We should never stop or attempt to stop the free
movement between the country and the city. It is good for both. The
children of today will be the farmers and farm home makers and the
business men and women of tomorrow. Are the children of the farmers
looking forward with interest to farming as a business, and life in the
country as attractive? The movement to the city in ever-increasing
numbers is the answer, but it is the answer to what has been and now is,
rather than to what is to be. A new day is dawning, in which the
brightest minds and the choicest spirits will again choose to live in
the open country and make there the ideal homes from which shall
continue to come the life and vigor of the nation. But if it is to be
so, the schools of the country must furnish real intelligent leadership
and the country church must come again to spiritual leadership. We must
all help to bring this about.

Minnesota has a plan to accomplish this, and it is working out even
better than we dared hope. Experience has shown that by consolidation or
the cooperation of several districts, good results may be secured at no
greater cost than the same type of school costs in town. The small
school of today is expensive because it is inefficient. The consolidated
school is giving the children of the country the education that they
need and is doing it better than it can be done anywhere else. The
consolidated school is becoming the rural community center. An important
feature which has been adopted by many of the consolidated districts is
the building of a home for the teachers in connection with the school.
This home may be made typical of what the modern home should be, not
expensive but substantial, artistic, convenient and sanitary. The
grounds should be suitably planted with trees, shrubs and flowers, and
there should be a garden. The school building is also made to fit the
needs of the community. The larger rooms may be used for entertainments,
farmers' club meetings, lectures, etc. There should be facilities for
testing milk and other agricultural products, examining soils, etc.
There should be a shop for wood and iron work, or at least a work bench
and an anvil. There should be a library of good reading and a place to
cook and bake and sew. There should be a typewriter, a piano or an
organ, and such other conveniences for teaching and social center work
as the community may wish and be able to secure, and, best of all,
teachers livi