature. But this high aim is not sought in the old-fashioned, direct manner. Instead, there is a studied effort to build up the boy gradually through the enlistment of his natural interests in matters that lie dormant in his home environment. The truly scientific method in this field is first concerned with providing means whereby the boy may work out his own spiritual salvation. Along with the farm labors, tedious and irksome to him when undertaken as exclusive requirements, the country boy is given an opportunity to take part in certain athletic and social exercises which appeal to his instincts and arouse the spontaneity from the depths of his own nature.

In carrying on the country work, an attempt is made to approach the boy from the peculiar situations of his home environment. What specific readjustments are needed in his home life in respect to the amount of work required of him? What of the recreation he enjoys? The local society in which he moves? The home church and Sunday school? The temptations that may lie near about him? and so on. These and many other such inquiries are made with a view to dealing with the boy in an individual way and reestablishing his life for the better.

HOW TO ORGANIZE A COUNTY a.s.sOCIATION

Unless it may chance that, after a brief survey of the field, some person from the outside comes in to perfect the organization of the county a.s.sociation, any interested person within the limits of the county must make the start. Devotion to the cause, persistence, and unfailing enthusiasm are perhaps the best personal equipment for the local beginner of this new work. His first concern should be that of gathering a committee of men like himself from different parts of the county. Doubtless these will form themselves into a sort of brotherhood committee. After such temporary organization, the next important step is that of securing an able county leader.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE XVII.

FIG. 23.--These Y.M.C.A. members find time for play as well as work. Try a club like this as a means of keeping the boy interested in the farm.]

1. _Choose a good leader._--Now, the success of the movement is to depend very largely upon the character of the leader to be chosen. If the right man be selected, no matter how hard the conditions, he will be able finally to bring system and order and spiritual progress out of it all. The important characteristics of the ideal leader of country boys are comparatively few. First of all, he must, of course, be moved by a sense of devotion to the cause of Christianity--the up-building of the characters, especially the spiritual natures, of young men. He should be a man who has been trained in a good college, if possible a graduate, with experience in the Y.M.C.A. and other like organizations. He should have had some special training in such subjects as psychology, sociology, and economics, and should be fairly well versed in the literature of these subjects. He should be especially fond of boys and boy life and interested in the conduct of people of every kind and sort.

He should be somewhat trained in athletics and an enthusiastic supporter of clean sports. He should have what is known as good business sense. It may not be essential, but it will certainly prove advantageous, if the chosen leader has himself been reared in the country.

2. _Local leaders necessary._--After the leader has been selected, the next step is that of the appointment of carefully chosen leaders for the local neighborhoods. These may be men of almost any age from middle life down, but perhaps the ideal age would be that of a few years older than any of the boys of the neighborhood. All must be enlisted if possible, not one being slighted or offended.

3. _A committee on finance._--An able finance committee is also of high importance. This should consist of men chosen especially for their unusual ability as solicitors and persuaders of men in a financial way.

Let these workers go over the county soliciting funds for the organization, providing from the first especially that the secretary shall be well paid for his services. Close-fisted residents, as well as all others, in every nook and corner of the territory must be seen and asked to contribute. It should be a comparatively easy matter to show men who cannot appreciate the social and spiritual needs of the boys that the new movement will most certainly increase general property values and bring up the price of land.

4. _Little property ownership._--While new, the county organization should guard against attempting to own and control any considerable amount of property or equipment. Not the material goods possessed, but the strength and force of the spiritual enthusiasm will have greatest value in carrying on the work. It will be found quite satisfactory in nearly every case to have the boys meet in some farm home, village club room, or country schoolhouse. And then, there is always danger of developing a Y.M.C.A. too exclusively as a business organization. There are many instances in the towns and cities where this is deplorably true. The best spirit of the work is submerged by the continuous hounding of the people in the skirmish for funds to keep going the over-heavy business machinery of the inst.i.tution. There often develops, in such cases, a large body of men who regard the Y.M.C.A. as an organization of loafers and easy-going money spenders. Once such sentiment develops, it is desperately difficult to eradicate it. So the country Y.M.C.A. should preserve the semblance of humility, and that partly by getting along with almost no property or equipment other than what its own members may provide in a crude fashion and what may be necessary to furnish the office of the general secretary.

HOW TO CONDUCT THE WORK

One of the first steps in conducting the new work is that of making a survey of the entire county. The names, ages, and location of all the boys must be secured, together with some items respecting their present social and religious affiliations. In fact, the more personal items included in the first survey, the better. Some boys will at first look with disfavor upon the new movement, believing that it is merely another scheme to convert them to religion and get them into a church. Care must be taken to disabuse the boy's mind of this thought from the very beginning. Therefore, it may be well not to try to hustle him into a Bible-study cla.s.s the first time he is invited out. While the main issue, namely, that of spiritual development of the boy, is not to be forgotten, he must nevertheless be led to this goal through the path of many very common instrumentalities. A Y.M.C.A. athletic meet would most probably prove a better opening number than a Bible-study cla.s.s or merely a religious service. As the work proceeds, the occasions for a great variety of exercises and programs will present themselves. Among these perhaps there would be the following:--

1. _Local and county athletic clubs._--The athletic event is one of the easiest to put on in a newly organized boys' club. An able leader, perhaps the county secretary, should be present to preside over the event, inducing the boys to form a baseball club, or a basketball team; or at least to arrange for some event in which they can all partic.i.p.ate, although that may be as simple a thing as swimming or jumping. Introduce at once the thought of practice and the development of skill, holding out the plan of a county organization and a county field meet in the future, which all may attend and in which the ablest shall have promise of a conspicuous part.

2. _Debating and literary clubs._--There is always the possibility of a literary society, provided the thing be carefully inst.i.tuted. The secret of successful debates among persons of any cla.s.s is to find a "burning"

question. So, avoid such matters as Tariff Reform and the World Peace Movement and come right down home to some perplexing problem in the lives of the boys of the club. Something about their work, their lack of recreation, their chances against those of city boys, and so on, will arouse interest and bring out rough debating material. Find latent talent of other sorts in the club. Some boy can sing; perhaps another can play a musical instrument; still another one may be a natural-born storyteller; a fourth may be an expert acrobat and tree climber; a fifth a shrewd hunter or trapper of wild animals. In this way, nearly every boy can be led to take part in a general program.

Thus, while contributing something toward the entertainment of all, each boy's active partic.i.p.ation will go far by way of awakening his personal interest in the new life.

3. _Receptions and suppers._--After the boys get fairly under way with their club, they may need to arrange an oyster supper or some such affair at which they will discuss their many mutual problems. On some such occasions they may desire to invite their parents to come and enjoy the program, also to partic.i.p.ate in the discussion of their affairs.

This form of close a.s.sociation will be found especially enticing to the boys, giving them a good, clean place to go for social enjoyment and something to look forward to in their thoughts during the somewhat prosaic hours of the day in the field.

4. _Educational tours and problems._--The boys may find it feasible to go in a body once or twice a year on an educational tour--to the state fair; to study some particular thing in the city; to gather data for the solution of some local problem; to make a study of the habitat of some bird or animal; to gather specimens of rocks or plants; and so on. In case of any such trip there is not a little necessity of some college-trained person as overseer, so that the study may be made intensive and not become dissipated in mere sport and fun. It is usually advisable to make a careful study of only one thing at a time.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE XVIII.

FIG. 24--A great Y.M.C.A. Convention in Ohio. Let the boy attend one of these great gatherings if possible, and he will return with a year's supply of enthusiasm.]

5. _Camping and hiking._--The boys of the county should be brought together at least once a year in a summer camp. Farmers will soon learn to appreciate the value of such things in the life of the boy and will gladly allow him a few days' vacation for the purpose. The boy who enjoys such a privilege will more than pay it back through the extra amount of work his enthusiasm will naturally prompt him to perform. For the camp site there should be selected some shady woodland with a good stream of water for fishing and swimming. A crude lodge may be constructed and all the necessary crude camp equipment provided. Each boy will want to carry his own blanket and extra clothing.

One matter must be considered in all seriousness; namely, the sanitation of the camp. Even at the outlay of a comparatively heavy expense, the camp food supplies, including the dining table, should be screened off from flies. The garbage therefore will all be scrupulously buried, and it will be ascertained with certainty that the drinking water is free from disease organisms. Then, the boys may sleep on the ground, wallow in the dirt, splash in the water and mud as they please and return home in the best of health.

6. _Exhibitions._--It has been found practicable to have the boys prepare during the season for coming together with a county exhibit, including a wide variety of things peculiar to their interests.