There can be no reasonable thought of holding all the boys on the farm. Many of them are best fitted by nature to go elsewhere and find suitable employment, but there is every good reason for preventing the great exodus of immature youths who run off to the cities, not knowing what they are to face and without any well-defined purpose. Yes, the great concerns of the towns and cities must continue to call many of the brainiest young men from the rural districts. In fact, the country may with every good reason be considered the proper breeding ground for the virile minds destined to control the great affairs of nation, state, and municipality. But every reasonable effort must be put forth to keep the boy in his country home until his character is relatively matured and his plans for a future career are fairly well defined. PURPOSES OF THE COUNTY Y.M.C.A. Doubtless the first chief purpose of the county association is that of building up the boy's character and finally perfecting his spiritual nature. But this high aim is not sought in the old-fashioned, direct manner. Instead, there is a studied effort to build up the boy gradually through the enlistment of his natural interests in matters that lie dormant in his home environment. The truly scientific method in this field is first concerned with providing means whereby the boy may work out his own spiritual salvation. Along with the farm labors, tedious and irksome to him when undertaken as exclusive requirements, the country boy is given an opportunity to take part in certain athletic and social exercises which appeal to his instincts and arouse the spontaneity from the depths of his own nature. In carrying on the country work, an attempt is made to approach the boy from the peculiar situations of his home environment. What specific readjustments are needed in his home life in respect to the amount of work required of him? What of the recreation he enjoys? The local society in which he moves? The home church and Sunday school? The temptations that may lie near about him? and so on. These and many other such inquiries are made with a view to dealing with the boy in an individual way and reestablishing his life for the better. HOW TO ORGANIZE A COUNTY ASSOCIATION Unless it may chance that, after a brief survey of the field, some person from the outside comes in to perfect the organization of the county association, any interested person within the limits of the county must make the start. Devotion to the cause, persistence, and unfailing enthusiasm are perhaps the best personal equipment for the local beginner of this new work. His first concern should be that of gathering a committee of men like himself from different parts of the county. Doubtless these will form themselves into a sort of brotherhood committee. After such temporary organization, the next important step is that of securing an able county leader. [Illustration: PLATE XVII.