Farm Boys and Girls

by William A. McKeever

How to organize a county association

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 association, 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.

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 institution. 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.