A GOOD PLACE AFTER ALL
=Not Pessimistic.=--Some of the early chapters of this book may have
left the impression that a restoration, or rejuvenation, of country
life, such as will reverse the urban trend and make rural life the more
attractive by comparison, is difficult if not impossible. It is
difficult we grant; but we do not wish to leave the impression that such
is improbable, much less impossible. We were simply facing the truth on
the dark, or negative, side, and were attempting to give reasons for
conditions and facts which have been everywhere apparent. If there are
two sides to a question both should be presented as they really are. It
is always as useless and as wrong to minimize as it is to exaggerate,
and we were simply accounting for facts.
We did not mean that there is no hope. The first essential in the
solution of any problem or in the improvement of any condition is to get
the condition clearly and accurately in mind--to _conceive_ it exactly
as it is.
There is no doubt that the city, with its material splendor and its
social life, has attractions; but if we turn to rural life, we shall
find, if we go below the surface of human nature, the strongest appeals
to our deeper and more abiding interests. The surface of things and the
present moment are near to us, and powerful in the way of motivation.
These, however, are the aspects of human environment which appeal most
strongly to the child, to the savage, and to the uneducated person. If
we are optimists, believing that the race is progressing, and that our
own people and country are progressing as rapidly as or more rapidly
than any other, we must believe that motives which appeal to our deeper,
saner, and more disciplined nature will win out in the long run. Let us
see, then, what some of the appeals to this saner stratum of human
nature, in behalf of rural life, are.
=Fewer Hours of Labor than Formerly.=--The hours of labor have been
reduced everywhere. In the olden time labor was done by slaves or serfs,
and neither their bodies nor their time was their own. They labored
when, where, and as long as their masters dictated. Even a generation
ago there was little said, and there was no uniformity, as to how long a
working-man should labor. In busy seasons or on important pieces of
work, he labored as long as the light of day permitted. It was from sun
to sun, and often long after the sun had disappeared from the western
horizon. Sixteen hours was no uncommon day for him. Under such
conditions there was no room for mental, social, or spiritual
advancement. Later, the hours were reduced to a maximum of fourteen.
This proved to be so satisfactory that laws were passed providing for a
further decrease in hours. This standardizing of the day of labor, while
not general in the country, had its effect. The twelve-hour day, while
still long, was a decided betterment over the sixteen-hour day. There
was beginning to be a little possible margin for social, mental, and
recreational activity. But the twelve-hour day must inevitably get the
better of the human system and of the spirit of man. It is too long and
too steady a grind, and habit and long hours soon tell their story. They
inevitably lead to the condition of the "man with the hoe."
As improvements in machinery were perfected and inventions of all kinds
multiplied and spread both in the factory and on the farm, the ten-hour
day was ushered in. It was inevitable in this age of inventions and
improvements. Capital had these inventions and improvements in its
possession and a laboring man could now do twice as much with the same
labor as formerly. But society as a whole could not assent to the theory
and the practice that the capitalist, the owner of the machines, should
reap all the advantages; and so, while the hours were still further
reduced, the wages were increased, thus more nearly equalizing the
benefits accruing to employer and employed. With the aid of inventions
the worker, on the average, can do more in the short day of eight or
ten hours than he did formerly in the sixteen-hour day. It is not
contended, however, that every laborer actually does this. This phase of
the question is a large factor in the labor problem. But from the point
of view of the average man and of society, labor with the aid of
machinery can produce probably twice as much as it produced formerly
without that aid. This fact has had great influence upon industrial life
everywhere, and makes for increased opportunities and growth.
=The Mental Factor Growing.=--The trend alluded to above implies that
the mental factor is growing larger and larger in occupations of all
kinds. Success is becoming more and more dependent on knowledge,
ingenuity, prudence, and foresight. Especially is this true on the farm.
There is scarcely any calling that demands or can make use of such
varied talents. All fields of knowledge may be drawn upon and utilized,
from the weather signals to the most recent findings and conclusions of
science and philosophy. As the hours of labor both in the factory and on
the farm are shortened still more--as is possible--the hours of study,
of play, and of social converse will be lengthened. Indeed this is one
of the by-problems of civilization and progress--to see that leisure
hours are profitably spent for the welfare of the individual. In any
event, the prospect of reasonable hours and of social and cultural
opportunities in rural life is growing from day to day. The intelligent
man with modern machinery and ordinary capital, if he has made some
scientific study of agriculture, need have no fear of not living a
successful and happy life on the farm. A knowledge of his calling in all
its aspects, with the aid of modern machinery, and with sobriety,
thrift, and industry, will bring a kind of life to both adults and
children that the crowded factory and tenements and the tinsel show of
the city cannot give. But one must be willing to forego the social and
physical display of the surface of things and to choose the better and
more substantial part. If we are a people that can do this there is hope
for an early and satisfactory solution of the problems of rural life.
=The Bright Side of Old-time Country Life.=--Even in the country life of
twenty-five to fifty years ago, there was a bright and happy side. It
was not all dark, and, in its influence for training the youth to a
strong manhood, we shall probably not look upon its like again. If
strength and welfare rather than pleasure are the chief end of life,
many of the experiences which were undoubtedly hardships were blessings
in disguise. Every boy had his chores and every girl her household
duties to perform. The cows had to be brought home in the evening from
the prairie or the woods; they had to be milked and cared for; calves
and hogs had to be fed; horses had to be cared for both evening and
morning; barns, stables, and sheds had to be looked after. All the
animals of the farm, including the domestic fowls, such as chickens,
ducks, and turkeys, became our friends and each was individually known.
Though all the duties of farm life had to be done honestly and well,
nevertheless the farmer's boy found time to go fishing and hunting,
skating, coasting, and trapping. He learned the ways and the habits of
beasts, birds, and fish. He observed the squirrels garnering their
winter supply in the fall. He watched the shrewd pocket gopher as it
came up and deposited the contents of its cheek pockets upon the pile of
fresh dirt beside his hole. He learned how to trap the muskrat, and woe
to the raccoon that was discovered stealing the corn, for it was tracked
and treed even at midnight. The boy's eyes occasionally caught sight of
a red fox or of a deer; and the call of the dove, the drum of the
pheasant, the welcome "whip-poor-will" and the "to-whit, to-whit,
to-who" of the owl were familiar sounds. He ranged the prairie and the
woods; he climbed trees for nuts and for distant views, and knew every
hill, valley, and stream for miles and miles around. Even his daily and
regular work was of a large and varied kind. It was not like the making
of one tenth of a pin, which has a strong tendency to reduce the worker
to one tenth of a man.
On the farm one usually begins and finishes a piece of work whether it
be a hay-rack or a barn; he sees it through--the whole of it receives
expression in him. It is _his_ piece of work and it faces him as he has
to face it. The tendency is for both to be "honest." If there were so
much brightness and variety in days gone by, when all work was done by
hand, how much better the situation can be now and in the future, when
inventions and machines have come to the rescue of the laborer, and when
the hours of toil have been so materially shortened!
=The Larger Environment.=--There is no doubt that a large and varied
environment is conducive to the growth of a strong and active
personality. If one has to adjust himself at every turn to something
new, it will lead to self-activity and initiative, to ingenuity and
aggressiveness. If tadpoles are reared in jars of different sizes, the
growth and size of each will vary with the size of the vessel, the
smallest jar growing the smallest tadpole, and the largest jar the
largest tadpole. It is fighting against the laws of fate to attempt to
rear strong personalities in a "flat" or even in a fifty-foot lot. They
need the range of the prairies, the hills, and the woods. Shakespeare
was born and brought up in one of the richest and most stimulating
environments, natural and social, in the world; and this, no doubt, had
much to do with his matchless ability to express himself on all phases
of nature and of mind. Large and varied influences, while they do not
compel, at least _tend_ to produce, large minds; for they leave with us
infinite impressions and induce correspondingly varied reactions and
experiences. Under such conditions a child is reacting continually and
thus becoming active and efficient. He is challenged at every turn, and
if stumbling blocks become stepping stones, the process is the very best
kind of education.
=Games.=--There are excellent opportunities in the country for all kinds
of games, for there ample room and many incentives to activity present
themselves. In the city, children are often content with seeing experts
and professionals give performances or "stunts," while they, themselves,
remain passive. In the country there are not so many attractions and
distractions--so many dazzling and overwhelmingly "superior"
things--that children may not be easily induced to "get into the game"
themselves. I fear that in recent years owing to imitation of the city
and its life, play and games in the country have become somewhat
obsolete. There needs to be a renaissance in this field. We have been
offered everywhere in recent years so much of what might be called the
"finished product" that the children are content merely to sit around as
spectators and watch others give the performances.
As in the case of the rural school the play instincts of country
children must be awakened again in behalf of rural life in general.
There are scores of games and sports, from marbles to football, which
should receive attention. In recent years the social mind, in all
sports, seems to be directed to the _result_, the winning or losing,
instead of to the game, as a game, and the fun of it all. True
sportsmanship should be revived and cultivated. There is no reason why
there should not be found in every neighborhood, and especially at every
school center, all kinds of plays and games, each in its own time and
place and having its own patronage--marbles, tops, swings, horseshoes,
"I spy," anti-over, pull-away, prisoner's base, tennis, croquet, volley
ball, basketball, skating, coasting, skiing, baseball, and football.
Horizontal bars, turning pole, and other apparatus should be provided in
every playground. In the social centers, if the boys can be organized as
Boy Scouts, and the girls as Camp-Fire Girls, good results will ensue.
Many more plays and games will suggest themselves, and those for girls
should be encouraged as well as those for boys. All the aspects of rural
life can thus be made most enjoyable. It is often well to introduce and
cultivate one game at a time, letting it run its course, something like
a fever, and then, at the psychological moment, introduce and try out
another. To introduce too many at one time would not afford an
opportunity for children to experience the rise and fall of a wave of
enthusiasm on any one, and this is quite important. Usually some
direction should be given to play, but this direction should not be
suppressive, and should be given by a leader who understands and
sympathizes with child nature.
=Inventiveness in Rural Life.=--In the city, where everything is
manufactured or sold ready-made, a person simply goes to the store and
buys whatever he needs. In the country this cannot be done, and one is
driven by sheer necessity to devise ways and means of supplying his
needs, himself. He simply has to invent or devise a remedy. Necessity is
the mother of invention.
It is really better for boys and girls in the country if their parents
are compelled to be frugal and economical. If children get anything and
everything they wish, merely for the asking, they are undone; they
become weak for lack of self-exertion, self-expression, and invention;
they become dissatisfied if everything is not coming their way from
others. They become selfish and careless. Having tasted of the best,
merely for the asking, they become dissatisfied with everything except
the best. This is the dominant tendency in the city and wherever parents
are foolish enough to satisfy the child's every whim. If the parents
carry the child in this manner, the child, in later years, will have
weak legs and the parents will have weak backs. Moreover, love and
respect move in the direction of activity, and if everything comes the
child's way there will be little love, except "cupboard love," going the
other way.
It is unfortunate for children to experience the best too early in life;
there is then no room for growth and development. It was Professor James
who said that the best doll he ever saw was a home-made rag doll; it
left sufficient room for the play of the imagination. With the perfect,
factory-made doll there is nothing more for the imagination to do; it is
complete, but it is not the little girl who has completed it. In the
country, men and women, boys and girls are induced to begin and complete
all kinds of things. Many things have to be made outright and most
things have to be repaired on the farm. Challenges of this kind to
inventiveness and activity are outstanding all the time. Sleds, both
large and small, wheelbarrows and hay racks, sheds, granaries, and barns
are both made and repaired. But in all there is no mad rush. It is not
as it is in the factory or in the sawmill. One is not reduced to the
instantaneous reactions of an automaton; he has time to breathe and to
think. One can act like a free man rather than like a machine. There is
room for thought and for invention.
=Activity Rather than Passivity.=--In this infinite variety of
stimulation and response, the youth is induced to become active rather
than passive. While he is not pushed unduly, he is reasonably active
during all his waking hours, and the habit of activity, of doing, is
ingrained. This is closely related to character and morality, to thrift
and success. Such a person is more likely to be a creditor than a debtor
to society. In this respect the country and the farm have been the
salvation of many a youth.
In the city many children have no regular employment; they have no
chores to do and no regular occupation. Evenings and vacations find
them on the streets. Then Satan always finds mischief for idle hands to
do. These children become passive except under the impulses of instinct
or of mischievous ideas; they have no regular and systematic work to do;
everything is done for them. During their early years habits of
idleness, of passive receptivity, of mischief, and possibly of crime,
are ingrained. And though this kind of life may be more _pleasurable_,
in a low sense, than the active life of the country, there can be no
doubt as to which is the more wholesome and strengthening.
=Child Labor.=--A good child-labor law is absolutely essential to the
welfare of the children for whom it has been enacted; nevertheless,
there has been a great omission in not providing that idle children
shall do some work. Even in large cities there are probably more
children who do not work enough than there are who are made to work too
hard. In our zeal we sometimes forbid children to work, when some work
would be the very best thing for them. It is true that on the farm as
well as in the factory ignorant and mercenary parents make dollars out
of the sweat of their children, when these should be going to school or
engaged in physical and mental recreation and development. It is
unfortunate that society is not able to see to it, that, as in Plato's
Republic, every child and every person engage in the work or study for
which he is best fitted, and to the extent that is best for him. Then
the hundreds of thousands of children who are idling would be engaged
in some kind of occupation, and those who are working too hard would be
given lighter tasks; and all would have the privilege of an appropriate
education.
=The Finest Life on Earth.=--In view of such circumstances and
opportunities, life in the country should be, and _could be made_, the
best and most complete life possible to a human being. Country life is
the best cradle of the race. To have a good home and rear a family in
the heart of a great city is well-nigh impossible for the average
laboring man. The struggle for existence is too fierce and the
opportunity, in childhood and youth, for self-expression and initiative
is too meager. The environment is too vast, complex, and overwhelming,
with nothing worth while for the child to do. "Individuals may stand,
but generations will slip" on such an inclined plane of life. From this
point of view it can be truly said, we think, that "God made the country
while man made the town."
The real, vital possibilities of country life are without number. The
surface attractions of the city are most alluring. A focusing of the
public mind upon the problem, its _pros_ and _cons_, will, it is to be
hoped, turn the scales without delay in favor of country life and its
substantial benefits.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The following bibliography is submitted as affording information and
suggestive helps to those who are interested in the problems herein
discussed. Although the books and references have been selected with
care, it is not to be inferred that the list includes any considerable
portion of the vast and still increasing output of literature in this
field of investigation. But it will prove to be a fairly comprehensive
list from which the reader may select such articles or books as make a
favorable appeal to him. The works referred to are all of recent date,
and express the current trend of thought upon the problems discussed in
this little volume.
BOOKS
American Academy of Political and Social Science. Philadelphia, 1912.
Vol. XL, No. 129, "Country Life": Butterfield, "Rural Sociology
as a College Discipline"; Cance, "Immigrant Rural Communities";
Carver, "Changes in Country Population"; Coulter, "Agricultural
Laborers"; Davenport, "Scientific Farming"; Dixon, "Rural
Home"; Eyerly, "Cooeperative Movements among Farmers"; Foght,
"The Country School"; Gillette, "Conditions and Needs of
Country Life"; Gray, "Southern Agriculture"; Hartman, "Village
Problems"; Hamilton, "Agricultural Fairs"; Henderson, "Rural
Police"; Hibbard, "Farm Tendency"; Kates, "Rural Conferences";
Lewis, "Tramp Problem"; Marquis, "The Press"; Mumford,
"Education for Agriculture"; Parker, "Good Roads"; Pearson,
"Chautauquas"; Roberts and Israel, "Y.M.C.A."; Scudder,
"Rural Recreation"; True, "The Department of Agriculture"; Van
Norman, "Conveniences"; Watrous, "Civic Art"; Washington, B.
T., "The Rural Negro Community"; Wilson, "Social Life"; Wells,
"Rural Church".
Bailey, L. H.: _The Country Life Movement in the U. S._ (1912) 220 pp.
Macmillan Co., New York. _Cyclopedia of American Agriculture._ 4
vols. $20.00. Macmillan Co., New York. _The State and the Farmer._
(1911) 177 pp. Macmillan Co., New York. _The Training of Farmers._
(1909) 263 pp. Century Co., New York.
Betts, George H.: _New Ideals in Rural Schools._ (1913) 127 pp. Houghton
Mifflin Co., Boston.
Brown, H. A.: _Readjustment of a Rural High School to the Needs of a
Community._ (1912) Bureau of Education, Bulletin No. 20.
Buell, Jennie: _One Woman's Work for Farm Women._ 50c. Whitcomb &
Barrows, Boston.
Burnham, Ernest: _Two Types of Rural Schools._ (1912) 129 pp. Teachers
College, Columbia, New York.
Butterfield, K. L.: _Chapters in Rural Progress._ $1.00. Univ. of
Chicago Press. _The Country Church and the Rural Problem._ (1911)
165 pp. Univ. of Chicago Press.
Carney, Mabel: _Country Life and the Country School._ (1912) 405 pp.
Row, Peterson & Co., Chicago.
Conference on Rural Education--_Proceedings._ (1913) 45 pp. Wright &
Potter, Boston.
Coulter, John Lee: _Cooeperation Among Farmers._ (1911) 75c. Sturgis &
Walton Co., New York.
Cubberly, E. P.: _The Improvement of the Rural School._ (1912) 75 pp.
Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston. _Rural Life and Education._ Houghton
Mifflin Co., Boston.
Curtis, Henry S.: _Play and Recreation for the Open Country._ (1914) 265
pp. Ginn & Co., Boston.
Davenport, Mrs. E.: _Possibilities of the Country Home._ (Bulletin.)
University of Illinois, Urbana.
Dodd, Helen C.: _The Healthful Farm House; by a Farmer's Wife._ (1911)
69 pp. Whitcomb & Barrows, New York.
Eggleston, J. D., and Bruere, R. W.: _The Work of the Rural School._
(1913) 287 pp. Harpers.
Fiske, G. W.: _The Challenge of the Country._ (1912) 283 pp. Association
Press, New York.
Foght, H. W.: _The American Rural School._ (1910) 361 pp. Macmillan Co.,
New York.
F. T.: _The Country School of To-morrow._ (1913) 15 pp. General
Education Board, New York.
Gillette, J. M.: _Constructive Rural Sociology._ (1913) 301 pp. Sturgis
& Walton, New York.
Haggard, H. R.: _Rural Denmark and its Lessons._ (1911) $2.25. Longmans,
Green & Co., New York.
Hutchinson, F. K.: _Our Country Life._ (1912) 316 pp. A. C. McClurg &
Co., Chicago.
Kern, O. J.: _Among Country Schools._ (1906) 366 pp. Ginn & Co., Boston.
Macdonald, N. C.: _The Consolidation of Rural Schools in North Dakota._
(1913) 35 pp. State Board of Education, Bismarck, N. D.
McKeever, Wm. A.: _Farm Boys and Girls._ (1912) 326 pp. Macmillan Co.,
New York.
Monahan, A. C.: _The Status of Rural Education in the U. S._ Bureau of
Education, Washington, D. C.
Page, L. W.: _Roads, Paths, and Bridges._ (1912) $1.00. Sturgis & Walton
Co., New York.
Pennsylvania Rural Progress Association: _Proceedings, Rural Life
Conference._ (1912) 227 pp. Julius Smith, Secretary, Pennsdale, Pa.
Plunkett, Sir Horace C.: _Rural Problem in the U. S._ (1910) 174 pp.
Report of National Commission on Rural Life. Doc. No. 705. Government
Printing Office, Washington, D. C.
Schmidt, C. C.: _Consolidation of Schools._ University of North Dakota.
Seerley, H. H.: _The Country School._ (1913) 218 pp. Scribner's Sons,
New York. _Rural School Education._ (1912) 84 pp. University of
Texas.
Wray, Angelina: _Jean Mitchell's School._ $1.00. Public School Pub. Co.,
Bloomington, Ind.
ARTICLES IN REPORTS AND PERIODICALS
Allman, L. J.: _Teachers for Rural Schools._ Report, N. E. A. (1910) pp.
280 and 575.
Bailey, L. H.: _Why Boys Leave the Farm._ Century, 72: 410-16 (July,
1906).
Barnes, F. R.: _Present Defects in the Rural Schools._ Report N. D. E.
A. (1909) pp. 259-266.
Bruere, Martha Bensley: _The Farmer and His Wife._ Good Housekeeping
Mag., June, 1914, p. 820, New York.
Conference for Education in the South; _Proceedings, 1909._ Foster,
Webb, and Parkes, Nashville, Tenn.
Consolidation: Drop a postal card to Superintendents of Public
Instruction for latest printed matter.
Cotton, F. A.: _Country Life and the Country School._ School and Home
Education, 28:90-94 (Nov., 1908).
Coulter, J. C.: _Cooeperative Farming._ World's Work, 23: 59-63 (Nov.,
1911).
_County Supervision._ Report N.E.A. 1908, p. 252.
Cubberly, E. P.: _Politics and the Country School Problem._ Educ.
Review, 47:10-21 (Jan., 1914).
Gillette, J. M.: _The Drift to the City._ Am. Journal of Sociology,
16:645-67 (Mar., 1911).
Hibbard, B. H.: _Tenancy in the North Central States._ Quar. Journal of
Economics, 25:710-29 (Aug., 1911).
Hill, J. J.: _What We Must Do to be Fed._ World's Work, 19: 12226-54
(Nov., 1909).
McClure, D. E.: _Education of Country Children for the Farm._ Education,
26:65-70 (Oct., 1905).
Miller, E. E.: _Factors in the Re-making of Country Life._ Forum,
48:354-62 (Sept., 1912).
_Passing of the Man With the Hoe._ World's Work, 20: 13246-58 (Aug.,
1910).
_Rural Life and Rural Education._ Report N. E. A. 1912, pp. 281-313.
Supervision: Index of N. E. A. Reports For County. Report of 1908, pp.
252-71.
Wells, George F.: _Is an Organized Country Life Movement Possible?_
Survey, 29:449-56 (Jan. 4, 1913).
INDEX
Activity and passivity, 179
Affiliation, 112
Agricultural colleges, 46, 162
Apperception mass, 101
Assistant county superintendent, 134
Attendance in consolidated school, 73
Automobile parties, 124
"Back to the country," 9
Best, the--the cheapest, 157
Boarding place, 62
Boy Scouts, 177
Bright side of rural life, 173
Camp-Fire Girls, 177
Character, 83
Child labor, 180
China, 107, 144
Chores, 10
Cities, population of, 19;
churches of, 23;
conveniences in, 20, 21;
schools of, 22
Commission, Rural, 9, 164
Committee of Twelve, 162
Community activities, 115
Consolidation, 37, 60, 63, 65, 75;
cost, 70;
difficulties, 64;
effects of, 71, 72, 73, 74;
process, 63;
when not needed, 64
Conventions, 163
Cooeperation, 139, 140, 145, 158
County superintendence, 129
Course of study, 108
Curriculum in rural schools, 100-113
Dancing, 120
Debates, 116
District system, 64
Diversification in farming, 156, 165
Dramatic performances, 118
Driver, 69
Education, 77;
of teachers, 84;
value of, 24
Educational centers, 23;
column in press, 150
Environment, 105, 175
Examination of schools, 135
Exhibits, school, 122
Experience, teaching, 85
Extension work, 166
Farmer, the, and his home, 152;
and his politics, 164
Forum, a rural, 123
Games, 121, 176
Grading, 71
Harvesting machinery, 38-41
High schools, progress in, 47
Higher education, progress in, 44
Hopkins, Mark, 34, 35, 78
Hours of labor, 170
Ideal life, 159
Imitation, 18, 100, 101
Individual work, 109
Inseparables, the three, 88, 91, 126
Interpreting core, 101
Inventiveness in rural life, 177-179
Kindness, too much, 80
Knots, untying, 70
Labor, hours of, 170
Labor-saving devices, 155
Laws, self-imposed, 150
Leadership, 62, 114, 139, 147
Lectures, 118
Leveling process, 153, 154
Library extension, 166
Literary society, 115
Literature, urbanized, 22
Machinery, caring for, 158
Married teachers, 75
Men needed in teaching, 53, 93
Mental factor, 172
Mixed farming, 165
"Mode," the, 88, 89
Model rural school, 61
Moving pictures, 120
Muensterberg, Prof. H., 92
Murphy, Francis, 141
Music, 119
Normal schools, 45
Ocean travel, 43
Organization, 26, 125
"Overflow of instruction," 111
Physical soundness, 82, 122
Plant, the educational, 34, 35, 77
Problem, rural, 24, 36, 37, 57, 131
Profession, 57, 90
Profit-sharing, 145
Progress, lines of, 38-48
Punctuality, 73
Reaping machines, 14, 38
Renaissance, rural, 160
Responsibility, 142
Retired farmers, 23
Retirement fund, 94
Roads, better, 75
Routine, 11
Rural Commission, 9, 164
Rural schools, 49;
backward, 15, 47, 49;
buildings, 28;
course of study for, 108;
good, 36, 61;
interior, 31;
no progress in, 50;
organization, 26;
ventilation of, 29
Rural teachers, 102;
courses for, 59, 103
Salaries, 87, 96, 97
School board, 98
Scientific farming, 165; spirit, 107
Self-activity, 148, 149, 150
Social center, 74, 114, 137;
cost of, 124, 126;
as business center, 125
Spelling school, 117
Sports, 121
Standards, 54, 58, 90;
to be raised, 92
Steam engine, 42
Storm, A. V., 53
Supervision, 55, 60, 74, 127, 129;
city, 132;
county, 129, 131;
importance of, 127;
nominal, 129;
overdone, 128;
purpose of, 132
Surroundings, effect of, on children, 30, 34
Teacher, 35, 75, 77, 79, 87, 113;
chief factor, 34;
leader, 62, 114, 147;
courses for, 59, 83, 103
Terms, school, 55, 109
Textbook teaching, 104
Township system, 65, 66
Transportation of pupils, 67, 69
Urban trend, 19
Urbanized literature, 22
Value of education, 24
Ventilation, 29
Wages, 90, 96
Waste land, 160
Winter work, 14
Women's condition, 16
Work, value of, 10, 14, 157, 180;
city, 23;
farm, 12
Yearly routine, 11
End of Project Gutenberg's Rural Life and the Rural School, by Joseph Kennedy