ers' Club, or Cooperative
Association, or Community Library Board, or a Village Board of Trade with
community ideals, they may well assume the right to take the first step
toward an ultimate union of all the community interests. If there is only
a single church in the place and it commands the respect and loyalty of
the people, it may well be the federating agency. Or the strongest church
can invite in the others and together they can make this movement a
community welfare proposition with a definitely religious stamp; working
through committees of a church federation in the interests of all the
people. Often this is best done by the Rural Young Men's Christian
Association, working in behalf of all the churches.

In short, whatever institution controls the greatest local influence, and
is most representative of the people, has the best right to take the lead
in socializing the community. Perhaps it may not be a religious body at
all. It may be a social club, or a village improvement society, or a civic
league, or a Rural Progress Association embodying modern rural ideals. If
it has the backing of the people, it is responsible for using its social
influence in the most effective way. For instance, in the prosperous
little rural community of Evergreen, Iowa, the popular and effective
socializing agency is "The Evergreen Sporting Association"! It unites all
the young people in the neighborhood, both married and unmarried, and for
some fifteen years has had a fine record for social efficiency. By its
elaborate and varied annual program of popular interests it has made life
in Evergreen wholesome, happy and worth while. The young people as a rule
are loyal to the place and stay on their prosperous farms instead of
losing themselves in the city.

_A Community Plan for Socialization_

Rural social life is simple and should be kept so. Elaborate organization
is never necessary. What we need is that "touch of human nature which
makes the whole world kin." We do not need another institution, but
possibly a social center and a working plan which can express and develop
the common humanhood. The place may be an up to date "Neighborhood House"
with rest room and reading room with its chimney corner; a place for tired
mothers and babies, and a meeting place for men of business; or it may be
just a room at the church or the school house or the public library,
easily accessible to all. Or the social spirit can be developed wholly
w