“Thoughts that on easy pinions rise And hopes that soar aloft to the skies.”
REFERENCES
The author has been able to find little printed matter of worth on the important problems outlined in this chapter. The industrial training of the country girl is a neglected subject. It seems to have been taken for granted that she needed none.
Sex and Society. W. I. Thomas, pp. 149-175, “Sex and Primitive Industry.” University of Chicago Press. Shows in outline the emancipation of women from the bondage of work.
Growth and Education. John M. Tyler. Chapter XII, “Manual Training Needed for Girls.” Houghton Mifflin Company.
Mind and Work. Dr. L. H. Gulick. Chapter II, “The Habit of Success”; also Chapter XIII, “The Need of Adequate Work.” Doubleday, Page Company.
Motive for Work. Margaret E. Schallenbeyer. Annual Report N.E.A. 1907.
Wallaces’ Farmer. Des Moines, Iowa. Weekly. This periodical prints many articles, editorial and contributed, which discuss the subjects treated in the foregoing chapter.
The Mother of the Living. Mrs. Catherine Barton. Published by the Author. Kansas City, Mo.
The Girl Wanted. Nixon Waterman. Chapter VIII, “The Purpose of Life.” Forbes & Co., Chicago.
Life’s Day. William L. Bainbridge, M.D. Chapter VIII, “The Irresponsible Age.” Frederic A. Stokes Company. N.Y.
CHAPTER XIII
SOCIAL TRAINING FOR FARM BOYS AND GIRLS
We have been exceedingly slow in realizing the social needs of our children, in the usual instance depending on chance conditions to determine the matter for us. The city and the rural communities present a striking contrast in this respect. It does not seem possible that both can be right, while there is much to support the opinion that both are wrong. That is to say, in the city community the majority of the children are allowed to spend too much time in the company of others. As a result, they take on social manners and customs in a mere formal way and by far too early for the good of their character-development. The city ripens young life too fast. It produces the manners and refinements of adult life before the child becomes matured mentally. In the ordinary rural community there is not enough social experience for the young; and hence, a certain amount of crudeness, awkwardness, and lack of refinement tend to linger permanently in the character.
A happy mean is needed
What seems necessary, therefore, is the establishment of a social life which will be a compromise between the excess of the city and the deficit of the country. So far as can be learned, very little has been achieved in the matter of establishing just such a social order in the rural communities as will tend to develop the lives of the boys and girls in an ideal, symmetrical way. We may not feel very certain as to just how this ideal juvenile society should be constructed. Nevertheless, an attempt will be made to sketch in this chapter a working plan therefor. Some may see fit to adapt it, while others may improve it through practice.
What especially needs to be thought of in the development of any normal young life is the problem of rounding out the character on all sides. There are certain fundamental character-forming experiences and disciplines, such as work, play, recreation, and social intercourse. Many parents seem to be possessed of the idea that they can develop their children through play and social training alone. Others seem to believe that hard work and plenty of it is all that is necessary for the development of a substantial character in the young. Still others appear to allow their boys and girls to roam at will and to indulge them only in the recreative experiences. But how indefensible the idea that anyone should try to find permanent joy and satisfaction through recreative experiences without first having had as their counterpart the experience of work and the responsibilities that pertain thereto!