Bismarck daily tribune., 1912-03-27
rREcREAn,oh FOR FARMERS

rREcREAnIok FOR FARMERS
North Dakota is again signally hon
ored by eastern papers. The New
York Evening Post contains the fol-
lowing editorial under the caption
Teaching Farmers To Play" the
inspiration for which was received
from some of the writings of Prof.
John M. Gillette, Of the sociological
department. of the University Of North
Dakota:
The common conception of country
life as all work and NO play Is one OF
those generalities that are established
rather than weakened by investdgar
tion. The life of the average farmer,
says Prof. John M. Gillette Of the Uni
versity of North Dakota, in the ''Coun'
try Life number of the Annals OF
tf1e American Academy of Political
and Social Science, rs a round OF
eating, working. sleeping. saving,
sDconomizing, living meagrely, recOg-
5nizng only the bare necessaries,
.skimping along with Inconvenience. y
Let such a man accumulate wealth,
and move into the city to enjoy it
and he becomes one of the most help
less of men. ''He still practices the
stern economies, lives in houses with
out modern conveniences, keeps the
old rag carpets. attends no theatres,
goes to no lectures unless they are
free, and acts as a man in a strange
world os as one with ! starved SOU"
The rural telephone, rural mail de-
livery, and increased use of machin-
cry have greatly altered conditions
for the better, but the farmer who
runs down to the station In his auto
mobile to meet his dinner guests from
the nearest city is as yet much often
er seen in cartoons than in life.
The result is that much of the re-
taxation which he manages to get is
artificial: it is apt ito be either s0li-
,tary or in surroundings that are not
of his making. In either case, it is
not only not what it should be, but
vastly different from that enjoyed by
the urban laborer. The solitary forms
Of his play, such as hunting and fish
ing. tend to diminish; while the other
sort, for which he resorts to the vii
lage or town within easiest reach, is
made up of moving picture shows,
saloons, billiard halls, and lodge-rooms.
The mere geographical fact that these
attractions are ON alien ground exerts
a subtle psychological influence upon
him. He feels himself, if not in a new
heaven, at least on new earth. and
he has consequent sense of release
from the checks and balances- of his
native heath. This disparity in loca,
ton between his work and his play
has another unfortunate effect in
making him dissatisfied with the
place where he is under the demands
. of the former, and drawing him to
ward the spot which he associates
with his brighter hours. This circum
stance alone is sufficient demonstra.
tion of the vital connection between
work and play, and of the need fol
the development of the latter in the
rural communities themselves. Their
dearth of social intercourse in all but
the must rudimentary ways is doubt
less connection with their lack ot
intellectual stimulus.
It may be seen that this view gives
scant credit to the cultural value oi
the informal gatherings in the store
the post Office, the railway station
or the one building that houses al
three. One of our traditions has been
the hard feaded tiller of the soil
hscening 5at the Saturday evening
assembly to the reading of q news
paper. and then engaging in homely
but pithy discussion Of the questions