Women's Christian Association, the Boy Scouts, the Girl Scouts, the
Camp Fire Girls, and the Boys' and Girls' Clubs fostered by the
extension departments of the state agricultural colleges and the U. S.
Department of Agriculture, than by any other agencies. Each of these
organizations has a program of children's activities involving both
recreation and education, as well as a definite effort for character
building. They are invaluable allies of the home, the school, and the
church, for they are the boys' and girls' own organizations and meet
their desire for group activities. Just which one or how many of them
are needed in any one community is a local problem, and it is
impracticable to here attempt any evaluation of their particular
advantages. Suffice it to say that every rural community which can find
suitable leadership should have such an organization of boys or girls,
and will find the assistance of the state and national headquarters of
these movements of the greatest help in the development of a local
program of play and recreation.[64]

_The Church and Play._--We have already noted (page 133) a changing
attitude on the part of the rural church toward play and recreation.[65]
In the past it has too often been simply a negative condemnation of the
so-called "worldly amusements," with no effort to understand the normal
cravings of human nature which they satisfy or to furnish any
satisfactory substitute for them. It is true that socials of the older
classes in the Sunday school and of the young people's societies have
done much for the sociable life of the country, but very often they have
failed to interest those who would be most benefited by them. Recently,
however, church leaders are actively encouraging rural churches to
develop such programs of play and recreation as may be necessary to meet
the needs of their communities. The Sunday schools are organizing
baseball teams and baseball leagues, and are promoting "through-the-week"
activities of organized classes. A majority of the troops of Boy Scouts
are affiliated with churches, and scouting is becoming a recognized means
for the direction of the church's recreational work for boys.

Just how far the rural church should go in affording facilities for play
and recreation, is a local problem and it is difficult to generalize as
to the duty of the church in this field. If there is but one church in
the community, or there is a community church, and other agen