but will adjust its bounties in a manner equitable to
the needs of both. Heretofore the rural schools have received very
little attention from organized educational authority."[27]

The effect of this neglect of the country school in the face of the
constructive statesmanship which has led in perfecting the city school
is seen in the exodus from the country community of very large numbers
of the most successful farmers. Evidences are abundant that this exodus
from the country community is primarily a quest of educational
advantage. Not in every case would the departing family confess that
they were seeking better schools: but it is probable that the majority
of them while giving a variety of primary reasons for moving would
assign the desire for education as the uniform secondary reason for
departing from the country community.

It is impossible for the country church to retain its best ministers.
Many reasons enter into this, but always at the top of the list is the
desire for better educational opportunities for the ministers' children.
The advice has become proverbial in theological seminaries, "Go to the
country for five years." It is said that in New England there are three
classes of country ministers and the first of them is the bright young
man who will not long be in the country.

The ethical, sometimes called the social factor in the community's life,
is no less essential. Organized work requires organized recreation.
Every community which has a systematic economy by which its residents
get their living is found to have a systematic though usually informal
and unrecognized provision for recreation. Somewhere in the bounds of
every working town in America is a playground. It is not the result of
"the playground movement," but of the play necessity in human nature.
The open lots where the town is not built up, the railroad yard, the
yard of a factory or the town common are used by common consent by the
young people and the working-people of the town as a playground.

The departure of many persons from country communities is due to the
lack of social life: and the fascination of the city for bright and
energetic young men and women is due to the variety of recreation and
interest which it provides to those who expect to work and are willing
to work. Regular work means regular play. This fact cannot be too well
learned by those who study the religious and moral life of modern men.
The need of play is as real a