ecreation. They
have in the forenoon games and contests, then a picnic dinner, followed by
a program of music and addresses. These gatherings promote neighborliness
and afford the farmers and their wives and children a little break in the
monotony of their toilsome lives.

The first winter a lecture course was organized, consisting of five or six
numbers, mostly by home talent. All these lectures were given before the
various clubs. The pastor gave an account of his travels in the Holy
Land. The principal of the Academy talked about "The Farm and the School."
A doctor from a neighboring town spoke about "Farm Sanitation," and an
expert horticulturist about "Better Orchards." A layman spoke about "Some
Legal Principles That Should be Generally Known." Much interest was taken
in these lectures, and the people turned out well to hear them. The next
winter the clubs arranged their own programs and carried on a lively and
interesting campaign. One of the clubs had a series of Special Topic
nights. One night was devoted to "The Pilgrims," with a varied and
interesting program. Another to "Abraham Lincoln," another to "Michigan,"
with a program full of information, historical, statistical, and
otherwise, about the state of which the community was a part. One of the
clubs organized and maintained an Old Fashioned Singing School under an
instructor from the village, that was a fair success. These neighborhood
clubs have proved to be very popular and very valuable, and it would seem
that they are well adapted to almost any country community, taking the
place of the old lyceums and literary societies of a former generation
that did so much to sharpen the wits, inform the minds, and increase the
friendliness of those who went before us.

2. In some of the neighborhoods where it has not yet been thought best to
organize clubs, some attention has been paid to this side of life and some
provision made for social diversions. During Thanksgiving week, festivals
were held in three different places that were very successful and
profitable. The description of one of them will be typical. Three
communities, East Joyfield, Demerley, and the South Chapel, united in
holding a festival in the Joyfield Town Hall on Thanksgiving Day.
Thorough preparations had been made. Various committees were appointed,
the teachers in the four school districts included in that territory
trained the children, a program of games and sports and contests was
arran