Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 292, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 December 1916 — WHERE WILL YOU AUTOMOBILE SUNDAY? [ARTICLE]

WHERE WILL YOU AUTOMOBILE SUNDAY?

Would It Be Interesting to Attend a Good, Live Sunday School or Hear a Sermon? Rural conditions in this county are fast changing. Good roads, the automobile, the telephone, free mail delivery, all have made life on the farm much different from what it was before these advantages were obtained. Consolidated schools are fast taking the place of the one-room schools. Departmental work can be arranged for the teachers and pupils. Teachers can be selected on the point of special fitness both regarding pupils and the subjects taught. The daily paper, the magazine, college, state and government bulletins, all give tjrthe farmers and his home most of the advantages of the inhabitants of the city. The country church with its adjunct, the Sunday school, does not seem to have benefitted from this general improvement. Many such churches have been abandoned. In such communities, where almost every farmer has an automobile, why not attend Sunday school or church or both, in the nearest town or city? If you will take the pains to investigate, you will find that our good friends, the Catholics, have a very large attendance each service from the members living in the rural districts. This is right and proper and they are to be commended for their faithfulness and loyalty to the church. The writer knows of many splendid families in which there are numbers of children who are not regular attendants at any religious service. While the parents may have at one time been members of some church, they are now not affiliated with any religious organization. The children in these families do not have the advantages' of a. good Bible school. To neglect this part of the child’s training is a serious defect. One that will be felt not only by the child but the community sooner or later. The value of religious instruction cannot be overestimated. It is as essential and as valuable as the secular or the physical. If we would have our boys «-nd girls grow to be full rounded complete men and women we must develop the head, the heart and the hand. , There is not a family in Jasper county living too far from a church or Sunday school to be unable to be a regular attendant. If there is a church in the rural district it should have the co-opera-tion of the people living in that community. But if there is no such opportunity, then it is the duty of every father and mother who have the proper conveyance to attend these services at the most convenient place, wherever it may be. The writer can remember when he was a boy that he was often taken to town barefooted and not as well dressed as the boys he would see in the town. Town children in times past have been known to make fun of the country child. This is not the case any more. The boy and girl from the rural districts is as well dressed and as well mannered aS the youth of the city. Go to the city school and look over the children, many of whom live in the country. If there is any difference at all it is in favor of the lad or lassie from outside the village. Let me ask you, my farmer friend, on what occasions do you bring your children to town? Is it to the band concert? That is mighty fine. To the picture show? If the show is all right there is no objection to that. But, the things that cause you to come to town are your points of interest. Shall that be entirely outside of the church and Bible school?