The subtle sarcasm "You may lead a boy to college but you cannot make him think" is quite needless in most cases. It would be truer to say you cannot stop his thinking. Increasingly, in the later years of college life, the thinking takes the direction of life planning, the discussion of a real life-mission. Not only in the so-called Christian colleges, but even in the State universities, which are fast becoming centers of real religious life and power, the best men and women are now planning their future according to what they believe to be the will of God for them. Many have caught the vision of the possibility of genuine consecration in any honorable life calling, making it a life of genuine service, which after all is life's greatest opportunity. For such young men and women the question simply is: What shall this service be and where shall it be rendered? The same problem of life investment is confronting the young men and women who are not in the colleges. Idealism is not at all confined to college halls. Wherever this book may find young men and women weighing seriously their great life question, may it help them to see the real opportunity offered them in the roomy fields of rural life and leadership. CHAPTER I THE RURAL PROBLEM CHAPTER I THE RURAL PROBLEM I. _The Problem Stated and Defined_ Definition and analysis. A classification of urban and rural communities. II. _City and Country_ How the growing city developed the problem. The surprising growth of rural America. A false and misleading comparison. III. _Rural Depletion and Rural Degeneracy_ The present extent of rural depletion. Losses in country towns. The need of qualitative analysis of the census. The question of degeneracy in city and country. Stages and symptoms of rural decadence. The Nam's Hollow case. A note of warning. IV. _The Urgency of the Problem_ A hunt for fundamental causes. The unfortunate urbanizing of rural life. Why country boys and girls leave the farm. The folly of exploiting the country boy. The city's dependence on the country. V. _A Challenge to Faith_ The Challenge of the Country CHAPTER I THE RURAL PROBLEM ITS DEVELOPMENT AND PRESENT URGENCY I. The Problem Stated and Defined. Early in the year 1912, some five hundred leading business and professional men of the cities of New York state met at a banquet, under the auspices of the Young Men's Christian Association. During the evening it was discovered that nine-tenths of these influential city leaders had come from country homes. They were born on farms in the open country or in rural villages of 2,500 population or less.