Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1903-08-08
COUNTRY INDUSTRY.
UNIQUE PLAN OF A BAY STATE
MINISTER.
The Rev. DR.. Pressey's Church In
dustrial at Montague, Mass, Where
Country Life Is Made Interesting
and Profitable.

dustrial at Montague, Mass, Where
Country Life Is Made Interesting
and Profitable.
A cure for the disease called hill
town degeneration has been prescribed
by the present minister Of Unitarian
church in Massachusetts, writes Mary
Caroline Crawford In n current number
of the Outlook. He believes that the
cure is simply to get back to the COM
bination of agriculture and industry
from which the small towns have
lapsed. He Is trying, therefore, to
bring home to the consciousness Of
Massachusetts farmers that gospel
which Prince Kropotkin has SO thrill
ingly preached. Back to the land"
cries our prophet of Montague, Mass.
But he adds, LET us also spiritualize
the country and revive the ancient In
dustries." Always he desired 10 be
preacher, yet always he fen himself
close to the soil and was convinced that
the soil had a mission and message
for Americans. After leaving college,
therefore, he set himself right manful-
ly to the task of building up his coun-
try church industrial, a church that
touches all life and makes the dead
bones leap"
The visitor who, after infinite diff
Guilty in the matter Of train connec-
tlons, arrives at Montague finds an ex-
ceedingly pretty little village. There
are pretty white houses set back on
trim green lawns and two imposing in
dustries. A magazine is one Of the
most interesting Of Mr.. Pressey's In
dustries. 1t was started for the sake
Of voicing his socialistic views and pro-
viding work for his young people. 1t
records the progress Of the handicrafts,
exploits the ideals upon which New
Clairvaux Is founded and preserves In
its pages the invaluable hill town ira
ditions which have for years been fall
ing into the hands of its editor.
The little building behind the parson-
age in which the magazine Is published
is as curious and as interesting as Is
everything else about this movement.
The printing office and the composing
room are parts Of the parsonage itself,
and nearly every corner in the house
has desk devoted to some particular
department of the work. The printing
is extraordinarily we'll done, for Mr..
Pressey invested in a lot Of good type
and had the ingenuity and fortune to
connect his press with n little stream
that runs behind the house, thus secur-
ing water power enough to manipulate
his plant. Pamphlets, circulars, post
ers and letter heads are printed In large
numbers at this little establishment
as we'll as two magazines-Mr. Pres
sey's and one edited by DR.. Dresser OF
Boston.
Besides the printing, raffia basket
work, embroidery, lacemaking, cabinet
making and agriculture have been al
ready undertaken, some In the farms
of the neighborhood, with the parson-
age as headquarters, and others with
working centers at the New Clairvaux
farmhouse, less than a mile away. All
these industries are thriving, as much
because they are well executed as be-
cause they meet real needs.
What Is called the New Clairvaux ta-
bic, made entirely Of wood, without
nails or glue, is most interesting e4-
ample Of country cabinet makers
skill. Similarly the baskets and the
green and white embroidery produced
at New Clairvaux are excellent prod
ucts of handicraft.
When all Is said, however, Mr.. Pres
sey's work is emphatically hOmogene-
GUS. In spite of the fact that he seems
to be scattering his forces In many diff
ferent directions his scheme of life In
New Clairvaux Is simply preachers
answer to the specific needs of country
people In country places. He describes
his country publication, Country Time
and Tide, as "a magazine of more
profitable and interesting country life,
and he believes sincerely that what Is
needed In the country town is to make
life there cheerful and financially fea-
sible.
When he first went to Montague, he
observed that there were in the village
many boys who had nothing to do.
These he set at work picking berries
at 5 cents an hour. The girls he like
wise employed tending the baby,
sweeping the piazza and washing
dishes at cents an hour.
But the income Of a country parson
is too limited to warrant indefinite ex-
penditure at even so low as five cent
an hour rate; hence the purchase Of
type and the setting up Of the printing
office. The late mayor Of Thompson
island, the farm school in Boston har-
bor, is now the chief compositor Of this
ONCE, and he will soon help form the
junior country town, which is SO near
Mr.. Pressey's heart.