4. _Little property ownership._--While new, the county organization should guard against attempting to own and control any considerable amount of property or equipment. Not the material goods possessed, but the strength and force of the spiritual enthusiasm will have greatest value in carrying on the work. It will be found quite satisfactory in nearly every case to have the boys meet in some farm home, village club room, or country schoolhouse. And then, there is always danger of developing a Y.M.C.A. too exclusively as a business organization. There are many instances in the towns and cities where this is deplorably true. The best spirit of the work is submerged by the continuous hounding of the people in the skirmish for funds to keep going the over-heavy business machinery of the institution. There often develops, in such cases, a large body of men who regard the Y.M.C.A. as an organization of loafers and easy-going money spenders. Once such sentiment develops, it is desperately difficult to eradicate it. So the country Y.M.C.A. should preserve the semblance of humility, and that partly by getting along with almost no property or equipment other than what its own members may provide in a crude fashion and what may be necessary to furnish the office of the general secretary. HOW TO CONDUCT THE WORK One of the first steps in conducting the new work is that of making a survey of the entire county. The names, ages, and location of all the boys must be secured, together with some items respecting their present social and religious affiliations. In fact, the more personal items included in the first survey, the better. Some boys will at first look with disfavor upon the new movement, believing that it is merely another scheme to convert them to religion and get them into a church. Care must be taken to disabuse the boy's mind of this thought from the very beginning. Therefore, it may be well not to try to hustle him into a Bible-study class the first time he is invited out. While the main issue, namely, that of spiritual development of the boy, is not to be forgotten, he must nevertheless be led to this goal through the path of many very common instrumentalities. A Y.M.C.A. athletic meet would most probably prove a better opening number than a Bible-study class or merely a religious service. As the work proceeds, the occasions for a great variety of exercises and programs will present themselves. Among these perhaps there would be the following:--