le pamphlets and books have been published filled
with warnings and black with alarm. The inevitable result is that the
attention of the people has been focalized upon the manufacturing towns
and the large cities.

Now comes the Rev. Harlow S. Mills, with his study of the rural
population. With the wisdom made possible by twenty years of first-hand
knowledge he sets forth the influence of the country upon the large town
and city. He tells us that the country has furnished the leaders for the
people. It is in the country that the boy has his opportunity of brooding
and reading and reflecting, while in solitude he develops his own gift
and grows great. The Church has learned to depend upon the country for its
theological students, as well as for its best students of law and
medicine. But of late the country church has suffered grievously through
the pull of the city upon its best young men and women. The inevitable
result has been that as the city church has waxed the country church has
waned in wealth, numbers, and influence. Many things have occurred during
the past twenty years that are calculated to stir the note of fear, lest
the life and institutions of the republic, rooted in the country, should
slowly starve. One of the problems of the hour has been the rejuvenation
of the country Sunday-school and the country church.

Leaders of the past generation have struggled often in vain with this
problem. Twenty years ago, the Rev. Harlow S. Mills, a friend of my
boyhood, took a country church in northwestern Michigan, and started in to
develop the same community spirit among the people who lived in widely
separated school districts that the student finds developed in the wards
of a great city. The story of these twenty years is full of fascination to
all lovers of their fellow men and of the Christian Church. Mr. Mills has
made some important discoveries and established certain mother principles
that should be of invaluable service to the one half of our people living
in small towns and rural districts. I believe this author and lover of his
fellows has grown the good seed that ultimately will sow the continent
with bread.

NEWELL DWIGHT HILLIS.

INTRODUCTION

The rapid growth of our cities and towns during the last quarter of a
century has brought us face to face with a serious problem. The religious
and social conditions that have arisen give occasion for grave
apprehensions, and have been subjects of caref