e school
grounds with shrubbery, trees and flowers, and in furnishing the rooms
with pictures and artistic decorations of real merit. Rural communities
are proverbially lacking in aesthetic taste, and this is the best method
conceivable for developing it. From a well-kept schoolyard, and
schoolrooms relieved of their bareness by copies of the great
masterpieces, there will radiate all through the township the spirit of
order and beauty which will bless the whole community.

_Rural Libraries and Literature_

The state of Massachusetts, where the first free public library was opened
long ago, now has such an institution in every town and city of the
Commonwealth. In most states, however, libraries in rural communities are
not common; but in many states traveling libraries are obtainable from the
state librarian which vastly broaden the mental outlook of the country
people. In these days of abundant books, it is easier to secure books than
it is to be sure that the books will get read. Rural reading circles and
literary clubs can serve their communities well by helping to popularize
the reading habit, and advising in the choice of books.

So vast has the country literature become in recent years, one can little
imagine the great educational service of the numerous farm journals and
magazines of country life. Rare is the farmer's home where none of them
enters. They have apparently great influence in broadening the horizons of
the farm home as well as teaching the people the newer ideals of our rural
civilization. So popular has the topic of rural life recently become, many
non-rural magazines frequently bring it before their readers, notably the
_World's Work_. As a magazine devoted to all the interests of the country
life movement, and frankly religious in its purpose, _Rural Manhood_ is
unique in its sphere. It is the organ of the Rural Young Men's Christian
Association and by its remarkably broad survey of rural social movements
has made itself indispensable to lovers of the country.

_Farmers' Institutes and Government Cooperation_

Space forbids even the enumeration of all the agencies and methods by
which the standards of rural education are being raised. Both state and
national governments, the state experiment stations and the department of
agriculture at Washington are constantly reporting the latest results of
agricultural science and investigation both in the form of printed
bulletins and public sessions