A Mother's List of Books for Children. Catherine W. Arnold. A. C. McClurg & Co. Children's Rights. Kate Douglas Wiggin. Pages 69 ff. "What shall Children Read?" Houghton, Mifflin Company. Fingerposts of Children's Reading. Walter Taylor Field. McClurg & Co. Gives extensive lists. Books for Boys and Girls. Brooklyn Public Library, New York. A carefully selected list of 1700 titles, 200 of them being especially marked for their value. CHAPTER VII _THE RURAL CHURCH AND THE YOUNG PEOPLE_ There was never a greater demand for efficient leadership in the rural communities than there is to-day. The country has continued for many years past to become richer in farm products and equipment, but it has steadily grown poorer in social and spiritual values. In fact we have unconsciously acquired a distorted idea of values. Hogs are too high in proportion to boys. Beef cattle are absorbing too much interest in proportion to the time and money expended in perfecting the character of girls. It has long been the proud boast of the Middle Western states that they could feed the entire country. And we have continued so long in this way as now to regard big crops and the great abundance of farm animals and other such material possessions as ends in themselves. So it is high time that we ask ourselves what this material wealth is all for. Looked at from at least one high vantage point, it may be properly regarded as so much encumbrance unless we shall be able to convert it into a means to some worthy and spiritual purpose. DECADENCE OF RURAL LIFE The open country in the Middle Western states has for some time been the breeding place for sterling manhood and ideal womanhood, and the recruiting ground wherefrom have been drawn many men and women to undertake the management of the larger enterprises of the country. The enforced self denial and discipline of work; the continued practice of quiet reflection; the comparative freedom from the evil and degrading influences peculiar to much of the child life in the cities; and many other character-building experiences could be set down on the favorable side of rural child-rearing in the past. But this situation is rapidly changing. The ten-year period just closing has witnessed a decadence of country life, the rural population actually showing a decrease. Large numbers of the best families have moved to the cities and towns, and their places on the farm have been taken by irresponsible laborers and transient renters.