The most effective preventive of dissipation is ample provision for wholesome recreation.  Various agencies in urban communities seek to supply this need, both for their own residents and for visitors from outside.  Men’s clubs, such as chambers of commerce, afford social and amusement advantages for the business men of the town, and for visiting farmers who formerly met only at the store or courthouse, in the saloon or on the street corner.  Public libraries, often with the cooperation of women’s clubs, provide “rest rooms,” arranged for the comfort and entertainment of visiting women, and afford means of profitable and enjoyable recreation for young people.  Town churches sometimes maintain social rooms, open during the week for similar purposes.  The Young Men’s and Young Women’s Christian Associations have performed a great service by providing entertainment and social life for young people.  One of the more recent developments is the “community center,” usually at the schoolhouse, where there are offered lectures and concerts, social entertainments, dances, games, and sports.  In some large cities such “recreation centers” are of the greatest value in the crowded districts.

OPPORTUNITIES AFFORDED BY THE CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL

Rural communities have suffered from a dearth of recreational facilities of their own, especially of a social type.  One of the most promising influences to supply this deficiency is the consolidated school, which makes provision for assembly halls, social gatherings, and recreation grounds for young and old alike.  An illustration of this is given in Chapter xix (p. 296).  Development of community recreation centers at consolidated rural schools is going on rapidly in many parts of the country.

Iowa affords a striking example of this.  In that state more than 2000 one-room country schools have been consolidated into something more than 300, and consolidation is still going on.  Some of these consolidated schools have five acres of land, where provision is made, not only for gardening and farming activities, but also for picnic grounds and for fields for athletic sports and contests.  The buildings contain assembly halls, gymnasiums, and kitchens where food is prepared for social entertainments as well as for school lunches and for the teaching of cooking.

NEED FOR LEADERSHIP

One of the chief obstacles to the development of rural community recreation has been the absence of leadership.  The consolidated school helps to remedy this.  Other agencies, however, are doing something to provide such leadership, among the most active of which is the county work department of the Young Men’s Christian Association, which has organized county-wide athletic associations and rural play festivals and field days in many localities.

KNOWING HOW TO USE OPPORTUNITIES