As a rule the roads are good. Travel in the late spring, summer, and fall is comparatively easy. In the winter it is more difficult, just as it is in any state. In some places the roads are graded ten, fifteen, and twenty miles out from a center. The prairie or grass road is frequently used to save time. It is not an uncommon occurrence for parties to drive twenty and thirty miles to attend a picnic, a play or a social function of some kind. Even in the winter and early spring the snow and “gumbo” do not stop them from attending social activities. Automobiles average from one to three to a section of land. Means of communication are constantly improving. Inasmuch as the homes in the country in the state are far apart, due to the present large acreage of the farms, the roads are an important factor in developing the social life in the country districts. [Illustration: Folk Dances, Parades, and Pageants Have Become an Integral Part of the Social Life of the State] Practically every community possesses some sort of a hall or a meeting place. In size they accommodate, so far as the seating arrangement is concerned, from one to six hundred persons. In the forty towns visited, four had halls with a seating capacity of less than one hundred and fifty, fifteen with two hundred, twelve with three hundred, five with four hundred and four with six hundred and over. The seats were not stationary, the halls being used for other purposes. For the most part they consisted of folding chairs, kitchen chairs, boxes, saw-horses, and barn floor planks. The stages were small and the scenery scarce. In several places one could stand on the stage, and touch the ceiling with his hands. The front curtains were usually roll curtains and covered with advertising. Very few stages had a set of scenery. Oil and acetylene lamps furnished the necessary light. Barn lanterns were not uncommon. Occasionally some enterprising community would have electricity. In one village hall electric light bulbs were set in large tomato cans which were cut down on one side. These served as footlights. Automobile head lights facing toward the stage quite frequently gave the necessary light. Plumbers’ candles were sometimes used. Dressing room facilities were generally lacking. Sometimes a ladder was placed at the back window near the stage and the characters in the play who found it necessary to change their make-up would climb out on the ladder and go down in the basement between acts and make the necessary adjustments. Screens, blankets, and sheets pinned across the back corners of the stage make a good impromptu stage dressing room. Several of the halls had excellent dining rooms in connection with them. All the buildings were used for many different community activities. Most of them lacked good architecture, simply because the agencies in education had never taken enough interest in planning community buildings for country districts.