The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1911-08-31
The Rural Uplift Fad.

Brethren.
. r, Dow, Belfast, Me-, in the New York
I Tribune Farmer.I
I, every walk of life we find men and
amen who assume a superiority over
.5r fellows that they do not possess
f.ct, 1t is such as these that are
nays fertile in theories as how best to
.r.Iop and bring up the so-called aver
- man to the plane where they imagine
? belongs
07ils the widespread interest in the
movement of rural life is good thing,
snaaks we'll for the heart and mind
the great American people, there is
Ia. If the subject that is doing harm
n tausing people to turn away in dis
- from the whole thing.
4. farmer l am interested in every
,,og which tends to build up the rural
orn1nities, or help the farmer to get
.,rs cut of life that is worth the getting,
,r nave no sympathy with, nor respect
those self-constituted teachers and re-
,rrers who assume all country jewellers,
,rr.zrs especially, to be irreligious,
gars-t. un- Christian and nom progress
> 1t is scarcely possible to take up
.r.a. magazine without finding some
i-,on to this condition by some writer
h. tas no personal knowledge of the
..rs Neither can one attend any kind
church gathering called to discuss
ays and means for building up the
rrsh without meeting with this same
r-,t IN some of the ministers there as
m. .ei. Usually it is dull repetition
a-at they may have read in the mag
ms or in some city daily; but it has
es Eject, and puts the farmers and
. r-ealhers both in false light.
] an not only interested in the bust
r3 social well-being OF. the farmer,
5. t1u also interested in the Christian
If the rural sections. In all that
E, said and written the farmer has
..7r ueen heard in his own defence.
this is true, and because no case
slrIy judged on one-sided evil
feel impelled to set before these
Rough the wide medium of the
Farmer, some facts as they real
is. an7ong the rural people of this
.- outset | admit that the country
s3ally has its bad element and
HaS its "sium' district; but this
s. is less and the Stun not so bad
ame things in the cities. The
ca of the rural church is a pic
Tn almost wholly from the mag
.. While some churches have been
cay and others are seldom used,
ntage of church membership
rcE attendance in the rural towns
hat of the cities; which goes
that. while new churches NAV
.-.A builded and old ones maintain
church membership and attend
- church have not grown with the .
If the cities.
there are many country towns
The church membership is as high .
per cent of the whole population,
r- not city in the whole country
2 As good showing can be made.
well supported church is criterion
Oh to judge the country town or
then the latter will be weighed in .
0a.ance and found wanting.
}.' This is not the right standard by
10 Judge. 1t is not even a fair
# the Christian life of the COM
To be churchman is one thing
Ia do the will of my Father" is
taer, and often a different thing al
rth-r.
vt N the rural towns, where intelli-
men hold daily communion with the
Of Nature, there is an unconscious
opment of the Christian graces that
Sc !nm felt in the rush of city life.
~, again, the present day farmer is a
p OF thought and action. The very
Ire If his business compels him to
tx snd as he thinks he grows; not a
ro~, bigoted, creedal growth, but a
"a. and deep development that makes
around Christian gentleman out of
Men who deal with the great art
inning and who study the great
of agriculture cannot be other
arlstlan men.
hose churchmen who are deploring
.a4ence (?) of the rural church let
ss1gest that the trouble, if there be
nay be found in the fact that the
ece has stood still, welded to its
while the farming populace have
ahead and grown away from it.
TIER, before you accuse the farmer
arch indifference look we'll to the
r't and see if it has met his needs!
ere are no classes of peoples any,
~ IN all the world that have more
tncal Christianity than the progress
sGccessful farmers. Most farmers
low progressive, and they are, on
Whole, as successful as other men.
# believe in the great, boundless,
ng creed of the fatherhood of God
the brotherhood of man, and they
mplify it by their lives. The good
he city comes largely from the rural
'c the crime of the city is not in
71ous to the rural place; the lawless-
S and vice of the nation find their
ding place in the city and their death
he country towns.
. Of this is true, and, if true, it fol-
S. then, that the real Christian life of
world is not in the rich city churches,
out under Gods blue sky, in the pure
pI the country on the farms.
be rural school problem is one diff
Of solution, as the conditions are
b that it is not possible to apply the
- lleas to all sections. Every rural
may be said to have school prob
If its own. Some years ago it was
'r TO have several years experience
a5 superintendence of the schools of .
'rmlng town. From that experience
armed that the more closely the schools
rHpt to the people the more efficient |
are. If the people can be kept per-
us interested in the school the school
.- safe.
f.. We are advancing all along the j
and as the years pass we may hope |
still more progress. Our whole