Other local possibilities
It will be understood that the possibilities of church and Sunday school work in a rural neighborhood are not intentionally slighted. Little is said in regard to them here simply because of the fact that there is a country-wide organization with well-directed local branches and with a flood of excellent literature constantly at work in building up the church and Sunday school life. The reader may be reminded, however, that this field still presents many excellent opportunities for serving the highest interests of the home community.
The matter of purely social gatherings for the boys and girls is important. It will perhaps be found that they are running to cheap, degrading dances, either in the home neighborhood or in a near-by town. If the rural leader can break this thing up and substitute a literary club, a better form of social intercourse, or any other gathering, for the cheap dance and its resultant debauch, the effort will certainly be most commendable. It is not as a rule advisable to condemn and denounce these cheap affairs, but rather to begin at once a movement in the interest of the better substitute. Just as soon as the latter begins to take form, the young people will naturally discontinue their degrading affairs. [Chapter XIII] of this book will offer a more extended discussion of the social problems of country youth.
Plate XX.
Fig. 26.—An example of the little lonely school in the woods, a problem of the social worker. Not enough children to stimulate one another properly in the lesson-getting and play activities.