bulk of character is team-work and
cooperation in play. Here is the school of obedience to others, of
self-sacrifice for a company and for a common end, of honor and
truthfulness, of the subordination of one to another, of courage, of
persistent devotion to a purpose, and of cooperation."[26]

_Morality and the Play Spirit_

The undeniable fact that rural morality is so closely dependent upon
wholesome recreation makes this subject a most vital one. Life in the
country ought to be sweeter, purer and morally stronger than life in the
city. The very fact that _incognito_ life is impossible in the country is
a great moral restraint. But the moral stamina of country people will
surely give way, under stress of constant toil, unless relieved by play
and its wholesome reactions. Investigate the sad stories of sexual
immorality so common among country young people and you will find one of
the ultimate causes to be the serious lack of wholesome recreation and
organized play. The recreation problem is fundamental in this matter of
rural morality and the sooner we face the facts the sooner we shall see a
cleaner village life.

It is not enough to encourage occasional socials and picnics, track
athletics and baseball games under church auspices, as a sort of _social
bait_, to attract and attach people to the church. The Y. M. C. A. has
taught us that these social and physical things are _essential in and of
themselves_. They cannot be neglected safely. In a sense they are moral
safety-valves, for releasing animal spirits which might be dangerous to
the community under pressure. Certainly some measure of play is needed to
keep the balance of sanity and efficiency in all human lives. Rural life,
made solitary and mechanical by modern farm machinery, is seriously
lacking in the play spirit and team-play practice. Here is its most
serious failure in cooperative living. Here its socialization must begin.

B. THE NEW COOPERATION IN COUNTRY COMMUNITIES

I. Social Cooperation.

_The Problem of Community Socialization_

The seriousness of the problem as described in the previous pages has not
been overstated, though dwellers in progressive and comfortable country
communities may think so. Let them be duly thankful if their social
environment is better than the average here described. Speaking from broad
experience of the tragic results of rural individualism, Mr. John R.
Boardman says, "There is a great social impulse in the co