Union 226
Van Wert 227
Vinton 228
Warren 229
Washington 230
Wayne 231
Williams 232
Wood 233
Wyandot 234

INTRODUCTION

In 1913 Mr. Gill and I published, under the authority of the Federal
Council of the Churches of Christ in America, the results of an inquiry
into the condition of the country church in two typical counties--Windsor
County, Vermont, and Tompkins County, New York. The disclosure of the
conditions in these two counties and the conclusions to which they pointed
led to the creation of the Commission on Church and Country Life of the
Federal Council. Under the direction of the Commission, it was resolved to
extend the investigation of the country church to an entire State. For the
reasons given hereafter, the choice fell upon Ohio.

For the plan whose execution and results are here set forth, Mr. Gill and
I are jointly responsible. It was submitted to, and revised and approved
by, the Commission on Church and Country Life, in whose name and under
whose direct supervision it was carried out. The field work was done
entirely by Mr. Gill or under his immediate direction as Secretary of the
Commission, and he also worked up in the office the result of his work in
the field. As in the case of "The Country Church," I am responsible for
the final revision of the manuscript for the press. It is now published
with the approval of the Commission on Church and Country Life, and as a
report of its work.

In the introduction to "The Country Church," I said and I desire to
repeat,--"Mr. Gill's peculiar fitness for the work of this investigation
arises in part from his long and intimate personal acquaintance with the
problem of country life. For fifteen years he has been a country minister.
One of his tasks was to establish a church in a country community in
Vermont which had been without one for more than twenty years. When Mr.
Gill came to it, the moral and social laxity of the whole community was
flagrant. Disbelief in the existence of goodness appeared to be common,
public di