Part 3 (1/2)

Back to the Farm. J. Smith. _Collier's_, Feb. 25, 1911.

Value of a Country Education to Every Boy. _Craftsman_, January, 1911.

Why Back to the Farm? Editorial. _Craftsman_, February, 1911.

The Country-Life Movement. L. H. Bailey. The Macmillan Co.

Contains a contrast of the back-to-the-land movement and the country-life movement.

Drift to the City in Relation to the Rural Problem. J. M.

Gillette. _American Journal of Sociology_, March, 1911.

The New Country Boy. _Independent_, June 22, 1911.

Overworked Children on the Farm and in the School. Dr. Woods Hutchinson. _Annals American Academy_, March, 1909.

Why One Hundred Boys ran away from Home. L. E. Jones.

_Ladies' Home Journal_, April, 1910.

The Country Girl who is coming to the City. Batchelor.

_Delineator_, May, 1909.

Play and Playground Literature. For most helpful and inexpensive literature on this subject address: The Playground a.s.sociation of America, 1 Madison Ave., New York City.

Conservation in the Rural Districts. James W. Robertson, D.Sc. The a.s.sociation Press, New York.

Education for Country life. Willet M. Hays. Free Bulletin, U.S. Department of Agriculture. Treats ably consolidation and rural agricultural high schools.

Child Problems. George B. Mangold. Ph.D. Book II, Chapters I-II, ”Play and the Playground”; Book III, Chapters I-V, ”Child Labor Problems.” The last reference contains accurate information as to child-labor legislation up to date of publication.

Influence of Heredity and Environment upon Race Improvements.

Kelsey. _Annals American Academy_, July, 1909.

Burning up the Boys. Editorial. _North American_, September, 1910.

CHAPTER IV

_THE COUNTRY MOTHER AND THE CHILDREN_

Greater attention needs to be given to the conservation of the farmer's wife. Although there are many other justifications for giving more thought to the care and the comfort of the country mother, the single fact of her very close relation to the children growing up in the home, and of her peculiar responsibilities as center of life there, warrant us in devoting a chapter to her interests. Recently, while pa.s.sing upon a country highway, the author met a funeral procession. A little inquiry revealed a pathetic situation, one that has been repeated thousands of times throughout the length and breadth of this fair country. The deceased was the wife of a young farmer, both of them under thirty-five years of age, hard working and ambitious for success, but thoughtless of their own health and comfort. Their farm was somewhat new and unimproved, there were hundreds of things to do other than the routine affairs of home keeping and crop raising. Worst of all, there was a mortgage to be lifted. After all reasonable improvements were made and the mortgage paid off, then, according to their plans, they were going to take matters easy. But the delicate cord of life suddenly broke in the case of the wife, and left the young husband as overseer of the farm and home and sole caretaker of three little children.

How can parents hope to produce a better crop of boys and girls in the farm communities so long as the typical farm wife is crushed into the earth with the over-weight of the burdens placed upon her? A few minutes' enumeration in this same rural neighborhood brought out the startling fact that in fully half of the homes a scene similar to the one just described had been enacted during the last score of years. That is to say, during the twenty years, fully one-half of the farm mothers living in that particular neighborhood had died before their time from one cause or another. In most instances the death occurred during what we usually speak of as the prime years of life, and at a time when the rose bloom should naturally be fresh upon the cheek. Fortunately, this serious condition, still present in some communities, is being gradually improved by the improved methods.

POOR CONDITIONS OF WOMEN

The report of the Country Life Commission makes the following suggestions:--

”The relief to farm women must come through a general elevation of country living. The women must have more help. In particular these matters may be mentioned: Development of a cooperative spirit in the home, simplification of the diet in many cases, the building of convenient and sanitary houses, providing running water in the house and also more mechanical help, good and convenient gardens, a less exclusive ideal of money getting on the part of the farmer, providing better means of communication, as telephones, roads, and reading circles, and developing of women's organizations. These and other agencies should relieve the woman of many of her manual burdens on the one hand and interest her in outside activities on the other. The farm woman should have sufficient free time and strength so that she may serve the community by partic.i.p.ating in its vital affairs.”