ess
most of the modern conveniences. The telephone, the daily mail, the
automobile, and other inventions are at hand, in the country as well as
in the city. The best literature of to-day and of all time is available.
Music and art are easily within reach. With these advantages any rural
family may have a happy home. This is more than most people in the
cities can have. More and more of our people should turn in the future
to this quiet but happy and ideal country life.

CHAPTER XIV

THE RURAL RENAISSANCE

=Darkest Before the Dawn.=--Prior to the present widespread discussion,
which it is hoped will lead to a rural renaissance, the condition and
the prospects of country life and the country school looked dark and
discouraging. Country life seemed to be passing into the shadow and the
storm. It seemed as if the country was being not only deserted but
forgotten. The urban trend, as we have seen, moved on apace. Farms were
being deserted or, if cultivated at all, were passing more and more into
the hands of renters. The owners were farming by proxy. This meant
decreased production and impoverished soil. It meant one-crop, or
small-grain farming; it meant a class of renters or tenants with only
temporary homes, and hence with only a partial interest. The inevitable
result would be an impoverished rural life and poor rural schools.
Without a realization of the seriousness of the situation and the trend
on the part of the people at large, all these conditions prevailed to a
greater or less extent. The people seemed unaware of the fact that rural
life was not keeping pace with the progress of the world around. In New
England whole districts were practically deserted, and her abandoned
farms told the tale. In Virginia and in most of the older states similar
conditions existed. The people migrated either to the cities or to the
newer and cheaper agricultural regions of the West.

=The Awakening.=--But the time came when the newer lands were not so
available and when social and economic pressure forced the whole problem
of rural life upon the attention of the nation. Difficulty in adjustment
to surroundings always constitutes a problem, and a problem always
arouses thought. When our adjustment is easy and successful it is
effected largely through habit; but when it is obstructed or thwarted,
thought and reason must come to the rescue. Investigation, comparison,
and reflection are then drafted for a solution. This is wh