put it mildly when he said, ." There is discontent in the country, and in places discouragement."

But instead of allowing these conditions to continue, it is gratifying to see that the intelligence of the Nation is addressing itself vigorously to the problem of checking this fatal draft on the Nation's vitality, of promoting contentment among rural dwellers, and of making country life not only bearable but positively attractive.

Many elements enter into the problem of securing a wider and better rural life. These have been admirably summed up for us in the report of Mr. Roosevelt's Country Life Commission issued last winter. To those who love country life and who are deeply interested in its problems it is encouraging to note that, as an aid to improving conditions, the telephone, the trolley, and the rural free delivery are operating favorably. The rural church. and school are beginning to feel a new life. Economic conditions are also improving, and farm lands and more valuable than ever before. apparently unconscious of the farmers are probably the most comfortable and prosperous class in the country to-day. They are organizing

crops are Although fact, the

everywhere, their most noted organization, the Grange, having more than a million members. A rural literature is rapidly developing, teeming with excellent books and magnificently edited periodicals. Most astonishing are the varied agencies which have begun to operate for the social uplift. The future is full of hope.

It is not the purpose of this article, however, to dwell on these phases of the subject, but merely to enter one small department of the great field and speak of the possible influence which a cultivation of the athletic and play life of the country children may have in promoting contentment and social efficiency, and perhaps lessening in some degree the drift cityward.

Every one has observed how the play spirit is sweeping over this country. The quest of recreation is not only legitimate, it is as essential as food, shelter, and religion. Mr. Joseph Lee, of Boston, father of the playground movement in this country, says: "The thing that most needs to be understood about play is, that it is not a luxury, but a necessity; it is not simply

something that a child likes to have, it is something that he must have if he is to grow up. It is more than

an essential part of his education; it is an essential part of the law of his growth, of the process by which he becomes a man at all." This is as true for the country child as for the city child.

The play movement is being wonderfully organized, and nothing is plainer than that the people of this country are at heart in sympathy with play, and that with proper enlightenment and leadership they will undertake seriously to provide adequate play facilities for their children. Besides this, we are beginning to catch the wider significance of play and to recognize that the playground is a social institution, just as much so as are the home, the church, and the school.

The cities in particular are catching this idea, nearly two hundred having made definite provision for the playground, while many others are awakening to the importance of the movement. And in country places also the same spirit is making itself felt, though not to the extent that prevails in the city, for country people as a rule have but little sympathy for organized play. In country places play grounds will have to come, if they come at all, through the generosity of some individual or club, or on the initiative of some organization like a powerful school, an institutional church, or the County Work Department of the Young Men's Christian Association. And they actually are coming.

Splendid illustrations of such benefactions in the country may already be noted. Thus, at Far Hills, New Jersey, a rural community of perhaps two hundred individuals, Mr. Grant B. Schley, of New York, has maintained for several years, entirely at his own expense, a beautiful and wellequipped athletic field. Sometimes as many as two or three thousand people gather from miles around to enjoy the organized athletic sports on these grounds and to find fresh interest and new inspiration in life.

Again, at Livingston Manor, a quiet community near New Brunswick, New Jersey, Mr. Watson Whittlesey has one of the completest playground equip ments to be found anywhere in this country, which he places freely at the disposal of the people of that section, his equipment being in the interest of pure play rather than of athletics, as in Mr.

Schley's grounds at Far Hills. But both styles of playground produce the same social effects; that is, they introduce fine community spirit, awaken civic consciousness and co-operation, and make for wholesouled companionship instead of individualism and isolation. It is a wise philanthropy indeed which induces such men to provide thus liberally for the enjoyment of their neighbors, and if their example were followed in thousands of rural communities throughout the land by men of wealth, the gain to the Nation through the ever-increasing number of cheerful, contented, industrious, patriotic citizens would be far greater than if mines of fabulous wealth were uncovered, or all the commerce of the world were brought under our flag.

But another significant manifestation of the play spirit is shown in the great Play Picnics or Festivals, which are becoming so popular. Festivals on a large scale for country children seem to have had their inception at New Paltz, New York, where the great Folk-Meet, mentioned at the beginning of this article, had its inception, and now promises to become a permanent institution. The origin was as follows: Under the auspices of the State Normal School at New Paltz a number of Country School Conferences had been held here and there at irregular intervals to discuss informally with the people of the neighorhood pertinent educational questions dealing with such subjects as manual training, domestic science, and elementary agriculture as applied to country schools. In these discussions it was natural that the athletic and play interests of the children should receive some attention, and soon an Athletic League for country children was organized and modeled somewhat after the wellknown Public Schools Athletic League of New York City.

The promoters of this League decided finally to assemble the clans in a great festival like the famous festal days of the long ago where old and young of the countryside gathered to pass the day in pleasant recreation and social intercourse. To this end the letter, which I have reprinted in its entirety to show how the propaganda of inspiration and instruction was carried on, was sent out.