1911 may
be obtained for $1.50.

Statten.--Danger Lines in Using Boys (_American Youth_, June, 1912)
(.20).

XXI

THE RURAL SUNDAY SCHOOL

The problem of the rural Sunday school is its size and equipment. The
average number in the school is around eighty, and the building is
nearly always a single room. Some very small villages, near great
cities, and even some struggling mission Sunday schools in these cities
have to contend with the same problem. Some of this volume will apply to
the rural Sunday school, and some will not. It is the province of this
chapter to point out the parts that apply.

Everything that has to deal with the Organized Class or group is
applicable. The Organized Class is the unit and beginning of all
organization. The boy gang, or group, is common to both city and rural
district. There is no problem in either place, if there is no group of
boys. The Departmental groupings may not be feasible. Usually they are
not. There may not be enough groups of boys to form a club or Boy Scout
Troop or a chapter of a boy order. Generally this is true. And, after
all, it is a distinct gain to the Sunday school, as the grouping that is
made by force of compulsion is the Organized Class or group. The chapter
on the Organized Sunday School Bible Class will apply itself to the
rural school, wherever there is a half dozen boys and it is given a
chance.

The chapter on Bible Study will likewise fit into the rural situation.
No matter whether the boys be urban or rural, they demand Bible Study
that will fit into their religious, developing needs. Perhaps Bible
Study courses with rural application need to be arranged, and I am led
to believe that the illustrative material should be vastly different
from that used for city boys, and of a rural character. However, there
has been too much written and spoken of the difference between rural and
urban boys. The differences discovered by the writer seem to be all in
favor of the country boy--more wholesome surroundings, more quiet and
less nerve-destroying interests, and more time, because of fewer
commercial amusements to really discover things for themselves. The
average rural boy has read more and knows more about current events than
the city-bred lad. The country boy should not be provincialized by his
Bible Study, or anything else. He should be given as large a touch with
the world of men and letters as any one else. The illustrations used in
Lesson Helps,