For the distinctly country church, situated at the cross-roads, a building that may serve as a gymnasium will be practically impossible unless a very remarkable enthusiasm is awakened among the boys and young men.  But in many a country village such an equipment is both necessary and well within the reach of a good organizer.  The country people have means and know how to work for what they really desire.  What they most lack is inspiration and leadership.

During that part of the open season when school is in session the country minister has an excellent opportunity to meet the boys, organize their play, and become a real factor in their lives.  In the country one-room school there will be found but few boys over fourteen years of age, but a great deal can be done with the younger boys in some such way as follows:  As school “lets out” in the afternoon the minister is on hand.  The boys have been under a woman teacher all day and are glad to meet a man who will lead them in vigorous play.  It may be baseball, football, trackwork with relay races, military drill, or the like—­all they need is one who knows how, who is a recognized leader, and who serves as an immediate court of appeal.  If they do not get more moral benefit and real equipment for life’s struggle in this hour and a half than they are likely to get from a day’s bookwork in the average one-room, all-grades, girl-directed country school, it must be because the minister is a sorry specimen.

The city minister takes his boys on outings to the country.  The country minister will bring his boys on “innings” to the city.  As they see him he is pre-eminently the apostle of that stirring, larger world.  What abilities may not be awakened, what horizons that now settle about the neighboring farm or village may not be gloriously lifted and broadened, what riches that printed page cannot convey may not be planted in the young mind by the pastor who introduces country boys to their first glimpse of great universities, gigantic industries, famous libraries, inspiring churches, and stately buildings of government?

One need not mention such possibilities as taking a group to the fair or the circus, or on expeditions for fishing, swimming, and hunting—­all of them easy roads to immortality in a boy’s affection.

Further, the minister is not only the apostle of that greater world but the exemplar of the highest culture.  He is to bring that culture to the country not only through his own person but by lectures on art and literature, so that the young may participate in the world’s refined and imperishable wealth.  This may mean illustrated lectures on art and the distribution of good prints which will gradually supplant the chromos and gaudy advertisements which often hold undisputed sway on the walls of the farmhouse.

It might also be helpful to our partly foreign rural population to have lectures on history such as will acquaint boys and others with the real heroes of various nations, preserve pride in the best national traditions, and ultimately develop a sane and sound patriotism among all our citizens.  The church building is not too sacred a place for an endeavor of this kind.  The ordinary stereopticon and the moving picture should not be disdained in so good a cause.  Boys are hero-worshipers, and history is full of heroes of first-rate religious significance.