II.Y.S. cOLuciE or C.U. New York State College of Agriculture At Cornell University Ithaca, N^ Y. <^ -i ■ Library Cornell university Library HD 1485.P5B8 The Grange masu^andttjeorangelecju^ [_ 3 1924 013 716 968 -" Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924013716968 THE FARMER'S BOOKSHELF Edited by KENYON L. BUTTERFISLD THE GRANGE MASTER AND THE GRANGE LECTURER BY JENNIE BUELL BBCRETART AND FAST LECTUBEB MICHIGAN STATE GRANGE NEW YORK HARCOURT, BRACE AND COMPANY 19^1 copraiQHT, 1921, by HARCOUBT, BBACB AND COMFANT, INC. TO THE MKMORY OF MT FAKENT8, BARBER GRINNELL BUELL AND HARRIETT COPLEY BUELL, WHOSE au&AI, COMMUNITY SERVICE HAS BEEH A UFE-LOMd INCENTIVE AND INSPIRATION EDITOE'S PEEFACE OoNTEAEY to occasional statements that appear in disr cussions of farmers' organizations, the Grange is not dead. Indeed, it has a larger membership than ever before in its history, barring the few years of phenom- enal growth nearly fifty years ago. The period of decline in Grange fortunes which followed this rapid expansion came to an end with the close of the last century, and for the past two decades there has been a steady increase in both local Granges and in member- ship. I know of no organization that gives a better lead^^ ship training for farmers and farmers' wives than does the Grange. Those officers in the " Subordinate " or local Grange known respectively as Master and Lec- turer occupy peculiar positions of real community leadership and responsibility. So while this book has a definite purpose to be of help to present and future incumbents of these particular offices, and to be of eidightenment and suggestion to the Grange member- ship as a whole, it is a book that may well be read by farmers everywhere; partly for what it teUs about this influential organization, and partly because of its sug- gestions concerning rural community advancement and leadership. The Grange Master mid the Grange Lecturer is written for the purpose of pointing out the scope of the vi PEBFACB work which the organization known as the Grange under- takes and to show how, by its very nature, it tends to cultivate and encourage the higher mental and social attributes of men and women who live on farms. It contains a brief sketch of the causes that prompted the forming of such an organization among and by farmers ; and it recounts some of the Grange's early his- tory as a basis for the later parts of the book which deal more specially with methods of developing the human material which a country neighborhood offers to a Grange. It is a close-at-hand account of how the Grange affords an ideal plan for thus sowing the seed, nurturing the growing crop and, finally, harvesting the yield of those human traits and talents which develop best under favorable encouragement. But it goes fur- ther than to depict the plan to those who have hitherto known little or nothing of the Grange; it attempts to put practical instructions and helps drawn from experi- ence into such form as to be a guide to those who may be elected officers of a Grange. The province of a Grange Master is set forth as a field of administrative opportunity of a high type, — one in which the right man, growing in his job, exerts an influence that may be far-reaching and of tremendous import. Grange Lecturers will find in this book a sym- pathetic statement of what confronts them when elected to this office; but, also, beside its obligations and diffi- culties, are placed the wide opportunities and rich per- sonal returns that wait upon zealous efforts. Program building is assumed to be something akin to a genuine profession. The author has made an effort to antici- PREFACE vii pate and answer all those questions that arise in the mind of a new Lecturer of a Subordinate Grange when he begins to make and conduct programs. The author of this book is better equipped than any ^other person in the entire country to write it. She was born and brought up on a farm and lives on a farm. Many years ago she became assistant to the editor of the Michigan State Grange paper and ever since has been a ready and delightful writer. Some years ago she published a little book called One Woman's Work for Farm Women which was an appreciative biography of and personal tribute to a remarkable rural leader — ^Mrs. Mary A. Mayo. Miss Buell, in 1890, was elected Secretary of the Michigan State Grange and served sixteen years. In 1908 she was elected Lecturer of Michigan State Grange and served six years until again elected Secretary. She has just been elected Sec- retary for the coming two years. For the past nine years she has been preparing two programs each month, with helps for Lecturers in conducting them, for The ' National Grange Monthly. Thus for over thirty-five years Miss Buell has been in closest personal touch with the actual working of the Grange in a representative agricultural state, and aU the time living close to the real problems of the real farmers. But she has also been a student of the problems which the Grange was set to solve and has never become absorbed in the mere machinery of organ- ization. Her philosophy of organized agriculture can be found in a recent address of hers — " We are looking on organizations today not for what they will do for viii PREFACE their members but for what they will do for community good. We measure them by what they are doing to build up community spirit and institutions." Kenton L. Buttebfieid FOEEWOED The Crrange Master and the Orange Lecturer has been written upon the request that I endeavor to show that the Grange is an organization admirably fitted for rural - leadership; and that it offers unexcelled opportunities for the practical training of individuals who desire to participate in the activities of their own country neigh- borhoods. It is apparent that the book may have two classes of readers, — ^those who know little or nothing of the Grange, and those who are actively engaged in its ranks. Therefore, in its preparation, the two-fold need has been kept in mind ; first, of strangers to the Grange, to whom I wish to bring an intimate glimpse of its aims and scope ; second, of Grange workers, in whom I seek to quicken appreciation of the ideals and attainments of their great organization. To the latter, in addition, are offered the suggestions concerning ideas and methods which thirty-six years of close association with the official conduct of the Grange have led me to deem of indispensable value. I have tried to pass on to other rural workers the really vital helps that have been so generously vouchsafed to me. Indeed, if the book pos- sesses any usefulness, it is due to the thousands of con- secrated farm leaders through whose serried ranks it has been my privilege to walk, filling my hands with flowers plucked from their rich experience and with the is X FOEEWOED fruits of their carefully wrought plans. These I here bring to the people who, in this transition time when we turn anxious and questioning eyes upon the future of farming, still stand at their rural posts, striving to realize their ideals amid changing country conditions. That the re-statement of these facts and suggestions may lead to some enlargement of the rural view, some deeper sense of the importance of its leadership, and some glimpse of the means by which country life may reach its maximum, — ^these are the hopes that have gone into the making of this little book. Much of the material used here has appeared in similar form in the Michigan State Grange Lecturer's Bulletin (1909-1913), the Michigan Farmer, the Bural New Yorker, and the Northwestern Farmer. Eor its concrete illustrations my thanks are due to Grange co- workers in many states, chief among whom I count my Michigan associates. For suggestion as to arrange- ment and for supervision of the manuscript I am in- debted to my sister, Bertha G. Buell, without whose encouragement and counsel the work could not have been undertaken. Jenwie Buell. Ann Abbob, MicmoAN, December 4, 1920 CONTENTS PART I. ORIGIN AND IDEALS OF THE GRANGE CHAPTER PAQB I. Beginxtings. A self-help association . 4 Scope and object of a Subordinate Grange . . 5 Early and later aims 7 II. DzFASTSIEIiTS OF GRAIiTGE WoBE. Financial 10 Legislative 13 Educational 18 Social 20 Tfte Orange feast 20 Other means of social growth ..... 22 Ritual a social help 22 t^Social leadership in the country .... 23 The Grange's crown 25 III. Extent or the Field. County, state, and national horizons .... 27 Summer rallies 29 The Grange and women 32 "City farmers" as Grange members .... 42 PART II. THE GRANGE MASTER I. The Mastek's Opportunities. The call for a vision 49 Grange leverage in community life .... 51 II. The Master as Commttnitt Leader. Translating his vision into actuality .... 59 III. The Master and His Co-woekees Organizing all forces for efficiency .... 62 Conferences of opcers 63 Enlisting young people 6* Placing responsibility 66 zi 2ii CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE IV. Th£ JMasteh and the Juveniles. A child shaU lead ......... 72 A constructive force 73 V. Details that Spell a Master's Success ob Failube. Good Grange habits 75 Bad Grange habits 77 Avoidance of ruts 81 Effective advertising 82 The personal element 81 Cultivation of all territory 85 A live wire 86 PART III. THE GRANGE LECTURER I. The Gkanoe Lectube Houb. A rural forum 93 Program principles 94 II. The Lectubeb. Sources of help 98 A distinct problem 100 Power of the Lecturer 100 A Lecturer's self-examination 101 III. Methods iir Lectube AVobk. Records 104 Note books 104 Printed helps 105 Acquaintance with human material .... 106 Program building 108 Features of a balanced program .... 109 Music Ill Recitations and readings 112 Dramatization 113 Choice of participants 114 Publicity 116 What is Orange news? 117 A Model Orange Report 118 Printed programs 120 Conducting the program 122 CONTENTS xiii CHAFTBB FAGB Encouragement of discusaion 122 Brother Burritt'a gold mine 123 Use of objects, exhibits, etc 127 Art of questioning . . i 128 Sidelights on lecture hour methods .... 130 Advice of a National Master 131 A call to service 182 Thankful Lecturers 184 The play spirit and rural recreation . . . 135 Wheels within wheels 137 The "group plan" of study 189 Tie the ends 1*2 IV. TRAixnra of Lectubebs. Uniform program topics 149 Classes in rural leadership 152 Lecturers' conferences 133 v. FiiTAi. Aims in Lecture Wohk. Public speaking not all of Grange education . . 169 To reach the "last man" on every farm . . . 170 Training for character 171 "VL The Lecthbee's Rewabd 174 Index ■ 1'"'' PAET I ORIGIN AND IDEALS OF TEE GRANGE A PRAYER FOR A COUNTRY COMMUNITY " Our Father, we invoke Thy blessing on every member of this community. We thank Thee for the opportunities for healthful work and simple living which life in the country affords us. Help us to take full advantage of them. Grant that we may appreciate the privilege we enjoy in living and working in the midst of the natural beauties with which Thou hast filled the earth. May our sense of this beauty not be dulled by use, nor our work become a monotonous, soul-deadening round, but may our beautiful surroundings be to us new every morning and fresh every evening. Give to the farmers of this country a realizing sense of the blessings they enjoy in being masters of themselves in their daily labor. Give them, too, breadth of mind to realize the basic importance of the service they perform for Thy great family of humanity and to seek ever new and better methods of work, that they may make their service of the greatest benefit. " Save the women of the country from the physical strain of overwork, and from the nervous strain of loneliness and isola- tion. Put into the hearts of the men of their families a willing- ness to lighten their daily burden of toil by the supply of labor- saving conveniences and by thoughtful consideration. " We thank Thee for the opportunities for healthful growth that country life brings to children. Give parents wisdom to see to it that their children enjoy these benefits to the full. While they gain the training that comes from the opportunity to do their part in the work of the family, let them not use up strength needed for their growth in work too heavy for them. Give the community intelligence to improve their educational facilities and to provide the means of wholesome recreation. Preserve us all from the narrowness and selfishness of spirit that isolation breeds, and help us each to do our part in strengthening the social spirit and life of this community through church and school and all other means at our disposal." — Amerioom Magatsine. CHAPTEE I BEGINNINGS Immediately after the close of the civil war, Presi- dent Johnson sent Oliver H. Kelley, a Middle West farmer, into the South to ascertain exact conditions of agriculture, v?ith a view to giving government assist- ance in rebuilding that war-torn section. The enduring result of this tour was that Mr. Kelley founded, in Decemher, 1867, a fraternal and educational association of men and women directly connected with the farm. The idea of such an organization came to him when h© saw how their isolation handicapped the southern plant- ers in the solution of the problems thrust upon them, by the great conflict through which they had just passed. He realized also that his ovra neighbor farmers in the North had little acquaintance with those of the same calling in other states of the union, although their needs, educational and social as well as economic, were similar. He became convinced that the paramount necessity everywhere was that people on farms should come to know one another better. They must become acquainted and establish mutual confidence before they could advance very fast or very far. Mr. Kelley wrote of his conviction to his niece, Miss Carrie A. Hall of Boston, and together they laid the first plans for a farmers' fraternity. It was Miss Hall 3 4 OEIGIN AND IDEALS OP THE GEANGE who first proposed that women be admitted to the new association on an equality with men. To her, on this account, a vast number of country women owe the im- measurable benefits that have since accrued to them through her suggestion. Mr. Kelley and Miss Hall early began to associate with themselves others who proved to be in sympathy with the idea and who, like them, were willing to give time and thought to the development of the new plan. The outcome was The Patrons of Husbandry, or The Grange as it is better known, a farmers' organiza- tion which for fifty-three years has successfully ridden tlie recurring waves of difficulties and prosperity. Occasionally the Grange movement is spoken of as one which long ago passed its active stage; but, quite tte contrary, it has an established place and a recogni- tion in the affairs of most states, and in the nation it is a permanent and constructive force. Today the National Grange is the oldest and best known of farmers' organi- zations. A SELF-HELP ASSOCIATION As a whole the Grange is a grouping by, of, and for farmers themselves. The local units, known as Sub- ordinate Granges, are situated in rural neighborhoods; they survive mainly by their own initiative or fall on account of their own inertia. Their representatives form a State Grange in each of thirty-three states, and their state representatives, in turn, comprise the Na- tional Grange. There are, also, in many localities, county-wide organizations which are known as Pomona BEGINNINGS 5 Granges. In this book the Subordinate Grange is chiefly dealt with, as upon it rests the superstructure of the organization. No association can get closer to farm folks and to genuine country-life problems than do these small and scattered groups. Their total membership is approximately a million persons. Isolated, scattered, and small the local Granges may be, but power is inherent in them because each is organized like all the others, and bonds of regular dues and reports and common interests tie them together into larger bodies. That this is a real power is shown by a statement once made to a Grange worker by a Con- gressman from a Middle West district. Said this politi- cal representative : " Do not think that a Congressman ever forgets any least Grange in his district. Even if it is not very active, he remembers where it is located and knows that it is organized to act whenever occasion seems to warrant action." The Subordinate Grange, therefore, may well be considered as a means ready to be used in behalf of a country community in whatever direction its members may elect. SCOPE AND OBJECTS OF A SUBORDINATE GRANGE The deputy who sets up a Grange and leaves it with no program, of action has brought a still-born infant into the world. Yery much like a baby, indeed, the young Grange must depend upon activity to gain size, vigor, and influence. The youngster kicks and throws his arms and legs about because his Creator designed that so babies should grow. The inactive Grange degener- ates and dies; the active organization develops bulging 6 ORIGIN AND IDEALS OF THE GRANGE muscles and ruddy color, — its abounding health ex- pressing itself in action, and yet more action. But how make a Grange able to take its full place in a neighborhood ? When you ask that question many voices answer and the many-sidedness of the association appears. V One says : " Teach us. Have farm discussions ; we need to learn the danger of soil exhaustion and how to avoid it. I want the Grange to give me some of the education the schools failed to offer me in regard to my farm and crops. I want my boys to get what I missed." [ Another says : " Help the farmer financially. If the Grange doesn't do this, it will be junked for some or- ganization that will." I Another voice: "Have good times; social evenings; lots to eat and loads of fun, but no dry, tedious dis- cussions." ■>| Another — a woman — says: "Let us talk over what we read, exchange choice ideas of our own, recite beau- tiful poems, and help one another to bear the burdens of life more bravely. "* " Bring household helps, tell us how and what to cook with conservation recipes, and, most of aU, teach us how to train our children. ■"^ " Pass resolutions demanding better l^slation, de- nounce hydra-headed monopolies, and defeat unscrupu- lous schemes of a giant money octopus." -^And finally a quiet voice speaks: " Save the children; teach them, make them feel that the Grange is a place where they belong and have happy times. If this had been started as a leading Grange work fifty years ago, BEGINNINGS 7 we would now have an irresistible anny of members." Thus its friends set forth that for which they would have the Grange stand. Not one of them is entirely right, neither is any wholly wrong. For the Grange must meet the needs of everyone in the rural community — old and young, without distinction of race, color, or sex. The Apostle Paul said something about becoming " all things to all men," but the Grange must go further than Paul and be all things not only to all its men, but to all its women and children as well. Its plan of campaign must be very inclusive; its scheme of work must be exceedingly intensive. Otherwise somebody wiU lose enthusiasm and fall out. BASLY AISTD lATEB AIMS Casual thought fails to grasp a significant fact in the early history of the Grange ; the founders of the Order at first planned a farmers' fraternal organization for social and educational purposes only. It was not until they attempted to put their scheme into actual practice in farm districts that they added financial and legisla- tive features. When they tried to organize Granges in the Middle West, the common folks demanded an organization to relieve them from extortionate treat- ment by the grain elevators, railroads, middle men, and I politicians who represented every interest except that of the farm. The Grange fathers were compelled to heed this demand. Great results followed, both through legislative activity and through co-operative enterprises on the part of these first-organized farmers. But fail- ures came, the Grange relaxed its close study and ardent 8 OEIGIN" AND IDEALS OF THE GRANGE championship of economic reforms. In consequence, the evils of distribution and the distorted use of natural resources still persist. More than that, in present times the swollen profits of food packers, crop distributors, and their big business allies challenge the outraged sense of organized farmers everywhere. There never was a time when commercial interests have so violently hurled down the economic gauntlet and so openly dared farm organizations to meet the issue as now. By this token rural America has imperative need to study, to discuss, and to act along these lines in behalf of all farmers. Any constructive measures that will put a Orange into its place of possible power must include legislation and co-operation. These must be made the foundation for its social and educational work. CHAPTEE n DBPAETMENTS OF GRANGE WOEK The general efforts of the Grange fall into four broad groups as already indicated, — namely, the financial, legislative, educational, and social ; these together focus their energies upon the development of a better and higher manhood and womanhood in more comfortable and attractive farm homes of the land. The co- operative, or what we are prone to think of as the purely financial feature, serves as a foundation for the others — legislative, educational, and social. View these as an inverted collapsible cup, and it will be seen that the social, when pushed down to a level with the other features, is in the center of all. This is where social life belongs, at the center of the Grange meeting, per- meating every activity of the other departments. No officer can do his most effective work until he gets this four-fold vision of the Grange plan — ^his working pat- tern. Undertake to build upon any one feature alone, and it fails as a Grange proposition. For this reason. Grange principles and organization offer the machinery for matchless constructive possibilities in community building. Once the fundamentals of Grange principles and history are fixed in mind, the next steps consist of detail work, keeping the pattern ever in view. 9 10 OEIGIN AND IDEALS OF THE GRANGE PINANCIAL The federal government has found that it pays well to spend annually thousands of dollars to hold schools of agriculture and fanners' institutes, conducted by trained men in scattered neighborhoods over broad areas. Good as this is, that amount can suffice to pro- vide such teaching in a single community for only one, two, or three days out of twelve months. To the man ignorant of fanning this is a " short course in agri- culture " in very truth. At this point in his experience he is fortunate if the Grange steps to his side and says : " Come with us. We are all learners, too, in things and ways of the farm. Meet with us and we will talk together of how to choose the best seed ; how to^ultivate our soil, whether much or little, deep or shallow, and how to feed it so that it will produce the best possible crops ; we will consider how much milk and butter a cow should produce to pay for her keep, and how to select and care for her to make her do it; we will compare notes on our successes and failures along all these lines in this very neighborhood, and thus advance faster to- gether than separately." The business side of the Grangie has too long been looked upon solely as that repres^ted by the savings made on buying twine, fencing, coal, and groceries, and by securing cheaper insurance. It is true that these savings are part of business co-operation, and that this feature plays an important part in the organization of farmers for mutual protection; but it is also true that the Grange does a better turn for any man when it DEPAETMENTS OF GEANGE WOEK 11 teaches him how to master his farm operations so as to know how much loss or gain he sustains on each crop or herd or flock. Until he knows these things and com- bines with other farmers to distribute his products at a reasonable profit above their cost, he is at the mercy of every manipulator of trade who pleases to plot against him. To lead farmers to appreciate and act upon such knowledge as this is a very practical sort of financial co- operation. Through its educational features the Grange strives to make its members as familiar with its business of farm and home management as the banker and miUer are with theirs. " There are very few of us farmers who know what our products cost. How can we know what to ask for them ? " was the exclamation of a young man at a farm- ers' institute. In discussing the matter later, an older man said, " I keep accurate account of a field when I rent land from another man, but I don't do so with my own land. I treat my neighbor better than I do my- self ! " Still another, who is a prosperous, successful tiller of the soil, made this comment in reply: " I "keep an account of every crop I grow as particularly as if I were dealing with you or any other man. I charge it up with every expense of rent, of preparing the ground, fertilizing, sowing, cultivating, harvesting, and market- ing; then I credit it with all the crop is worth to me in every way. By doing this I know just how I stand in regard to everything I grow." These are the special lines of improvement that are being discussed in many Granges. Eecent experiences with price-fixing boards and governmental regulations pertaining to prices of 12 OEIGIN AND IDEALS OF THE GEANGE farm products have forced the issue, and shortly farm- ers will know their costs of production as they now know their fertility formulas, their balanced ration tables, and other special phases of their work. Much of the investigation necessary to this end is being conducted under supervision of the Grange. What happens when a member of a Subordinate Grange keeps strict account of overhead expenses in fitting a field for a crop, or in raising a bushel of grain, or a hog, or a colt? I^aturally he is apt to tell of his experiences at some meeting of the Grange. I remem- ber what an absorbing interest prevailed in a certain Grange meeting when one of the best dairymen of that neighborhood gave a practical talk on how he made his herd pay a good profit. The interest was not because of fine words, nor because he was talking on a fancy sub- ject ; but the members, one and all, listened because he gave the figures at every point as to what each cow cost, what was fed her, and what it cost to raise or buy her feed ; how many pounds of milk she gave and for how many months in the year ; and what her milk and butter sold' for, also how much he considered she had con- tributed to his farm in fertilizer. This was a plain topic, handled by a plain man — just the common, every- day sort — but the uncommon thing was that he hnew that he knew whether his cows paid him more than they cost him. Whatever he said upon his subject became valuable to every other keeper of a cow because of that fact. Men who know accurately about their business are not standing upon every four corners handing out these facts, neither are they sitting on boxe& in grocery DEPAETMENTS OF GEANGB WOEK 13 stores waiting for listeners. They are not seeking notoriety but, under such circumstances as the Grange offers, they are glad to exchange experiences and facts with those who are engaged along the same lines. At the same meeting the cow-man's wife talked about her flock of hens. She, too, had her figures with her. She knew how many hens she started the year with, how many eggs they had laid, how many chickens were hatched, and how many were raised; how much their feed had cost and what their products had sold for. Moreover, she could give definite results that had come from culling out the non-layers. She told of her suc- cess and failure with incubators and brooders and gave experiences with sitting hens. She compared the value of different feeds for hens and told why one was better than another. She related the results obtained from the use of electric lights in her hen house. Even if you had been afraid of feathers you would have listened to that tale of hens, for the woman knew that she knew what she was talking about. And she did not hesitate to tell what she and her hens had done, because she was in the Grange among members of her neighborhood family. LEGISLATIVE " Where does your Grange stand on this or that pub- lic question ? " is an inquiry that members of active Granges are accustomed to hear. It is an entirely natu- ral one, since about the first thing a Grange does after it has been organized is to seek to influence legislation or public opinion in one way or another. The organiz- 14 OEIGIN AND IDEALS OF THE GEAISTGE ing of Granges has been based largely on the fact that farmers formerly had little voice in deciding proposi- tions which," when laws, they were later expected to obey. This fact must continue to be fundamental in the spread of the Grange. The impulse of the Grange to make itself felt in public affairs is one of the finest traits of the organization. It does not matter whether the attempt is to influence affairs of the nation, state, county, township, or school district — it is a praiseworthy and splendid thing to do. The judgment of a half dozen men and women, summed up after free discussion, is apt to be less biased than that of one man alone. Fur- ther discussion in larger circles in time brings still larger views, and the consequent action is correspond- ingly more valuable. "Not can a Grange hide its light under a bushel in arriving at its opinions. It follows that, as a Grange meets together month after month and affairs of general concern come before it, the neighborhood, the county, or the state is led to look upon the Grange as its com- munity thinker and neighborhood intelligence. So it is, or should be; the Grange is an influential factor in com- munity affairs wherever it is really grasping its oppor- tunities. In some sections it is a much stronger force than in others, for it can be abused like any other power. On every hand is evidence of the part the Grange is taking in public movements. It is interesting and profitable to trace backward to their sources some meas- ures that are now accepted as both logical and sane and as a matter of course in rural affairs. Surprisingly often it wiU be found that these present benefits had DEPAKTMENTS OF GRANGE WORK 15 their inception in some early National Grange session. Following their introduction in that body they were dis- cussed in thousands of local and county Granges until rural opinion was sufficiently developed to demand their enactment into law. This process, going on for more than a half century, has materially changed not only public sentiment in regard to rural needs but specific legislation as well. These results vindicate the emphasis placed on the Grange platform where men and women have debated almost every conceivable question relating to farm people and thereby paved the way to scores of improvements in country living. The reforms urged by the Grange have included among them creation of a Cabinet position for Agriculture, amendment of the patent laws so as to protect innocent purchasers, the Hatch agricultural experiment act providing for ex- tension and demonstration work by the Agricultural Colleges, furnishing the weather-signal service to farm- ers, election of United States senators by popular vote, ballot reforms, corrupt practice laws, the famous " Granger railway laws," rural mail delivery, postal savings banks, parcel post, temperance, woman's suf- frage, and teaching agriculture in schools. This last mentioned subject is one of the most notable of which the early Grange was an active advocate. Prof. T. 0. Atkeson, in his Semi-Centennial History of the Patrons of Husbandry, says of it: There has been some controversy over the question of the beginning of the agitation for teaching agriculture in the public schools, which is now so generally adopted. 16 OKIGIN AND IDEALS OF THE GEANGB Secretary Kelley had recommended this idea one year be- fore, but the first specific action taken by the National Grange was the adoption of a resolution on November 39, 1878, offered by Mr. Harwell of Tennessee, demanding the teaching of elementary agriculture in the public schools. We have no record of any public action upon this subject previous to this time, thus once more vindicating the Grange's claim to leadership. We need not consider national or state questions alone to see where the Grange is playing its part with effect and where it still has room for tremendous influ- ence. To call attention to the frequency with which local school issues appear upon Grange programs suf- fices to illustrate this point. School matters should be discussed in Grange sessions even oftener than they are. Where better, when a Grange exists in a neighborhood, can patrons of a school get together and talk over the problems that so closely affect the lives of their chil- dren ? Here is common ground for two, three, or a score of people, for there is scarcely a member of any Grange who is not interested in the school life of a little one. For years the cry has gone up that rural schools do not fit boys and girls for contented and successful lives in the country. Great need is there that every rural or- ganization should study and discuss the country school problem until a satisfactory solution is found. A single chick of a child is as dear and worth as much to educate if he is the only one in a district, as if he belonged to the old woman who lived in a shoe. Many scores of communities have in recent years felt the stimulating effect of Grange influence thrown DEPAETMENTS OF GEANGE WOEK 17 into contests against the open saloon; This was a neigh- borhood work that touched every member in a more or less personal way. The Grange is composed of a home- loving people; recalling this, one is not surprised to find that it has been a strong :£orce in the suppression of the liquor traffic. Every Grange that sought thus to help its community to higher standards of living had back of it the unequivocal position of State and National Granges upon the great subject of temperance. A typi- cal method of procedure was that pursued by the Pomona Grange of Lenawee County, Michigan. Located in the most densely populated and richest agricultural region of the state, this Pomona asked each of its thirty-four Subordinate Granges to devote one meeting before elec- tion to a debate upon the question : " Resolved, that it is better and cleaner to raise our boys and girls in a dry county than in a wet one." Speakers were ofEered by the county Grange in case a Subordinate ' Grange desired it. This was putting into home neighborhoods organized effort along a line of moral legislation, and the Grange was a fit instrument at hand. One more instance will serve to illustrate Grange in- fluence in community affairs. In a certain county there was a project before the voters to repair the county house. At a meeting of the county Grange the scheme was scoffed at as being too preposterous to consider at aU; at least the estimate of the amount necessary to make needed repairs was deemed extravagant. But be- fore the discussion was quite closed, someone suggested that a committee be sent to investigate for the Grange. The result was that the committee brought in a verdict 18 OEIGIN AND IDEALS OF THE GRANGE that too little money, rather than too much, had been proposed. The adoption of that report by this county organization of farmer tax-payers carried suflBcient weight with other voters to lead to an increase in the amount raised. Besides showing the cautiousness with which the Grange conmionly indorses a proposition — especially one which does not originate within its own ranks — there is another thing to notice in this circum- stance : the Grange has grown to a point where it pf ten stops to look at both sides of a question before rendering its verdict. EDUCATIONAI, The " lecture hour " in a Grange meeting is the term applied to the time devoted to the program. The lecture hour is, indeed, the pearl of great price in the Grange movement. No other farm organization has under- taken to make so much of its educational department by means of regular and insistent exercise of home talent. The written law of the Order is to the effect that every Grange must have a program at every meet- ing, yet it seems to be, rather, an unwritten sense of obligation pervading the strongest Granges which causes their members to look upon " taking part in the pro- gram" as a moral responsibility not to be lightly shirked. And this sense of compulsion to maintain the educa- tional feature has, happily, been impressed upon thou- sands of Subordinate Granges. Whatever other stipula- tion of Grange procedure they may pass over lightly, they do not omit or slight their lecture hour. In addi- tion to features for entertainment the Grange virtually DEPARTMENTS OF GEANGE WORK 19 tecomes an open forum. No problem in the experience of the members is debarred if they desire light and help upon it. As indicated above, attention is given to special public questions with an eye to legislation affecting the economic or moral conditions among rural people. The effect on individual members of such constant ob- servance of the lecture hour is one of almost magical transformation in many people who have come under its influence. Set apart in isolated families, farm men and women lacked the habit of expressing themselves. For want of occasion or incentive to impart their opinions to others, they had become sluggish. There was little or no motive to stretch and to grow mentally. The Grange, with its program hour twice each month, came into the routine of such lives and literally remade them through its inducement to think, to talk, and to put into action the decisions which grew out of thinking and talking together. There are thousands of men and women who joined the Grange in early youth, and who now, though grown aged and feeble, still attend the meetings in the spirit of students at college, — open-minded and eager to par- ticipate in its intellectual activities. Such members justify the claim that the Grange is clearly entitled to rank among educational institutions. It is, in fact, a school out of school, which has no limited courses, no graduation days. One of these men and women, who for more than fifty years "went to school" in the Grange, was fond of quoting : " Man is a perpetual be- coming," and to illustrate the statement by citing what 20 OEIGIN" AND IDEALS OF THE GEANGB the Grange lecture hour had done for many a raw, diffi- dent, and tongue-tied farm man. There is a saying of the seer, Swedenborg, to the effect that every individual receives good in proportion as he loves the community. In the light of this saying, a member of the Grange who seeks only his own develop- ment and training stops far short of its possible service to him. If, however, he comes to an appreciation of his responsibility to life, he aligns himself to the larger objects of the Grange. He has found an avenue to rural life of the best kind. Experienced observers note that, as a rule, individuals who do not sense the higher good of the community soon allow their membership in the Grange to lapse. SOCIAL Above all, the Grange is a social magnet for hard- working, oft-times discouraged country people. These have the right to look forward to its meetings, with eager- ness, confident that it will release their tension and offer a bracer for fresh courage. Hearty greetings, cordial hand-shakes, sincere inquiry after one another's difficulties, rejoicing over successes, jolly and inspiring songs, light, warmth, and the uplift that comes from the knowledge that they are living in their best selves — these form the intangible, all-powerful leverage that pries a community out of the mire of the commonplace and lifts it toward that real democracy of which we dream. . X/ The Grange feast. — The " Grange feast," a part of the initiatory exercises, constituted the first formal in- DEPARTMENTS OP GRANGE WORK 21 troduction of social features into the Grange program. The feast is sometimes said to he the leading attraction of the organization. And why should not the dinner he an alluring occasion, since it furnishes unrivaled opportunity for acquaintance ? Social instincts lead all to seek the pleasant associations of the dining table with eagerness. It was partly because of this fact that the feast was made the closing feature of initiation into Grange membership. Yet it is not thrown in merely to attract people through their appetites. The Grange assembled in due form represents the farm home — in its manual work, its pastimes, and its mental exer- cises. It is obvious that the gathering of the family about the dining table should have a place in the ritual in order to complete its suggestion of home life. It is undeniably true that where two or more people break bread together there springs up a bond that did not exist before. And there is no more popular feature of the Grange than these same " feasts," as they are called. For this reason they should be reckoned with and made the most of. The story of how the feast was made a part of the initiatory service has come down from accounts which " Father Kelley " gave of his early attempts to formu- late the Grange plan. He related how, working ardu- ously and late one night on the ritual, he felt need of refreshment and went out to a pie-counter for lunch. Here, engrossed as he was with the picture of the farm home which he was striving to portray through the ritual, the idea of introducing the feast came to him and was instantly adopted. Mr. Kelley in later years 32 OEIGIIf AND IDEALS OF THE GKANGB made a rough estimate of the number of pies that had been sacrificed as a result of his midnight lunch. The number would astonish us if the facts could be accu- rately known. The mere thought fairly induces bad dreams. Other means of social growth. — To make its neigh- borhood socially attractive and its people happy is a primary duty of every Grange. Sometimes it requires fearless readjustments to meet this obligation, but it is worth while. What has been gained if the Grange holds to an unbreakable routine but loses its boys and girls ? Not alone the feast day, with its special opportunities for sociability, but every feature of the Grange may afford means of developing social tendencies. Grange strength lies largely in the fact that it brings all ages and all variations of taste into action together. Each needs the others, and in no direction is the need so urgent as along the social line. The nature of the ordi- nary Grange meeting affords wide scope for the prac- tise of courtesy and thoughtful service. The necessity for the older ones to look after and care for the wants of the children; the opportunity for the men to assist the women in making the hall comfortable and in pre- paring and serving meals ; the chances for young people to make themselves helpful on every hand, — these are factors in the social life of the Grange. Nor do all the opportunities center in the Grange hall; over the tele- phone, on the country roads, and in their homes, — wherever members meet, — the Grange injects its social essence, the finest of genuine friendliness. Eitiial a social help. — The ritualistic work serves ae DBPAETMENTS OF GEANGE WORK 23 an especially good example of this. Youths of both sexes delight to confer degrees in proper and artistic form. Such duties in the Grange meeting afford means for cultivating self-possession and confidence in the timid, poise in the awkward, and training in the social ameni- ties for all. Very many people in the Grange, who at first looked askance at the ritual, changed their attitude toward it when they recognized in it a door opening, for farm boys and girls, to wholesome physical and elevat- ing mental activities. Social leadership in the covmtry. — " The dominant rural question," says Scudder, " should not be : ' How can I get away ? ' but : ' How can I make conditions such that I shall be glad to stay ? '" A neighborhood which provides opportunities for young folks to become ac- quainted, to have good times together, and to take a just pride in community affairs sees some of them go from it with regret, but it keeps many more in rural life. A Grange affords for such purposes the ideal conditions, for its meetings may amount to the gathering of a united, happy, family group. There are many ways in which the social life of a neighborhood may be developed. Perhaps the most ele- mental and the most available is the use of music. It has been well said that a singing Grange rarely dies. There should be great joyful " sings " out of song books of various kinds — Grange, patriotic, college, and sacred. Instrumental music should be encouraged in more ways than it is ; everyone who has an instrimient that can be carried should be induced to bring it to thfe Grange. An orchestra might be formed in almost any neighborhood — 24 OEIGIlf AND IDEALS OF THE GRANGE crude and simple at first, perhaps, but serving as a start to bind people together in wholesome recreation. Choirs, quartets, whistling clubs, etc., organized within its membership, attract many to a Grange. Games, dialogues, pantomimes, plays, and degree work afford physical as well as mental exercise, while dancing (which is sometimes thought to be the only available recreation) can hardly be said to be more than physi- cal. Making a Grange the happiest occasion of all the week is insurance that its young people will grow strong of moral fiber and virile in habits. While I have been trying to point out the oppor- tunities for the Grange to assume the direction and lead in the social life of its neighborhood, there comes to my desk the following concrete account of what one Grange has actually accomplished along this line, and I am glad to pass it on to a wider circle of readers : If one wishes to see what the Grange can do in the social, intellectual, and moral elevation of neighborhood life, let him study the work of Grange. This neigh- borhood possessed no ideals higher than a cock or dog fight entertainment, and did not meet together socially as families. Mr. and Mrs. moved in ; there was no hall in which to hold meetings, and these people had a Grange organized and the meetings held in the top of their house, up where the birds nest. The meetings were enthusiastic and sociable and the young folks came in ; soon a comfort- able haU was built, and the Grange hall is now the social centerVof that community. The recreative life of any community will drift — it will not lead itself. Is its Grange strong enough, are DEPAETMENTS OF GRANGE WOEK 25 its members men and women enough, to give sufficient thought and love to transform the neighborhood's social life into a real, organized, growing thing? It is not easy to do this; but that the Grange should take the active lead in many communities toward a strong and wholesome social life is one of the greatest rural needs at the present time. New Granges can have no greater mission than this. The Grange's crown.- — Closely akin to its social value, and yet operating on a little higher plane, is the frater- nal spirit of the Grange. The Order indorses the ob- servance of Memory Day, when wreaths are placed on the graves of its honored dead. The influence of pro- moted loved ones is thus impressed the more deeply upon its members, and cemeteries are made to add to, not detract from, the general beauty of their natural surroundings. The Grange sends flowers at the time of the death of the body, it has its form for funeral cere- mony and its memorial services, but greater than this is its precept that life is immortal. The crumbling tene- ment of clay is not the goal of any soul-stirring work. Pointing above and beyond such a thought, the Grange enjoins upon its members a life in keeping with belief in immortality. They desecrate this teaching when they pause too long beside the bier. The command comes to everyone, " Go forward ! " and no qne can wisely tarry in life's continued journey. In recognition of this the Grange teaches its members to love and respect, to bear with and to overlook failures and shortcomings, here and now, and to nurture spiritual growth in one another as a work of first importance. It believes that everlast- 26 OEIGIN" AND IDEALS OP THE GEANGB ing life is within us now, and it reaches its highest point in ministering to it. Many times have I heard eloquent testimony to this fact, but one occasion stands out most vividly. At a Grange roU-call each member present responded by stating which feature of Grange association had meant most to him or her. With feel- ing testimony, almost without exception, the members arose and paid tribute to the human influence of the Order. One man had been helped to shingle his barn, and another to put in his crops by Grange " bees," when misfortunes had befallen; a member had received re- peated offerings of flowers in days of sickness ; the Lec- turer had been ill for months, but the words of cheer and appreciation sent to her from the Grange meetings had buoyed her courage and tided her over many a hard day; old and reticent men spoke with trembling tones of choice friendships made through the Grange ; and all eyes grew moist as one mother told of the wordless sympathy and numberless acts of fraternal love that flowed in a continuous stream through her home when her little ones were stricken by disease and several of her flock called from her. Such experiences as these make the Grange in its best estate seem to wear a jewel- studded crown! CHAPTER III EXTENT OP THE FIELD " The Grange is where the future is grovm and raised," said the mayor of a far north city when he welcomed the State Grange to its midst. It is a good omen when men entirely outside the range of its activities thus recognize in the Order its larger aims and prospective influence on public sentiments and events. Skilled specialists might well be daunted by the bigness of the Grange field as it is laid out before the local workers in the four main divisions of Grange effort : the financial, the legis- lative, the educational, and the social ; and yet here are already busy, burdened housewives and farm men under- taking the officering of these local organizations without financial return and often at great sacrifice of strength and convenience to themselves. Many of them, new to their offices, do not comprehend the far stretches of the organization ; but most of them do feel their own lack of experience and training, and all of them have joined because they appreciate in a greater or less degree their need of contact with others engaged in similar volun- teer rural service. COUNTY, STATE, AND NATIONAL HOEIZONS However, the workers in Subordinate Granges do not stand alone. Theirs is but the first in a chain of 27 38 OEIGIN AND IDEALS OF THE GKANGE organizations, each link of which lifts them to a wider outlook. Next above the Subordinate is the county or Pomona G-range, and beyond that lie the state and na- tional bodies. To these latter the Subordinate and county organizations are bound by means of delegates and by state and national publications. Public ques- tions and movements of the widest range are thus brought into intimate relations with every local Grange, and its opinions, if arrived at, are finally embodied in the national decision. Because of the opportunities for open debate which the Subordinate and Pomona Granges offer through their program hours, the posi- tions of State and Natiolial Granges are being checked up constantly. If action of the higher bodies is not satisfactory to the rank and file " back home," the remedy lies within reach. The final crystallizing of rural opinion, so far as the Grange is concerned, rests within the control of the Subordinate or home Granges. The Pomona Grange holds a strategic position. It stands nearer to patrons than either the State or the National Granges ; and it is far enough removed from each individual to command a view of the large number of farming people who constitute the county population. It would seem, therefore, that the Pomona Grange should nowhere be content with either present or past achievements, but press forward, urging its Subordinate Granges to more activity in their local fields and, for itself, taking leadership in county rural affairs. These new times in country matters are days of the organized community. Eural residents are forming the habit of looking about in terms of the neighborhood, instead of EXTENT OF THE FIELD 29 the individual farmer and family. More and more is the county growing to be the unit of progressive under- takings. The Pomona, therefore, stands in position to take leadership in everything that pertains to the county's weal or woe. The opportunity brings respon- sibility also. It means that no proposition affecting the county may be hastily turned down but must needs be given full consideration. SUMMEB SALLIES In the normal development of the Grange there has grown up a very important summer feature known as the " rally." In reality it is a one-day Chautauqua. It takes the form, almost universally, of a picnic in a grove in the open country. There is, of course, a great pot- luck dinner, and, more and more commonly, there is a well worked out program of contests and games. But the rally's distinctive feature is its program, an open-air program when people often sit on hard and backless seats for three hours at a time, giving close attention to music and recitations rendered by members of nearby Granges, and to one or two addresses given by State or National Grange officers or by others who have spe- cial messages. The noticeable feature of most of these Grange pro- grams is that so large a part of them is contributed from within the membership itself. As has been previ- ously indicated, this practice is characteristic of the Grange. This is illustrated by a laughable occurrence at a State Grange session a year ago, when a banquet was announced with a program to follow. Plates were 30 OEIGIN AND IDEALS OF THE GEANGE to be laid for several hundred guests and the after- dinner speeches were expected to be correspondingly ambitious. A professional entertainer, who sought out the Lecturer and solicited a place on the program, was obviously confused upon learning her plans; a little later he confided to an acquaintance : " That woman, in charge of the banquet program, is a queer sort; she intends to use jvst folks for her entertainment ! " The summer rally throws into relief, as no other rural gathering does, certain results that accrue to a people whose members get together often for intellectual im- provement : 1. They expect to listen to the program; they are trained in the habit of giving courteous attention. 2. They are sympathetically appreciative of even quite amateur platform efforts because they see in them the stages by which members of their own families or neigh- borhoods are lifting their crude beginnings to something better. 3. They can also recognize and pay tribute to the artist entertainer or to the master orator when he has a place on the program. One of the greatest rural program conductors that the Grange has given to country life is Hon. George B. Hor- ton, of Fruit Kidge, Michigan. Mr. Horton is now serving his thirty-seventh year as Master of his home Subordinate Grange; for ten years he was Master of his Pomona, and for fourteen years Master of his State Grange. In each of these positions it has been his policy to keep in closest possible touch with the program EXTENT OF THE FIELD 31 work, and very much of its conspicuous development that has gone on under his leadership is traceable to his counsel and suggestion. Whatever he may say regard- ing Grange building by means of its programs must, therefore, have weight. Asked concerning his rules for making large open-air Grange gatherings count for something definite and worth while, he responded to the questions as follows: 1. What, in your opinion, are some of the essentials to success on the part of a committee on arrangements for a Grange rally? First, an earnest, active desire to make the rally a suc- cess as a strengthener and builder of Grange sentiment in the vicinity where held. Second, a fixed plan for program, with advertising and all essential details thoroughly pre- pared and executed. Third, the plan made broad and liberal so all farmers will feel free to attend, prepared for enjoyment as well as profit, but not letting side attractions interfere with deliberate rendition of the program. 2. What suggestions would you give to Lecturers in making up a program for a rally ? So far as possible have all subjects, speeches, recita- tions, and songs of such a nature and character as to turn the thoughts of all listeners toward the Grange. Patrons should be on the grounds early so as to meet and greet all arrivals; especially do strangers need to be shown about details and plans for the day. The program sihould be broad enough so that, aside from the main speaker who will cover general ground, the women, yoimg people, and chil- dren may be recognized.'' 33 OEIGIN AND IDEALS OP THE GRANGE 3. What are a few appropriate topics for addresses or papers by local speakers at rallies ? Organization of farmers a necessity of the day. The Grange is the ideal form and plan of organization. The farmers unorganized are at the mercy of other organized interests. Success on the broader basis mean's social, intellectual, and business contact; organization gives it. The Grange stands for all that is progressive and ideal in farm life. The Grange creates independence in the farm man and woman, and because of their self-respect others respect them. 4. Will you give a few pertinent points for state speakers to observe? Keep in mind that a rally is a Grange occasion and as such is worthy of thorough preparation. The Grange is independent of all partisan politics and personal ambitions and, because of this, a rally speaker should studiously avoid all these lest his influence be adverse to the real cause he represents. Be earnest in presenting the Grange cause, for in no other way can the confidence of hearers be secured. Do not be timid in urging benefits to farmers for, as agri- culture prospers, so do all other interests.' THE GEANGE AWD WOMEN To one who delights in the benefits of organization there comes an hour when courage fails. That hour is when he looks from the car window and sees the lone- EXTENT OF THE FIELD 33 standing farm and ranch houses of any one of our great western agricultural states, and reflects that in each home lives a farm woman. It is difficult then to escape the query, "How can organization attempt to bind these separated women together ? " Yet it has dared even this seemingly impossible task. The roots of such an organization run back for a life- time, and are interesting to trace. A typical case may be found in the account of one actual beginning in this direction, — ^typical of those that took place at scattered points all over the country. This one began when five women, who lived on farms six miles from a railroad, met at a district schoolhouse and formed a " Home Cul- ture Club." They chose first the study of physiology, as only one of them had ever had it in school and as aU of them were mothers. Next year they selected botany as the main study, with current events, and now and then a fine quotation or favorite poem thrown in for sentiment. It meant taking out their school-books, putting the dic- tionary and atlas on the living-room table, and cultivat- ing interests outside of their daily routines. Their children felt the change, and the dining-room table talk was tinged with things heard at " Mother's Club." Life, some way, was different. About this time " organiza- tion " came to be a common word among common people everywhere. On the crest of this popular impulse rode the Grange and the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle, which two did more to incite farm people toward longing and activity for co-operation with those of their kind than any other associational movements of their day. 34 OEIGIN AND IDEALS OF THE GEANGE Slowly, and almost without notice or comment, these organizations made a powerful contribution to com- munity culture which previously had depended chiefly upon an occasional Good Templars' Society or. a coun- try Sunday School. Imperceptibly the emphasis of their efforts shifted from the financial or literary to social phases. The great good that was being done where they existed was that people came to know one another. They came to realize that they were very much alike, with similar ambitions, disappointments, and many mutual daUy experiences. Barriers, which had sepa- rated none the less because they were imaginary, were dissipated. To find others with like tastes and work is always to farm people an experience to count time by. This is peculiarly true of women. Thousands of in- stances can be cited where a farm woman has, through organization, been led to discover not only genuine friends among her neighbors, but, what is far more to the purpose, she has found a new self within her own being. This new self proves to be a woman with latent possibilities of action, dormant affections, and unmined depths of enjoyment; developed under the genial sun- shine of sympathetic association, it lures her forward along the lines of her best womanliness. Especially is it true that the farm woman comes into her own in those rural organizations where men and women meet and act upon an equal footing, as in the Grange. Here women appreciate that their part in home and community welfare equals but does not usurp the men's part. A farm woman is accustomed to work- ing and- planning with her husband and sons at home, EXTENT OP THE FIELD 35 and she falls easily into doing the same on a conmmnity scale. The change that first strikes one's attention, in a com- munity where the Grange has prospered for a number of years, is a difference in the physical conditions and equipment of the farms and homes themselves. Methods of handling the soil, farm machinery, quality of stock and poultry, varieties of fruit and garden produce, — all these have undergone improvement and extension. More business system is evident New ideas from the commercial and scientific worlds have been imported and applied to practical and profitable ends. A notice- able feature is the number of well-seeded lawns that are mown and have upon them swings or hammocks or equipments for games. Searching further, one finds that the reading matter of this neighborhood has in- creased in quantity and has undergone a change to a higher grade. Moral requirements have in many in- stances been raised. Speech has been purged of rough- ness, vulgarisms, and back-bitings. Keligion is re- spected and practised in larger measure. Thrift, on the one hand, betokens business awakening; while, on the other hand, it indicates neighborhood improvement. Even in a cursory examination one notes these changes in progress in a community where a live Grange exists. The reasons for this is because the organizations that bring people together at frequent intervals afford occa- sions for members to exchange ideas and methods. Fric- tion of mind on mind is stimulating. The practice of songs, the writing and reading of papers, taking part in discussions, making impromptu speeches, keep the cur- 36 OEIGIN" AND IDEALS OP THE GRANGE rents of thought fresh. The women in the Grange are helped more than the men by this for, otherwise, they are more hedged in and turned back upon their own re- sources. The prison bars of their own self-hood need to be broken down to effect their release and enable them to do the best for their families and neighbors. And everything in the Grange association helps them — ^the business and legislative features as well as the social hour and program, each in its own way. "Wherever tax laws are made to relieve farm lands of unjust burdens ; or pure food laws to rid farm products of undue com- petition ; or machinery to abolish manual labor ; in short, wherever these material gains have been made, there woman's lot is easier, more livable. While improvement in material conditions is most obvious to the casual ob- server, mental stimulus is really the source of this im- provement. Organizations which practically include the family with its entire range of work, interests, and social life, are able to give to the intellectual lives of their members a tremendous impetus. They can do so because of the regular feature of a program hour at each meeting ; otherwise they do not meet the all-round needs of rural life. Once, in a discussion upon the advantages which the Grange has brought to her sex, a woman said, " Fifty years ago a woman thought that ' he ' must think, say, and do for the family, and ' she ' should only prod him up once in a while. Association in organizations has fitted and led the woman to assume a fair part in the decisions of the family. It has discovered her mind to herself. Moreover it has taught her to love and work EXTENT OP THE FIELD 37 ■with those diametrically opposed to her in opinion." Another woman said : " It has brought women to realize that their neighbors are human beings with difficulties, aspirations, varied successes and failures like them- selves." A man offered this comment : " It has been worth all the effort the organization has ever cost this neighborhood to make my wife and me acquainted with our nearest neighbors." Still another observed : " It has increased women's ability to grasp public questions and discuss them. The time is here when they must every- where take an active part in affairs at large, and the Grange has been fitting them for this active part. Farm women have come to this wider outlook none too soon." Through the agitation and study of the rural school problem in the Grange meeting farm women are coming more and more to understand and accept their own rela- tion to its solution. Committees visit the schools and report upon what they find ; friendliness with the teach- ers is encouraged ; courses of study are being examined and defects pointed out ; examples of consolidated rural schools are becoming familiar; and, as a natural con- sequence of all this, women are being put upon the school boards and are taking an active part in school management. Whatever may be said of the material and mental benefits that have accrued to farm women through or- ganization, these have been far excelled by their social, spiritual, and esthetic blessings. The hard, material side of many a country woman's life has often been harshly set forth in blunt phrase or doubtful doggerel, la not the more accurate, though usually unworded, 38 OEIGIN AND IDEALS OP THE GEANGE wish of the farm woman far more truly expressed in the following lines by Mary A. Townsend? I am tired, so tired of rigid duty. So tired of all my tired hands find to do ! I yearn, I faint for some of Life's free beauty, — Its loose beads with no straight string running through, Ay, laugh, if laugh you will, at my crude speech. But women sometimes die of such a greed, — Die for the small joys held beyond their reach. And the assurance they have all they need. Over against the yearnings for the small joys ex- pressed in this poem, let me place the testimonies of a few women who have been under the influence of farm organizations for a number of years. These will, I hope, go far to prove how these societies become a vital, con- structive force in the lives of farm women. All of the women quoted here lived in the open country and led actual farm women's lives. Each was asked what bene- fit she had experienced frftm organized farm associa- tions. One replied : " It has given me a better home training and taught me to live with, as well as for, my children. It gives a closer touch with humanity. Little mole hills, that become mountains if one knows only her own daily round of vexations and cares, assume their due proportion when compared with the lives and ex- periences of others. It gives me a sense of the strength that lies in unity and a greater respect for my fellow craftsman." Another, a little Scotch woman whom the Grange found and placed in a larger world of information and EXTENT OP THE FIELD 39 activity : " I have come into contact with the best people. These organizations have developed latent talent and helped me to know myself. I feel so keenly the need of the mental, moral, and social uplift which they can give, and I am so anxious to see every farm wife and daughter in one or all of them that I would count the remainder of my life well spent if I might materially assist in this happy consummation." The mother of nine children in a little log house, thirty-seven miles from a railroad, writes : " I find my- seK benefited in every way. Before I became a member of the Grange I was always at home and held no thought beyond that small home circle. !N'ow I like to get out and mingle with the outside world and brush my wits with those of others whom I meet; consequently I feel brighter and better qualified to fulfil my duties at home." An ex-teacher, now a wife and mother, writes : " In our community where there is no other organization, the Grange has been the means of interesting farm women in the problems relating to the welfare of our neighborhood; clubs have been formed for helpfulness, and a desire created for study and good reading. Per- sonally, the Grange has taught me to love my home bet- ter, the farm better, and to understand more fully the problems of rural life, and to economize my time so that a portion can be given to outside things." Another, who has developed unusual ability for leadership under the stimulus of associated effort, says of its influence: "Its great benefit is the opportunity for self-improvement. The educational feature is para- 40 OEIGIN AND IDEALS OF THE GRANGE mount ; to me it was a series of doors, each opening into a larger room than the last." One woman, who had good educational advantages in girlhood, when married found herself drifting into the conventional stream of hard farm work, without intel- lectual, club, or social life. She revived her ideals, joined the Grange with her husband, and allowed her life to expand generously under its impetus and sug- gestions. She was richly blessed in this course, and the influence of her activities reached thousands of other farm women. She enlisted the efforts of farm organi- zations in behalf of children in farm homes; she co- operated in planning and providing women's meetings for country women where they might discuss their rela- tions as wives and mothers; she aided, in co-operation with city women's clubs, a movement to establish rest rooms in court houses for farm women; and she was instrumental in giving fresh-air outings to hundreds of city women and children. Scores of other devoted, capable farm women are now carrying on these and similar lines of work which Mary A. Mayo, one of the foremost women pioneers in farm organizations, helped to initiate. Almost the last written words of this zealous, mother-hearted woman were these : " I love everybody so much; I have wanted to help people to be kinder, truer, sweeter ; and there is so much to do ! " ■^ Here was the tribute of one of the earliest women enlisted in the now nation-wide movement for the band- ing together of farm women. Beside it let me place the impulsive post-script in a letter which came to my desk last week from a young woman, a farmer's daughter. EXTENT OF THE FIELD 41 who is now doing splendid service as a leader in intel- lectual and social exercises of a large country Grange. She wrote : " There is so much we want to read, and so many things to think about and to do. It is good to live, to care, to try — even if we don't accomplish all we would like." It is a significant fact that the Grange, as an or- ganized body, advocated and stood for votes for women in politics long before a very considerable number of its women themselves were converted to the doctrine. The transformation of the sentiment and attitude of these conservative farm women has been one of the most interesting of the many quiet educational cam- paigns in Grange history. Slowly and thoughtfully, as state after state took up the question and wrestled with it, these Grange women came into line and gave battle against those aligned on the other side. The unanswerable and convincing argument to them was the fact that for fifty years they had voted and worked in the Grange on an equality with men. Some of the most forceful arguments for suffrage will be found in the reports of women officers made to their respective State Granges. Over and over rural women were asked: "Why should farm women, in particular, deserve or need the vote ? " In reply, thoughtful Grange women answered : " Whoever asks that question does not really know farm life ; does not recognize what women and girls are doing on farms this very day. Whoever wonders why farm women deserve the ballot, the same as their men, has not seen them in emergencies pitch hay and wheat, drive 42 OEIGIN AND IDEALS OF THE GEANGE and handle farm machinery, milk cows, deliver milk, make garden — and keep their households running be- sides. The farm wife is the partner of her husband as no other wife is and she understands the details of his business as does no other woman. The farmer's wife stepped into the breach when the hired man left or the son went to war; and in addition to this she patched and mended that her family might buy liberty bonds, saved food to feed the army, and knitted, snipped, and sewed for the Ked Cross. Moreover farm women know the injustices that exist against agriculture just as well as their men do; they know the waste that goes on be- cause of poor marketing facilities, and they know, too, sometimes better than the men, how extravagance plays havoc in many public places. The farm woman some- times asks why every small town needs three or four grocery stores to handle food stuffs — each demanding its profits to support a family — ^when one postoffice serves the self-same people from one building, with one set of clerks. Or, for that matter, why thiere are two or more banks, or why it requires half a dozen dry-goods stores, bakeries, and meat markets to clothe and feed the same folks whose mail is all handled from one building. To help change some of these things — ^putting life on a more common-sense, business-like basis — ^the farmer's wife could make good use of the vote." OITT FABMEBS AS GBANGE MBMBEBS In nearly every section the Grange is constantly re- ceiving additions from a class of people who, as a rule, bring with them a distinct advantage to the Order. EXTENT OP THE FIELD 43 These new members are from the ranks of city people ■who, for one reason or another, come to make their homes upon farms. They are not confined to any one location ; neither are they drawn to country life by the same motives. In some instances failing health of one or more members of the family made it necessary to seek the open country for quiet rest or the physical exercise required by an outdoor life. In some cases business openings in agricultural projects furnished the attrac- tion. In others, love of independence, association with growing things, the peace of the hills, and the music of winds and trees have attracted irresistibly and made work on the farm preferable to that of any other occu- pation. Many of these people combine an intense love for JfiTature with capable business foresight and executive ability. With few exceptions the aims of the Grange appeal to such newcomers. They have been accustomed to social activity in their former relations and know its necessity better than those who have labored for a liveli- hood without truly living in the broadest sense. They often view the environment of the neighborhood in which they settle with a keener insight into its tenden- cies and needs than those who have lived in it for years. Sometimes, of course, they are mistaken in their first hasty conclusions and misjudge the community until a closer acquaintance changes their opinion; but in the main these people come to the country vrith open minds and a genuine desire to become a part of the neighbor- hood life. The Grange affords the ideal meeting place for the old and new residents, the country and the 44 ORIGIN AND IDEALS OF THE GRANGE town-bred. Its plan strikes the business person with its practicability. Its objects appeal to the thoughtful as of the highest quality. Its social opportunities at- tract the lonely. Its teachings concerning inter-rela- tions between material and mental growth impress the spiritually discerning as true and uplifting. The enlistment of such people, who may be thus in- clined to the Grange, is desirable for all concerned. They give as much as they gain, and it is all the better if what they contribute is of a slightly different coin. Their training in business affairs, their social habits, their different viewpoints, and varied associations quicken the less lively flow of rural life and thought. On the other hand, if they ring true they will delight in the unconventional wisdom, unadulterated kindliness, and blunt candor to be met with inside the door of every real Grange. PAET II TEE QBANOE MASTER Men's hearts ought not to be set against one another but to be set with one another. — ^Thomas Caslyle. We are coming to a new democracy which will lay upon all our institutions the test of efficiency in serving the common welfare.— E. J. Buliffson. The task of agricultural education will never be complete until we reach the very last man on the farm with the best things, — President K. L. Buttebeield, at Kalamazoo, Michigan, Rural Progress Conference, March 14, 1913. CHAPTER I THE MASTEE'S OPPOETUNITIES In any study of the Grange movement one is impressed with the fact of how vital men's mental needs seemed to the founders of the Order. Again and again in the early writings of these men occur appeals to the farm- er's intelligence, for the sowing of good seeds of thought and affection, the cultivation of his mind and heart, and the reaping for the mind as well as for the body. These pioneers were imbued with zeal to show farm men and women that they ranked on a plane above their fields, their crops and herds, and needed first in them- selves the harrowing, the seed-sowing, the tilling, and the harvesting that they might better understand and control the elements, inanimate tools, and dumb crea- tures under their charge. By every means within their power they sought to make the common implements and common deeds of the farm and home routine speak a varied language. Thus the installing officer, when initiating a Grange Master into his office, enforces the thought of his leader- ship over his Grange and in his neighborhood as his bounden duty. In the course of the installation the Master is instructed as follows : Worthy brother, in performing this duty, I must im- press upon your mind the importance of the position 47 48 THE GEAWGE MASTBB you hold. You should be foremost in advocating the principles and in carrying out the objects of our Order. To you all connected with your Grange will look for ex- ample; and not these only but those outside the gate will diligently scrutinize each act. Let me caution you that you keep the eye of the mind open among your members. En- courage improvement; remember that Nature's motto is " onward " ; she never goes backward. You may encounter difficulties. Overcome them, remem- bering that difficulties are but opportunities to test our abilities. As Master of this Grange, your fellow-laborers will look to you to devise work. A judicious Master will take due care that no time is lost in useless labor. Let all labor and all time tend to im^provement. Your labor- ers may not at first comprehend the value of this; but it is your duty to instruct them. Thus you will come in contact with their minds; if they are left uncultivated, if neglect is allowed, the moral weed crop will baffle and torment you. It is especially your duty to exercise the supreme author- ity, with which you are vested, in maintaining order in the Grange, and in enforcing obedience to the Constitution and Laws of the Order, yourself setting the example in all things. Decide all questions with calmness and firmness, granting the right of appeal courteously, and abiding de- cisions against you cheerfully. We trust that it will be a prominent part of your duty, both in and out of the Grange, to encourage the education of the children within the limits of your jurisdiction, and to plead that they be not employed in the arduous labors of the field before the mind has received that gentle care and training which enlivens, explains, and dignifies labor. It is an important part of your duty to exercise such oversight in the conduct of the Grange as will encourage THE MASTER'S OPPORTUNITIES 49 every officer to perform his or her part, and to suggest ways and means of assistance whenever needed. ^ r Translated into briefer and more modern terms than those of the installation service, a summary of a Mas- ter's program lies in these vsrords: Progress, Persever- ance, Order, Child "welfare, Fraternity. It is a fre- quent observance that " an astonishing number of persons must be placed upon their feet by agencies out- side themselves and kept moving by outside help." Among such agencies as are designed to set farm people on their feet and keep them moving forward, the Grange takes front rank. But the Grange, in common with every other farm organization, ever stands in need of capable and trained leaders. Dr. L. H. Bailey has stated it as his belief that "the greatest need in any epoch is for leaders and for managers of men ; " and that "great problems of human leadership lie in the rural phase of our civilization, demanding careful prepa- ration, fellow-sympathy, and dear foresight." Logically, then, the election of a man to the Master's chair is a distinct challenge to him to demonstrate of what caliber he is possessed. Should he prove to have capabilities of leadership and a determination to succeed, he will find' abundant scope for his energies. Moreover, the exer- cises appointed for him in the discharge of the duties o£ his oflSce will yield him a remarkable training. THE CALL FOE A VISION The people and the duties with which the Master of a? Grange has to deal are of a practical sort, exceedingly 50 THE GEANGE MASTER practical; yet the very first thing that a person who becomes a Master needs is a vision. Better spell the word with capitals — ^VISION — and rememher that this does not mean being visionary. A true vision includes a backward view over the past and a sweep around into the future. It scans the horizon in order to observe the relation which the object of its direct attention holds to other objects, and to discover in it the unnoticed possibilities of its development. The Master needs, in other words, all the informa- tion he can manage to acquire of the past history and accomplishments of the Order, — ^these firmly cemented into a good familiarity with the Grange Constitution and Declaration of Purposes. Therefore a good thing for a new Master to do is to shut himself up for a time with these stable documents, together with whatever reports of National and State Grange sessions and cur- rent Grange publications that are available, and literally saturate himself with their facts and principles. Wo Master will regret the time thus spent in preparation for his official duties. He must not expect, by any means, to accomplish adequate preparation at one sit- ting; the study of the Grange plan, principles, and possibilities should be continuous during his term of office. These must grow upon him, disclosing the mar- vel of their founders' wisdom and foresight as they gradually unfold before his thought their remarkable adaptation to farm conditions, but he should consciously begin this unrolling of Grange history before his own eyes. He should voluntarily put himself in touch with all sources of assistance necessary in the training for his THE MASTBE'S OPPORTUNITIES 51 work. If it is only a visit to the Grange in an adjoin- ing township, he learns something from that intercourse. To attend the county Grange affords a higher vantage ground ; and whatever he can learn of facts and methods of the Order in distant parts of his own and other states makes him better understand its noble breadth and capa- bilities and his own relations to it. Let no one think that time spent in such preparation for the Mastership is lost. If he is to accomplish anything worth while during his term of office it is absolutely essential that a Master have a clearly defined idea of what the Grange stands for beyond the confines of his own community. His own conception of its ideals must to a great ex|;ent be the limit of Grange attainment in his immediate vicinity; not satisfied with this, he should seek the in- spiration to be derived from the wider ranges of Grange effort. In moments of possible discouragement in his own smaU field, a clear consciousness of being con- nected with a widespread organization which is achiev- ing big things will recharge his diminishing courage, animate him anew, and offer him suggestions which no Master worthy of the name can afford to ignore, much less to disdain, GRANGE LBVEEAGE IN COMMUNITY LIFE It is helpful if the Master clinches in his mind the fact that an organization is only a larger individual. An association of folks has the same liability to weak- ness, discouragement, low aim and general shiftlessness, and the same possibilities of strength, courage, ambition, and executive action that any man in the group may 52 THE GBANGB MASTER have. The Lecturer of a Subordinate Grange caught this idea once when she said : " I wonder if every. Grange is on probation in a community for a time." Most assuredly, yes, just as a man is on trial when he moves into a new neighborhood. At first all the neighbors are expectant, waiting to see what direction the newcomer will take. If he begins to " slick up " his premises, if he shows a desire to make friends and to be interested in his neighbors, these neighbors express their approval by accepting him. If, on the other hand, the newcomer presents a front in opposition to the established order of the locality, or holds aloof from it, he is not assimilated, and the neighborhood moves on regardless of his existence. Quite so with an organiza- tion ; unless it shows itself friendly and makes for itself a real and vital place in the community, it becomes an excrescence — a cumberer of the ground — and is soon treated as such. We have read that when a Master enters upon a year's work, he receives this charge from the installing officer : "You may encounter difficulties. Overcome them, re- membering that they are but opportunities to test our abilities." One of the chief difficulties that any Grange is likely to encounter is that of successfully adapting itself to the changing needs of agricultural people in ' general, and particularly to those needs in its immediate vicinity. Fortunate is the Grange whose Master under- stands this fact and who asks himself: " What ought this Grange to do for this community ? " This is a fair ques- tion. A man who has given much thought in this direc- tion says : " Too many Granges do nothing for the THE MASTER'S OPPORTUNITIES 63 community where they exist; they meet, talk, eat, buy binder twine, and go home again. As far as being helpful to any good work in the community is concerned they fail. Henceforth we must lay greater stress on work for others." Many a Grange that flatters itself that it is a pretty-good-sort-of-Grange fails when it comes to this test of community service. Let us examine wherein these Granges have fallen short of their pos- sible best. The tendency of the times is to carry in- formation to all people; to give representation to all classes and to aU individuals of each class, is it not? Does it not follow, therefore, that a Grange will lose its place in the race if it does not exert itself actively in behaK of all persons in its neighborhood who are eligible to become its members? Who are these per- sons ? Not all the people of any neighborhood are suci cessful, not all are strong and independent; but, scat- tered among the self-reliant and capable, are men and women who have been unfortunate or who possess less ability or forehandedness than others. Should not a Grange seek to carry its benefits to those whose need is greatest? Are there not enterprises which the Grange might initiate which would materially assist such un- lucky or less efficient members of the community? These are legitimate questions for a Master to put to himself and to seek to answer them through the organi- zation of which he is the recognized head. In a Grange the Master has a highly efficient instru- ment for practical use in lifting a rural neighborhood out of the mire of shiftlessness or self-complacence. If the reader has never seen this done in an actual farm 54 THE GRANGE MASTER neighborhood and wishes a story of how the instrument is operated, let him read the Grange play entitled " The Coming of Happy Valley Grange to Hard Scrabble Hollow." This play presents the harsh and uncouth conditions of an undeveloped country neighborhood and depicts exactly how, under a discreet leader, a Grange can take a neighborhood by its four comers and lift it up. IsTo more interesting phase of Grange influence exists than that of its possible effect on the home and the com- munity life. There are numberless instances of such consequences which might be quoted. At a Grange picnic in Ohio, one summer, a group of people were discussing ways and means of improving district schools, when three or four men drew near with active interest showing in their faces and offered information about a seven-year struggle their community had had to secure a new school building. Bit by bit they gave the details and then one of them exclaimed significantly : " The Grange got us that school house all right. We would have been discouraged long ago if we had worked separately." Again, a certain little Grange that had led a most precarious life for a number of years began to pick up. This is the report made by one of its members : " Our Grange had a picnic with many present from three other Granges and a number from our ovm township who were not patrons ; we felt that it paid ten times over for the eflfort. The Sunday School organized through the Grange is flourishing. Some of us thought for various reasons it might be best to close the Grange for a time THE MASTER'S OPPORTUNITIES 55 during the summer, so we made an extra effort to notify the members that we would vote upon it at the next meeting. A goodly number came out and voted to con- tinue the meetings. We were so glad that, though it is sometimes hard to arouse interest, the members do ap- preciate what it means to the township. Looking back over the things that the Grange has accomplished for us here, we are not discouraged." Is, then, the Grange a public service institution? Ask the question in other words : Is the Grange, in any community the reader may chance to know, a servant of the neighborhood welfare? If each one can answer " Yes " to this question, then it may truly be said that the Order at large stands for public service. That this should be true accords with the first declared object of the Grange, namely, " United by the strong and faith- ful tie of agriculture, we mutually resolve to labor for the good of our Order, our country, and mankind." More and more it is noticeable that the trend of the Grange is toward the good of the community life, rather than simply to advance its paid-up membership. This fact has, on many occasions, been strongly emphasized by prominent Grange officials. In New York, in speak- ing of the general work of the Grange, State Master Giles once said : " In the solution of many of the vexed and important questions, the Grange has shovra that it is not standing merely for selfish, partisan interests of its membership but for the good of agriculture from a patriotic standpoint, and incidentally for the good of all." In Maryland, Ex-Master H. J. Patterson once dwelt at some length on the relation of the Grange to 56 THE GEANGE MASTEE community life, saying : " It should take its place next to the church and the public school and supplement their ■work. The Grange should be a real force for promot- ing the welfare of the people and of its community along social, educational, and financial lines." He then enumerated ten directions in which any Grange may Veil undertake definitely to relate itseU to the neigh- borhood in a constructive way. Briefly stated, these ten directions are: (1) a social center; (2) an agricultural high school; (3) a center for farm demonstration; (4) a monthly farmers' institute; (5) a home economics club for farm women; (6) the means of promoting health in the country; (7) a debating society for train- ing people to take part in public meetings; (8) a civic and political economy club; (9) a medium for co- operation in raising, advertising, and selling of farm products; (10) a community co-operative breeding asso- ciation for improvement of animals and seeds. Surely there is no excuse, with such a list of ways in which a Grange may serve, for it to fail to find a mission in any community. The thing to do, if a Master comes into the charge of a torpid Grange, is to shake off time- worn ideas, — or lack of ideas, — of what a Grange is for, and get some red-blooded aims instead. It is not simply to make one more society; not simply to provide a " place to go " ; not simply to provide a literary so- ciety for passing entertainment; not simply a place where one pays dues and gets a discount on binder twine once a year. It is all these, but it should be more. It should be, as someone has said, " a place of performance as well as of papers." It should have in view clear- THE MASTER'S OPPORTUNITIES 57 cut ends for the upbuilding of the locality, and be con- stantly working toward those ends. It should believe in the rightfulness of its mission, and the energy with which it pursues that mission should attract people to join its raiiks. All these things, and many more, are the legitimate inheritance of the Master who looks upon his Grange as a public service institution. CHAPTEK II THE MASTER AS COMMUNITY LEADER That the Master of a Grange may and should be some- thing more than chairman of a literary club or ritualistic society must be apparent to everyone who has read the foregoing pages or gives the matter serious thought. By virtue of his office the Master is not merely the manipu- lator of fortnightly vaudeville stunts, but is the recog- nized leader of a rural community in its social and intellectual activities, and the guardian of its respect for labor and morals. It is within his province, if he chooses, to propose projects that, if carried to accom- plishment, will move his whole neighborhood to better things. It behooves him to see that he knows the actual condition of the farms and homes of his jurisdiction, and he may through the Grange attempt to inspire the entire conmiunity with ever higher ideals, and to lead its families to adopt profitable methods and improved machinery for field and home ; but, at the same time, to teach them to see in these things only a means to gain more time for the cultivation of themselves in a con- tented rural life. In short, the sincere Master looks beyond the improvement of the individual patron; and strives to induce his Grange, as an organized body of people, to promote movements in the community which shall benefit all its residents. This is a part of what a Grange Master's leadership means. 68 THE MASTER AS COMMUNITY LEADER 59 TBANSLATING HIS VISION INTO AOTTTALITT The Master of a Grange must jfip^ have ideals — but, what is more to the purpose, he must realize them. This requires quick thought and decisions; initiative; constructive planning; keeping one's own council while entertaining suggestions from others; frequent confer- ence with one or another of the officers, or with all of them; and executive ability of the sort that can assign and trust unessentials to others. A Master may have all of the qualities named above and still fall short of success as a Grange head. He must add to these the fraternal spirit, — the willingness to befriend and be friends with the other members of the group. The more he believes in and inculcates co-operation, as op- posed to competition, the stronger will his Grange work prove itself. Co-operation has an endless number of ways of expressing itself through the socially-minded Grange. It leads the Master to urge upon his members the motto : " Get acquainted with your neighbor ; you may like him " ; and upon outsiders that other challenge : " Come, work with us as we propose to work with you, for the good of all of us." It means much more than a saving on coal bills and insurance rates. Its con- tinued study and practice show that neighbors do bet- ter to co-operate in the kinds of crops and stock they raise, and to exchange work and tools and methods of work. It eventually leads the producer group to short- cut marketing routes by selling directly to groups of consuming laborers, factory men, or faculty folks, as the case may be. Happily, in these reconstruction days. 60 THE GEANGE MASTEE there is an increasing rnlmber of farmers' associations that are fast realizing the beneficial results, financial and spiritual, that accrue through their efforts thus to practise business co-operation. Looking backward, they realize how deadening were the effects of competitive methods on every plane of their association together. The Grange Master of the future, if he succeeds, must explore further and further into the manifold advan- (tages of co-operative action. Up-to-dateness in neces- sary projects and enterprises that concern agriculture should be considered when such appear on the horizon instead of waiting until they have passed the zenith of public interest. Then will the Grange play a construc- tive part at the formative stage of vital movements which affect farm folks. Not many moons ago the housekeeper was lifting the pump handle and bending over the tub in unthinking belief that it was the only way to accomplish ^er tasks; but today thousands are asking: "Why not make a washwoman out of a gas engine or electric motor ? " A few seasons ago men asked : " Will alfalfa grow in our state?" Now they are inquiring: "How much land this year can we seed to alfalfa ? " Shortly ago one big question was: "Does the farmer need better rural credit ? " Today he is asking : " How improve our means of extending rural credit ? " For many decades past lone enthusiasts have cried : " We must sell through co-operation." Today people are actually co-operating in selling and preparing to do so on a scale undreamed of previous to the World War. Even a quarter of a year makes changes in the field THE MASTEE AS COMMUNITY LEADER 61 which the Grange looks out upon. Grange officers may be toiling over their work, or managing the delicate mechanism of homes, so busy and so weary with bodily fatigue that it is an effort to look beyond daily duties, yet, if they are to fit Grange work to farm needs as a glove is fitted to the hand, they must not whoUy forget that changes are constantly taking place. It is the province of the Master, with finger on the pulse of farm life, to note this swift, quiet evolution and attempt to adapt his Grange to it. Indeed, it must be done, or the Grange will soon be switched on the side-track of out- of-dateness. This is as true of the small Subordinate Grange as of the Pomona, State, or National. CHAPTEK III THE MASTEE AND HIS CO-WOEKEES The Grange is manned by thirteen officers. At the head is the Master, but his success, however competent he may be, is largely dependent upon the zeal and efficiency of his twelve associate officers. To inspire them, and then to co-ordinate their willingness to make the Grange forge ahead, devolves mainly upon the Master. His relations with them should be cordial and his mind open to suggestion as how to improve the meetings and widen the influence of the Grange. OBGANIZING ALL FOECES FOE EFFICIENCY The Master must appreciate that he and his associ- ate officers cannot do their best unless they have con- fidence in one another. Confidence comes from friendly acquaintance. "When people come to know one another they are wont to find that most faults of personality are overshadowed by likable qualities ; therefore get-together meetings among leaders to discuss ways and means of progress is one of the surest methods of building up a strong Grange. Again, people are variously gifted. Close acquaintance leads to the possibility of sifting out those who have executive ability and organizing power and promoting them to positions of leadership ; for the sign of a capable Master is the amount of good work he 62 THE MASTER AND HIS CO-WOEKEES 63 gets others to do, — often a harder task than doing it himself, " He who does the work is not so productively employed as he who multiplies the doers." Conference of officers. — The new Master of one SuB-* ordinate Grange that had " run down at the heel " used frequent conferences of officers as one means of rebuild- ing it. Once or twice they had a special get-together: evening. At another time they were seated by them- selves at a table during the Grange dinner. On these occasions the Master directed the conversation, so far as possible, to ways and means of making a better and bigger Grange. Occasionally the Master called a brief conference at one side with the Steward, Overseer, and Gatekeeper to plan for strengthening the ritual work at the entrance to the hall ; again, the Chaplain was con-i suited in preparation for a special Chaplain's program ;' and regularly the Lecturer and Master met to block out the program for the "coming three months. At the be- ginning of each year the Master and Secretary prepared a letter of greeting to each member on the roll book. In this letter the achievements of the previous year were ■ enumerated, hopes for the coming year were sketched, and the letter concluded with a personal appeal for the assistance of everyone. Once a year the Master, Secre- tary, and Treasurer met with the finance committee to audit the books. Although most informal in- character and held at irregular intervals, such personal consulta- tions worked wonders in welding the officers into a force that did remarkable team work. Where there is such mutual confidence this kind of co-operation one with another, partnership within an official Grange family 64 THE 6EANGE MASTEE becomes a power that must attain splendid re- sults. Enlisting yovaig people. — ^Whether the Master pos- sesses or lacks what I have elsewhere termed Grange vision is most clearly shown, perhaps, in his attitude toward the young people of the neighborhood. Htn the long run a Grange lives or dies by its young pSople^' Widely varying reports touching this aspect of Grange"" work have been received within the course of a short time. The following extracts show the tenor of many other letters : Our meetings are very pleasant from a social stand- point, the Grange being mostly composed of yoiing people. Our membership is made up mostly of young people, with just enough older ones for balance. Our Grange is composed entirely of old people ; we have not a young person, but very few under fifty years of age, and from that up to eighty. We have an old rickety organ, but no one to sing, for old people cannot sing. These suffice to illustrate three classes of Granges — the entirely "young," the "mixed," and the "old"—' that is, when we classify Granges by the ages, in years of their members. And yet when I read the letter con- 'taining the last quotation there flashed into my mind the saying of one white-haired " boy " who exclaimed : " We are never old so long as our hearts are young ! " And the voice of a man in my own Grange who says he is in his seventy-sixth year by the calendar, but who responds frequently to a call for a Scotch ballad ! And the deep wrinkles in the face of -fchat farmer with thei THE MASTER AND HIS CO-WORKERS 65 stoop in Ms shoulders who exclaimed : " I am just be- ginning to learn ! " And the rollicking Virginia reel danced by feet that will ne'er pass the fiftieth mile- stone again ! Oh, our classification is wrong, all wrong, when we begin to divide Grange membership according to age by years ! The thing to do is to find the kernel of youth in the heart of every man or woman, and treat all as young people. All are young people whose " tents are pitched toward the sunrise," For age is opportunity no less Than youth itself, though In another dress. -I Among the multitude of things said about saving the boys and girls for country life, nowhere has there been reported a better bit of conversation than that described by a correspondent in a small Grange. She writes : Our young people have organized a club where they meet once a month and have a dancing party. The older mem- bers also belong. No one is allowed at this party without the Grange password, or an invitation card signed by the one who gave it, therefore no undesirables are allowed to enter the outside door. The young people have their own music, and the mothers and fathers of these girls and boys are all there and join with them. Prof. of the Uni- versity, who was here to lecture for us, attended one of these parties, and thought it the finest company of young people he had met, gave a little talk to them, and said he wished the churches would adopt such a plan of bringing the young people together in a social way. Here, certainly, is a sane way for a Grange to lead the social life of its neighborhood and conserve its most 66 THE GEANGE MASTER precious assets. Besides the parties, these young people have a degree team which is being coached by an ex- soldier, and in which they kre receiving fine drilling. They have also organized an orchestra, and are prepar- ing to give a play. Can anybody imagine that boys and girls in such a place find country life " poky " or " lone- some"? Here, to, are older people who are taking thought to save their young people. It is a well-known fact that former Master IS. P. Hull of Michigan State Grange presented his application for membership in the Grange upon his fourteenth birth- day and advanced steadily to the office of Lecturer of IN'ational Grange. This merely tends to call attention to the possibilities that the Grange faces in the young people of rural neighborhoods. Placing responsibility. — The Master who seeks to de- velop his Grange from within is constantly seeking to ^assign varie d tasks to his members, and to encourage his co-officers to do the same as they may find occasion along their respective lines. A tribute to this sort of tactful management came to the writer's attention sev- eral years ago, and afFords a glowing illustration of how officers may hold and train their young people. A member of the Order from Pennsylvania, while talking of Grange influence, exclaimed : " One thing I think a Grange should do above all others is to give its young ^peopleresponsibility ! " Encouraged to tell the~story of his mmbershipin a Grange where this was practised, he continued : " My application for membership in the Grange was presented even before I was quite old enough and, when I was admitted, I was a happy lad. THE MASTER AND HIS CO-WOEKERS 67 At the first election after my admission, I was made Gatekeeper, an office where my youthfulness could do no special harm but where the honor did spur me to do my very best. I committed to memory my part in the ritual, and filled my office with the dignity which pride in my position inspired in me. I insisted that everyone passing the doors should do so properly, and in that way added my mite to the correct conduct of the Grange. At the next election the members kindly made me Steward, and here again, honored by advancement, I was stirred to learn and profit by the enlarged field of usefulness. From Steward, as the years passed, I was gradually pro- moted to the offices of Overseer, Secretary, and Master, then went back to Steward again. In all these positions of trust I was made to feel that I had the support of the older members, who stood ready to guide me in places where I was not equal to the situation. Responsibility was put upon other young people in a similar way and it was an invaluable training for us all/2 1 shall never forget, either, the classes we boys had in different farm lines. The Lecturer divided us into groups according to our choice of crops, as com, wheat, oats, potatoes, etc. ; at other times according to our choice of farm animals, horses, cows, sheep, etc. We had a very large body of young people in that Grange, which fact allowed for several groups, each with a leader. At each meeting we boys reported to our leaders what we had done since our last meeting. We kept accounts of the work, feed, seed, cultivation, and care of our various undertakings. At the end of the season our reports were made to the Grange and then placed on file with the Secretary. I 68 THE GRANGE MASTER mean to go back up among the Pennsylvania hills some day, and see those records again that we boys made years ago, for they are preserved among the treasured papers of that Grange." " Lack of local leadership among our young people seems to be the insurmountable barrier ! " despairingly exclaims more than one worker who has failed to get young people enlisted in movements for their own bet- terment. These young people want to enlist, but they do not know how. They lack initiative. Let us can- didly ask, why should one expect to find leaders among these young people ? Have they ever been put in places where they had to lead and where others depended upon them ? Where they received credit if they made good ? Where there was an increasing demand for them to try their mettle in the way of bearing responsibility? Let us suppose that there is a Grange in the community where these young people live. That is generally looked upon as a developer of leadership. Are these young people members? If they have ever been, have they stayed by the Grange, or dropped out ? If they dropped out, why did they do so? While they remained, were they kept busy, or were older persons, who would not miss a Grange meeting under any condition, elected to all the oflSces? When the program hour came, were these boys and girls called upon to give their opinions upon any subject, from the raising of calves and colts to the relative merits of local ball teams ? Were they in any way referred to as authorities on dates of important events, or asked to serve the refreshments, or consulted in the lining up of the debating team or in the selec- THE MASTER AND HIS CO-WOEKEES 69, tion of seed corn ? Were they put in charge of a picnic committee, or a supper, or a portion of the lecture hour, or any enterprise proposed for the Grange ? Were they asked to suggest bright, new plans for the Grange now and then? Or, instead of this, were older men and women called upon exclusively, perhaps because the young people held back the first time they were asked and did not seek the privilege for themselves later ? Far be it from me to intimate that all Masters ignore or fail to study how to draw their young people into the activities of their Granges, but the remark quoted above ^together with similar things seen and heard during a long connection with rural associations, lead me to ask the question, Is not that a delightful, though unusual, spirit in older people which rejoices to share with youth those exercises and duties that develop men and women of accountability and capability? CHAPTEK IV THE MASTER AND THE JUVENILES ,Wht is it that people do not oftener act in the Grange upon the well-known fact that childhood is by far the most plastic period ? They often strive and struggle to bring and hold together a body of grown people, whose habits of life and thought are fairly fixed, while a child- dren's movement, which would mean the greatest sort of progress, might be set on foot with a quarter of the effort ? The Master of a weak Grange worries along for a number of years pessimistically urging the members to take a livelier interest." During the same years, with a fraction of the worry, the children might have been gathered under the oversight of a child-loving adult and trained for later co-operation in the Subordinate Grange. Scores of neighborhoods offer no finer, more inviting opportunity than this through which to do a really fine rural work. Children may be given a share in the program hour of the Subordinate Grange ; or they may be organized into a Juvenile Grange according to plans provided by the National Grange. /Four requisites are necessary to bring the Juvenile Grange into successful operation: (1) A Matron who loves children and is willing to give time and exercise tact in leading them; (2) A' dozen or more children under fourteen years of age 70 THE MASTER AND THE JUVENILES 71 whose parents are either members or eligible to member- ship in a Subordinate Grange; (3) A place to meet. This may be in the same building as the Grange hall or elsewhere. If there are two rooms available it is preferable that the two meetings be held at the same time; (4) A set of Juvenile rituals, costing $2.75, to be had of the National Grange Secretary. There is no question of the value of a Juvenile Grangain itself; besides, it is a material aid to the Subordinate Grange under whose jurisdiction it exists. In Ohio there is such obvious connection between active Juvenile Granges and the steadily increasing Subordinate Grange mem- bership as to furnish convincing testimony of the assist- ance the Juvenile is to the Subordinate. Moreover, a Juvenile organization strengthens community influences since the children are gradually accustomed to taking responsibility when they enter any senior associations that may exist in the neighborhood, ^hildren in Juvenile Granges take up in their pro-< grams aU those subjects which children everywhere like to investigate^! They sometimes join with the elders in their program; they sometimes have their meeting en- tirely by itself. The main thing, and often the difficult thing, is to find a suitable Matron. Unless the Matron has tact and wisdom in associating with children a Juvenile Grange will not amount to very much in real discipline and valuable training; but when such a woman (or man, for the longest term of Juvenile " Matronship " in Michigan has been held by a young man) is found, then the organization becomes a power for growth in serious ways, as well as an entertainment. 73 THE GBANGE MASTER The relative value of the Juvenile to the Grange move- ment is greater than most Masters realize. The chil- dren of Juvenile Granges induce their parents to go to Grange in order that they may attend; by taking in children of parents who do not belong to the Subordinate Grange but who are eligible for membership, the senioi? Grange often secures new members that it would not otherwise reach. AH these children are well prepared to take a capable part when they are old enough to join the Grange proper and should be encouraged to pass at once into it at fourteen years of age. A OHIU) SHAI.I. I.EAD There are important reasons why the Grange can well afford to give much attention to the Juvenile organiza- tion; not only to replenish its own membership, but also because the trend of social development is toward the child. On every hand child welfare is receiving in- creased attention. This is evident in the effort to fit the Bchool to the real needs of the child; to secure such treatment of juvenile offenders of the law that, in the reforming process, he shall not become thrice contami- nated by vice; and to enlist parents in such study of child nature as has never before been known. A physi- cian who has given this matter some thought says: *' This is a child's age. Our predecessors seemed to think the child period one to pay little attention to and to hasten over. Gods and goddesses were hurled into existence full blown and developed — ^not embarrassed by childish reminiscences. But the Great Leader saw dif- ferently when He said: 'Except ye become as little THE MASTER AND THE JUVENILES 73 children ye cannot enter in.' " The force of this last familiar quotation is increasing everywhere; therefore, as one of the great means at work to lead the world to better things, the Grange has a responsibility in this direction which it can scarcely escape. It is no vague part, either ; the Grange's specific usefulness is to assist in making life more attractive and more worth while to country people. That is a plain, practical proposition, one that includes the entire farm family. Unless boys and girls are socially satisfied and get the training that fits them for coping on fair terms with other people, as they grow up they will continue to leave the country for the city. In other words, if urban organizations are giving more thoughtful attention to the development of child life, rural organizations must do the same — or lose their children when grown. Because of changes in coimtry conditions themselves and because of changes in public sentiment toward rural life, both of which have followed the World War, this problem of the chil- dren challenges the leaders of every farm organization. But to the Grange it makes an especial appeal because that organization already has its plan for forming Ju- venile Granges. A COKSTBUCTIVE FOBOE The steady, definite training that has gone on in some neighborhoods year after year through the agency of the Juvenile Grange is an example that should be dupli- cated in many others. The ritual and the simple busi- ness forms necessary to carry on a regular organiza- tion in themselves afford children training above what 74 THE GEANGB MASTER they get when left to their o'wn undirected resources. Contests for members, short plays given before the larger Grange, dialogues, conferring degrees, and outdoor tramps lead the children delightfully to many things that knit them together in good comradeship and will stand them well in hand when they assume a larger role in affairs of the community. In some cases the Ju- venile Grange becomes the basis for a Boys' and Girls' Club under joint direction of Juvenile Matron and County Club leader. Here is a subject worthy of a Grange Master's best thought, more momentous than taxes, tariff, collective bargains, or government ownership — important as these measures doubtless are — for it touches the most vital concern among us — rural childhood. CHAPTER V DETAILS THAT SPELL A MASTER'S SUCCESS OR FAILURE GOOD GBANOE HABITS If a Master steers his course by a few simple principles at the start he is likely to reach the goal. One of these principles is that of closing in time to enable members to reach their homes not later than midnight. No farm family can profitably endure the strain of late hours for a series of years. A Grange should plan to be a constructive rather than a destructive force in even the physical life of its members. And to close on time it is necessary to begin on time. Let the Master be honest and do a little self-searching. Although members live on farms and have a multitude of duties, is that suffi- cient excuse for being unbusinesslike ? Is not what is worth doing at all worth doing well ? If we must takei a train, do we not make it on the time scheduled by the railroad ? If we attend church, do we expect the minister to wait until the people are assembled? Are schools held open until the children have drifted in from our various homes? When we wish to enjoy a lecture or play, do we not expect to miss a portion if we arrive late ? Did you ever protest when, upon descending to the hotel dining room for an early breakfast, you were met with the excuse : " The girls didn't wake up and 75 76 THE GEANGE MASTER breakfast is not ready " ? Why then, if railroad em- ployees, hotel girls, teachers, ministers, and business men must be on time in order to insure successful enter- prises, should the Grange expect to succeed on a differ- ent basis. Business is business, and the life of business is promptness. Business brooks no excuses. It is not always easy to meet its demand?. No one is guiltless of an occasional lapse, but a Master may well strain a point to encourage promptness. Among the suggestions, made at conferences held to discuss details of success in Grange work, are the following: 1. Adopt the " 8-9-10 plan " : that is, call at 8 : 00 p.m. ; begin program at 9 : 00 ; and close at 10 : 00. This leaves it optional with members to remain for social features. 2. Begin on time, even if one person must fill three offices. 3. Proceed with everything connected with a regular meeting, except actual business transactions, when a quorum is not present. 4. Practise entering the Grange in due form in order to teach members how to enter should they chance to arrive late. [Another fundamental habit necessary to success is oligereanGe of the lecture hour at every meeting. The order of business calls for it, and the Lecturer has been seriously enjoined to prepare for it. The members may easily be led to understand from the outset that each one will be expected to contribute toward the pro- gram when asked to do so ; few will refuse or fail if the sentiment of the Grange as a whole is one of expectation A MASTER'S SUCCESS OE FAILUEE 77 that everyone will respond. It is a matter of habit, — habit of the Grange quite as much as of individuals. The Master has very much to do with maintaining this habit. Hand in hand with the above should go that other very important habit of expecting that every lecture hour will furnish matter for serious consideration as well as humorous and entertaining features. Granges lose immeasurably that do not establish this custom early in their careers. The practice of dispatching business by asisgning very much of it to committees, before it is brought before the Grange for final action, is another excellent habit that is better learned early than by long or sorry sxperience. BAD OBAKGE HABITS In addition to good Grange habits a Master may well keep in mind certain habits that lead to disaster if allowed to gain foothold. These, if recognized as unde- sirable, he may quietly endeavor to eliminate. Time runs to waste when the following undesirable traits persist : / 1. When the Grange is not called to order on time be- cause an officer or a leading person is not present. /2. When the Stewards distribute song books, badges, etc., after the gavel has fallen instead of before. 3. When the Chorister selects, songs after they are called for. ^ 4. When the Secretary shufiSes his papers over or stops to write a receipt after tiie order of reading the minutes is reached. 78 THE GRANGE MASTER 6. When a committee audits a bill or passes on an ap- plication for membership after reports of committees are called for. ^ 6. When business that might be referred to committees is transacted by the Grange, especially with prolonged dis- cussion. 7. When members speak upon questions that have not been properly brought before the Grange by motions. 8. When a Grange waits while the paraphernalia and decorations are gathered and prepared for initiation. 9. When members are allowed to wander in discussion during the lecture hour. 10. When the closing of the Grange is hindered by the introduction of matters foreign to the occasion. ** Good executive ability aims to cut out these wastes of time. The Master cannot always direct the transac- tion of Grange business so as to keep entirely clear of them, but if he is foresighted enough he may succeed in avoiding many of these delays. If fifty people wait for one person, the time lost is multiplied by fifty and it is usually a dead loss. An efficient executive officer directs instead of caring for details himself. He thus has a half dozen lines of preparation going on at once. He is also quick to rearrange his plans and transact business that is ready even if he cannot take it up in regular order. The loss by such wastes as enumerated above is in- creased many fold when they occur in a Pomona Grange. Pomona meets but seldom, and most of its members at- tend by considerable sacrifice of time, means, and effort. They should receive such adequate return as will make A MASTBE'S SUCCESS OR FAILURE 79 them feel the gainers. Business transactions, workers' conference, dinner, and program should each be dis- patched as quickly as is consistent with its importance. There are other habits involved in the success or fail- ure of a Grange which are due to a natural human tend- ency to drift. While these habits depend mainly for remedy upon the individual members, still here, too, the Master may wield a great influence if he sees their dan- ger and guards against it by his own cheery admonition and example. For instance, if Mary says : " Come, let us go to Grange," John follows the line of least resist- ance and replies : " Oh, it's goin' to rain," " Koads are too rough," or, " I don't feel like it." This same line of least resistance is also followed by others: Failing to plan ahead so as to be able to attend Grange regularly. Getting so interested in or so tied to one's work as to fail to stop an hour early and go to the meeting in comfort and on time. Sitting around in idle talk when attendance is light, in- stead of calling to order and at least making the talk profitable, thus placing the Grange on record as observing its dates. Opening without form because the regular officers are absent, instead of dividing up the parts and making the Grange qualified to meet emergencies with credit. Receiving members simply by obligation instead of the full initiatory exercises, thereby giving them an impression of carelessness in the society they are joining. Letting the work shift along without emblems and para- phernalia to exemplify its details and finer meanings. 80 THE GRANGE MASTEE Neglecting to collect fresh grains and grasses for decora- tions in degree work. Not taking thought to pick a handful of flowers, bright leaves, or a plate of fruit with which to increase the at- tractiveness of the place of meeting and later to send to the sick or absent. Failing to carry to the meeting some object of interest — a picture, or model, or article of convenience, or plant, or anything that can be taken to illustrate the topic under dis- cussion for the day. Taking no notice of the absence of members detained by sickness or einergencies, but allowing it to be inferred that they were not missed. Talking to kill time during the program, when a little more mental activity or previous preparation would really produce something worth while. Taking more than one's fair share in the discussions when, perhaps, the walls are lined with people who, by a tactful question or word of encouragement from the pro- ficient, might be induced to make a maiden effort and gain a little more power in expressing themselves. Letting the program hour go by default altogether, rather than exerting oneself to volunteer quietly to the Lecturer that you are willing to read, sing, recite, or start a dis- . eussion. Shaking one's head when roll is called and each member is expected to respond with some fact from his experi- ence or quotation from his reading. Giving no sign or word of appreciation when some bash- ful or slightly educated person makes a brave attempt on the program. Going to Grange with home cares or work weariness ready to be tapped by every greeting of other members, instead of A MASTER'S SUCCESS OE FAILUEB 81 throwing them into tne background of thought and exerting oneself to make it a happy occasion for others. AVOID ETJTS Of all fallacious notions to hug to oneself, perhaps the most weakening is that which whines : " It can't be done because it never has been done." One meets this sort of sentiment in regard to Grange work often. Not that it is peculiar to the Grange as an organization, for it is not; yet it seems to be a trait sufficiently peculiar to some individuals and to some Granges to warrant a danger signal. Many a weak Grange would grow strong and vigorous if it would slough off this deadening weight. Many a Master would walk into sturdy leadership if he would say, "Behind me, Satan ! " to every temptation to think that new plans will not succeed in his Grange simply because they have never been tried there. Not all new plans are wise for everyone, by any means. The point is, none should be rejected on account of its being new. There are seme little verses which are deservedly familiar because they express this valuable precept most aptly. Every Master may well paste this fragment of them in his hat — or on her mirror: Somebody said that it couldn't be done But he, with a chuckle, replied That " Maybe it couldn't," but he would be one Who wouldn't say so till he'd tried. So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin On his face. If he worried, he hid it. 83 THE GRANGE MASTEE He started to sing as he tackled the thing That couldn't be done, and he did it. EFFECTIVE ADVERTISING One cannot fail to recognize that advertising pays. Strange that when so much is credited to the press, many a weak Grange neglects to avail itself of this power. I once sat at the table of a prominent farmer who turned to me and said : " After all, the Grange has never done very much, now has it ? " Apparently he asked the question in good faith. Upon inquiry about the neighborhood I found that the local Grange was one that held its charter, it is true; that is, it paid dues to State Grange. But it was easy to surmise that its hall was dingy, the stairs leading to it unswept, and the lamps smoky; that the gavel fell late, half the oflScers were usually absent, the program mostly " picked up " at the meeting, and that business invariably dragged without snap or life. Members do not go about talking enthusiastically of such a Grange; and no wonder an outsider, even though he be an intelligent farmer and eligible to membership, takes it for granted that there is nothing being done by the Grange at large. 'No Master takes pride in such a Grange, although he may not know how to remedy it ; he needs training. The right kind of reports sent to the local paper can do much to remedy such a state of affairs as the one described. It is not difficult to find Granges that owe a large part of their steady growth to the carefully worded press notices which some member has furnished. These notices were not false reports that gave misleading A MASTER'S SUCCESS OR FAILURE 83 or exaggerated records, but they were appreciative ac- counts which encouraged faithful members and at- tracted outsiders. Who would not wish to hold member- ship in a society that has a reputation for abounding good fellowship, thoroughly jolly times, and gives valu- able information to boot? A good system of press re- porting goes far toward creating such an organization out of any membership. A Grange report which came to my desk illustrates what can be done. It occupied fifteen inches of space in a local paper, and began in this fashion: " Henry, why the dickens didn't you come down to Grange Saturday night? Surely the weather didn't keep you inside ? " " No, that wasn't it. I was over helping Andrew all the afternoon and I got home late and " " Oh, pshaw ! I was working all the afternoon, too, and had to hustle some to make it, but I wouldn't have missed that spelling contest for a dollar ! " " Quite a time, eh? " " Yes, we had a nice meeting. The young people suc- ceeded at last in getting a degree team started, etc., etc." Even a stranger to the neighborhood would read every word of such a report, which goes on to recite some of the details of the spelling match, name the cap- tain of the degree team, and to outline the plan for a proposed contest. He would know without being told that the Grange is doing something worth while. Great is the power of good Grange press reporting. 84 THE GEANGB MASTER THE PEESONAL ELEMENT 'A Sunday School teacher was trying to explain what a letter was. " Did you ever get a letter ? " she asked her class of primary pupils. " Yes, yes, one from you ! " exclaimed one and another of the group. The teacher was surprised, not recalling the letter she herself had written whenever one of her pupils was absent. But the incident showed her the value of the practice. It is true everywhere, with young and old, that it is the per-- sonality put into any work that wins and holds. Mas- ters of Granges, if they would succeed, may depend upon success in just so great a measure as they are will- ing to give of themselves to the work; nothing more, nothing less. Cold forms, glittering plans, fine halls, low insurance, discounted bills — ^none of these things, nor aU of them, will build up a strong Grange senti- ment without something besides. Every man or woman, perhaps unconsciously, craves individual recognition, sympathy, and appreciation. Whether his part in life be humble or high, this is true. If it be humble, per- haps he deserves and needs it most of all. The shepherd of a flock calleth his sheep by name. It is a sign of wisdom in a Grange Master, Lecturer, or other leader to build on this very simple suggestion. If he follows such an example and becomes acquainted with each individual's qualities, the Grange will best be able to serve all. The hearty greeting spoken to every member present at a meeting; the message sent through another member, or 'phoned, or written next day to a sick member; the recognition, when making A MASTEE'S SUCCESS OE FAILUEE 85 assignments on a committee or on the program of some special fitness of the person appointed for the duty ; the mention of some worthy work or object lesson exem- plified in one's farm or home — ^these are things that count. A thousand more might be added, but they are all among the uncounted details that occur to an officer to do for his Grange members when once he consciously sets himself to get into personal sympathy with their needs and abilities. CULTIVATING ALL TEEKITOET If the Master is in earnest about taking the Grange gospel to all eligible persons within his jurisdiction, some workable plan is necessary. Various methods are in vogue to increase membership; to recall them may prove suggestive. They are : 1. By additions that naturally come to a Grange with- out special effort. 2. By the contest plan. Scores of Granges have added to their membership by this method. It is an unexcelled tonic for a lethargic Grange, when prudently administered and wisely followed up. 3. By the "Jones plan" and its modifications. The names of non-members living on each road leading out from the Grange center are read and the list divided by choice among members for their cultivation and solicitation. If one person receives a half dozen invitations by this method he is apt to sign in self-defense, if for no better recog- nized reason. Eeports on the progress of these solicitors are made at the subsequent meetings until all the possi- bilities have been thoroughly canvassed. 86 THE GRANGE MASTEB 4. Names may be collected through roU-call, asking each person to name one eligible person who is not a member of the Grange. A committee on the Good of the Order then invites each person on such list to the social and program hour of the Grange at as early a date as possible. At the. time of his visit this committee sees that the guest is given 3. printed program of the quarter's work, or is verbally in- formed of what the Grange is doing; it attends to his com- fort and his introduction to others, and becomes generally responsible for his pleasure and his profit. One of the committee also sees that he is asked to consider signing an application for membership. When a Grange is extending unmistakable benefits to its members and into a conununity, a thorough can- vass inevitably results in an increased membership. A LIVE WIEE The Grange Master must radiateJ^dief and joyiin the Grange movement if he is to succeed in his admin- istration of one of its local units. He should remember that traflBc is stopped, business is paralyzed vs^hen the wire overhead is dead. This practical, old business world depends tremendously on an iuvisible, intangible something that must surcharge cold metal till everything that comes in contact with it is vitalized. When a trolley car lifts up its gaunt arm and, clutching a live wire, moves off vdth its precious burden of human freight, it is an emblem of the individual who reaches out his hand to clasp a force outside himself that will stimulate and carry him on to greater efficiency. Such a thing a man does when, he takes membership A MASTER'S SUCCESS OE FAILUEE 87 in the Grange. Such a motive power is the G-range^ has back of it a half century spent in generating bat- teries of influencg,for a million members distributed over the nation, fl^t tones up the systems of farm men ' and women to realize that they are connected with a live institution which is a factor with recognized au- thority in every attempt made to solve some of the great legislative and educational problems of our time. It is worth while for people to belong in such company, worth while to feel that they are a part of something bigger and stronger than themselves, and that the confines of one small neighborhood do not represent the extent of their human connections. It shakes sleeping faculties awake ; new currents of thought and sociability are set coursing through their veins; they tingle with the joy of getting out of old ruts in work, recreation, and language. Such contact broadens the outlook "of those who, maybe, have been walking in a circle across which they might easily have tossed a stone. It dispels isolation ; for it is a fact that, even though you can look into your neigh- bor's window or yard, if you do not get at his ideas or he at yours, youar^ strangers to each other. In short, the successful Magte^ feels and makes others feel thatkto be in the Graiagp, is to be connected with a live wire, i ^ PABT III TEE GRANGE LECTURER A GRANGE LECTURER'S CREED. I BELIETE in the Bigness of the Grange, — ^in its splendid past and sturdy present; but, most of all, I believe in its glorious possibilities for future usefulness. I BELIETE in a program for every meeting. I BELIEVE that, as Lecturer, I should love to do my work. I BELIEVE that I am entitled to take a large responsibility in realizing my Grange ideals among my own neighbors, — if need be, by. fanning breath into dormancy; wringing success from defeat; coaxing strength to grow from weakness; and changing Grange purposes from self-seeking to community building. I BELIEVE I am elected to work, — ^the pleasant, ceaseless work of helping others to do better work in field, home, and state than they have ever done before. I BELIEVE the program hour should dominate the Grange, and that for good. I BELIEVE even the entertainment features of the program should lead to thought. I BELIEVE plenty of light, fresh air, music, and good cheer are indispensable parts of every truly successful lecture hour. I BELIEVE the lecture hour is the handmaid of the Grange, — ^not greater than its legislative, co-operative, social, or other depart- ment, but the servant of each and all of these. I BELIEVE in appealing to the eye as well as to the ear; to the love of action; to an interest in public affairs; and to a sincere desire to lead an efficient, all-around life in the country. I BELIEVE a Grange Lecturer must have hope; exert tact; plan far ahead; often show more confidence in members than they feel in themselves; keep her program disappointments to herself; amd amile. I BELIEVE, finally, 1 should today resolve to beat my own record. CHAPTEE I THE GEANGE LECTUEE HOUE The literary program of a Grange meeting has come to be known as the lecture hour. It is as much a part of the exercises as the opening and closing ceremonies and the auditing of bills and accounts. Through the wisdom and foresight of the founders this time is provided for the advancement of education among members. It is in charge of the Lecturer, who prepares and conducts a program consisting of discussions interspersed with literary and entertaining features. All subjects that touch human interests are, as a matter of course, proper to come before the Grange, but the emphasis is naturally placed upon topics related to the farm and home and to civic interests. Perhaps no better summary of what falls within the wide province of the lecture hour has been written than the third paragraph of The Declara- tion of Purposes adopted by the National Grange in 1874: We shall endeavor to advance our cause by laboring to accomplish the following objects : To develop a better and higher manhood and woman- hood among ourselves. To enhance the comforts and at- tractions of our homes, and strengthen our attachments to our pursuits. To foster mutual understanding and co- 91 93 THE GEANGB LECTUEEE operation. To maintain inviolate our laws, and to emulate each other in labor, to hasten the good time coming. To reduce our expenses, both individual and corporate. To buy less and produce more in order to make our farms self- sustaining. To diversify our crops, and crop no more than we cultivate. To condense the weight of our exports, sell- ing less in the bushel and more on hoof and in fleece ; less in lint and more in warp and woof. To systematize our work, and calculate intelligently on probabilities. To dis- countenance the credit system, the mortgage system, the fashion system, and every other system tending to prodi- gality and bankruptcy. We propose meeting together, talking together, working together, buying together, selling together, and in general acting together for our mutual protection and advance- ment as occasion may require. We shall avoid litigations as much as possible by arbitration in the Grange. We shall constantly strive to secure entire harmony, good wUl, vital brotherhood among ourselves, and to make our Order per- petual. We shall earnestly endeavor to suppress personal, local, sectional, and national prejudices, all unhealthy rivalry, all selfish ambition. Faithful adherence to these principles wiU insure our mental, moral, social, and ma- terial advancement. The lecture hour has been called the heart of the Grange. This expression suggests that it serves the Grange movement as the heart serves the human body, intimating that in this hour are centered the life cur- rents of the entire Grange. It is the means by which energy is distributed throughout the system and weak points are strengthened. The heart, — that which sym- bolizes warmth, affection, life itself— this, in the Grange, THE GRANGE LECTURE HOUR 93 is the lecture hour. Here Grange initiative largely origi- nates and here it is maintained. Fifty-three years of Grange history clearly demon- strate that a Lecturer's program is essential to a perma- nent Grange life, yet patrons must be continually reminded that without observance of the lecture hour, Granges dv^indle and die. They must be led to a con- stantly increasing appreciation of its value. Though they purchase carload upon carload of coal, that alone •will not keep burning the real Grange fires. Though they dispense thousands of gallons of illuminating oil, it will not make their meetings bright and shining social centers. Though they buy enough binder twine to gird the globe with cordage cable, except the lecture hour be strung with lines of living interest, the very Grange itself will slip its moorings. Though they insure their bams and houses against fire and cyclone and the life of every member against grim death itself — this will not save the Grange from expiration if the lecture hour is not made the vitalizing center from which the red blood of Grange life is pumped to every part of its body. A EUEAL FOETJM There should be an attempt to have a program at every meeting of a Subordinate Grange. It was Na- tional Master Lowell, who, when Lecturer of New York State Grange, said that the lecture hour should dominate the Grange, and that for good. He held that the pro- gram should give a clear, high aim to officers and mem- bers, and that the topics considered and entertainments provided should always be of such a character as to 94 THE GRANGE LECTUEEE stimulate the highest citizenship. The lecture hour is meant to be used for the development of all its mem- bers, not simply a select few. It should create good feeling and expect courteous manners at the Grange, besides inciting its members to more purposeful think- ing as they go about their daily duties. Moreover, the ideal lecture hour cultivates patriotism and good citizen- ship. It affords a platform where public questions may be discussed in a parliamentary way and the sentiment of a neighborhood created and directed. PEOGEAM PEINOIPLES After many years of experimenting a few simple rules have come to obtain with respect to programs for the lecture hour of most Granges. Summarized, these prin- ciples are: 1. Carry out a program at every meeting. It is the Lec- turer's right and the constitutional duty of each Grange to do this. In most cases the Master and members expect it, although in a few cases it has not been customary. In very rare instances the Lecturer will need to insist on it. Upon persistent neglect of the program hour she should tactfully and good-naturedly urge its use and see that time is allowed. This accomplished, it- rests with the Lecturer to make good. 2. Every program should give the members informa- tion, something worth knowing. 3. Every program should afford something which all will like to remember, as a beautiful poem, a song, a pic- ture, or a jolly laugh with others. 4. Every program should impress itself through the eye THE GEANGE LECTUEE HOUE 95 as well as througli the ear, which calls for the use of ob- jects to illustrate some of the subjects talked about. 5. A progrand succeeds in proportion to the number of persons having a part in it. The fortnightly program should be interesting; not so from the standpoint of being entertaining alone, but because it offers something helpful and instructive as well. Members ought to be able to carry from the hall in memory something worth pondering and enjoying afterward. There should always be some music if pos- sible. Music helps people as nothing else does if it is of the right sort; and no Lecturer of a Grange has a moral claim on the office who will allow the repetition of a song, a recitation, or a remark that raises a laugh or thought that does not tend to promote " a higher man- hood and nobler womanhood." Besides music and en- tertaining features there should be one or two or three subjects set forth in papers or in discussion. The ques- tion box and the roll-call with various responses are two most effective resources of the new Grange, Another golden opportunity of the Lecturer is the enlisting of the young people and of new members as fast as they come in. It is probably safe to say that no Grange would become dormant if every member was at once made to feel responsibility. These details, pertaining to the suc- cessful Grange program, are dealt with at greater length under the chapter, " Methods in Lecture Work." CHAPTER II THE LECTUKER The Lecturer's responsibility in the conduct of a Grange is often said to be more important than that of any of the other officers. Possibly so, — ^but at the same time it must be remembered that no one office nor any one member can really be considered the most important in an organization based on the very principles of doing- things together. It is truly an important office, for upon the push and alertness of the Lecturer depend very much of that widening mental horizon and actual de- velopment of members and their homes which should result from the work of every well-regulated Grange. Level-minded farm people, having attained a clear understanding of the true mission of the Grange, usu- ally go into it for these purposes, and do not stay unless they find stress laid upon them. Some few members do not get this idea at first, but must be tactfully led into it. It is the duty of the Lecturer to prepare a program for each meeting, In the early days of the Grange, the Lecturer was presumed to furnish much of the pro- gram himself, deliver short addresses, and otherwise instruct the members ; but the development of the Grange has brought about two distinct changes: (1) It has THE LECTUEEE 97 gradually seen women supplant men to a very great extent in this office in Subordinate Oranges. (It is on this account that in these pages the Lecturer is as- i sumed to be a woman.) (2) The duties have changed/ from t^se of a " lecturer " to those of a teacher. JThe LegfteS" must know people as well as facts ; she must study how to arouse the indifferent members ; she must tactfully draw out the stored-up funds in the non- communicative members; and she must incite to com- petition and rivalry those who are not moved, by finer motives. < ^ /fjlf*- The wise Lfecturer will not forget that her mission is to persuade people that giving is better than getting. When she believes that a member has knowledge or ex- perience which he might profitably share with others, she should not easily be turned aside from obtaining, it, ~i&K=?tbe -©range-throu^ the -pr-ograms. She should rarely take " no " for an answer. She may have to angle for a different answer and sometimes cast line several times in the same spot, but it is worth all the, pains finally to land the shy, diffident gam&in the shape of-a- new -partieipant-in ihfiJ.ecture^ur.'^'hat member has then become something more than he was before; and for that purpose, above aU others, the Grange exists. Finally, the Lecturer must not lose heart. If she should, no one must know it. It will not do to stop after asking people to take part in the program once or twice. The humble mottoes, " Never be discouraged " and " Try, try again " must be guiding stars out of every perplexity^ . . .^t'^ ; / 98 THE GRANGE LBCTUEBR SOTJECES OF HELP If thought of the needs of the lecture hour is carried in the heart of the Lecturer, she will find in every con- tact of life material to make use of during this hour in the Grange. This means that she will have the need on her mind when she reads, and when she listens to con- versation, lecture, song, or sermon; it wiU be with her in whatever she does on the farm and in the home ; in whatever she sees by the roadside or in further journeys ; and in all those deeper experiences of life which come from mingling with fellow-men, women, and little chil- dren. There is no such word as " fail " to a Lecturer like this. She will overcome all obstacles, and whatever she does she will strive to do well. In preparation for their work many Lecturers collect what one of them has called " vest-pocket helps," but which, now that most Lecturers are women, might per- haps better be dubbed "hand-bag helps." These, are such things as the newspaper or magazine article that the Lecturer marks and saves; those fine quotations or current items that she has clipped or copied ; and those experiments of her own or of her neighbors which she has noted down. She carries any or all of these to the Grange for an emergency. The practice is most com- mendable and leads to more systematic training in the oflSce. Notebooks, clipping files, and other orderly meth- ods of preserving lecture-hour helps come naturally to be a part of the growing Lecturer's working outfit. More- over, a Lecturer who thus collects or makes notes of facts and incidents that may prove useful in the meetings en- THE LECTUEER 99 courages similar habits in the Grange membership. To such a Lecturer there comes a genuine thrill of satis- faction when a member, who has acquired the " pocket habit," pulls out a farm paper and reads the latest word on corn experiments; or takes out his notebook and quotes from it statistics on cattle-feeding; or dips into her knitting-bag for a clipping on short-cuts in house- work, or a recipe for an eggless cake, or some other sea- sonable hint. OTHER SOTJECBS OF HELP There is a hint to those who are put in places of Grange responsibility in an incident once related of a certain university president, who, at the opening of the fall term, sent a personal letter to each member of his faculty asking co-operation in solving the problems which should arise in conducting the school. He wrote in part: The success of our university in the past has come as the result of the hearty co-operation of all members of the faculty. The efficiency of the future will be in direct pro- portion to the helpful contributions made by faculty mem- bers. I take this opportunity to iavite you to make sug- gestions for improvements. ... I need your help. I must have it if your dreams and mine for this institution are to be realized. The Grange, in its way, also has educational value, and the Lecturer is its educational leader. Does anyone believe that a Grange could not be strengthened by leadership such as is shown in this quoted letter of the 100 THE GEANGE LECTURER university president to his colleagues? Such co- operation, if invoked candidly, and carried out com- pletely, is dynamic in its results. There comes to mind a certain local Grange where it has long been the prac- tice of the Lecturer to seek often for suggestion from other oflScers and members. Scarcely a program in years has been planned without a conference of from two to seven or eight persons, aiid not infrequently a general call is made to the entire membership for topics and suggestions. This simple — ^but aU too unusual — practice explains why this Grange is one of the fore- most in its state for program work. A DISTINCT PEOBLEM Two facts make the Lecturer's duty a peculiarly per- plexing one: the Grange members range in age from fourteen years upward, and no educational qualifica- tions are required to admit anyone who is otherwise eligible. The trained teacher, accustomed to dealing with grades and systems adapted to similar ages and stages of intellectual attainment, stands aghast at the situation confronting her when chosen Lecturer of a Subordinate Grange. What, then, shall be said of the untrained who is called to accept the office? Fortu- nately for such, no doubt, the true significance of the undertaking dawns slowly. POWEB OP THE LECTUEBB It has been shown that to the Lecturer very largely has been intrusted the direction of the amusement and the intellectual growth of the Grange members so far as THE LECTUEEE 101 they derive these from their association with the organi- zation. This is true, however freely the Lecturer calls upon other oflScers and members for suggestion and counsel. It is, therefore, no light matter to be Lecturer in a Subordinate Grange. This officer is, in a large measure, responsible for the interest of members in the Grange and for their ideals concerning their home and farm surroundings, rural schools, and local community conditions. The Lecturer is, moreover, somewhat re- sponsible for the attitude which the members hold toward issues, of both state and national welfare, such as taxation, the land question, conservation of natural resources, transportation, rural school improvement, control of packers, collective bargaining, relations be- tween farmers and laborers, reduction of government expenses, and many other vital affairs. Moreover, her influence is not confined to the membership of the Grange but, through it, she often redirects the pur- poses and interests of the whole community. Because she is also charged with the cultivation of unused abili- ties and the development of leadership in those who have heretoforc^modestly kept in the shadow, her trust is truly great, and ia matched only by her opportunity for personal growth and development and a satisfaction in having a part in the nation-wide movement for coun- try betterment, A lbcttjeke's SBLF-EXAMINATIOB" Elsewhere I shall have something to say about spe- cial opportunities for the training of Lecturers. Here we are concerned only with what the Lecturer derives 103 THE GEANGE LECTUKEE or may do for herself tlxrough the discharge of the ordinary duties of her oflBce. Henry Ward Beecher is reported to have once said that whenever one of his congregation went to sleep the sexton had orders to come around and wake up the minister ! If the lecturer suspects that the Grange is falling asleep, it is advisahle that she should go home and search herself somewhat after this fashion : " Am I constantly trying to get new people to take part in my program? Am I assigning simple tasks to begiimers and harder ones to old-timers ? Am I giving the advan- tage in time and opportunity to diffident members and holding the ready talkers in check ? Am I asking indi- viduals to bring such objects as specimens of fruit, cookery, grain, wood, flowers, stones, and pictures or models to illustrate my programs 1 Am I keeping the young people busy? Am I planning my work weU ahead so as to keep a grip on it and make each program better than the last ? If I am doing these things I know that I am not far from the Lecturer's Highway to Suc- cess. If I am not, I can at least try again ! " CHAPTEK III METHODS IN LECTUEE WOEK The work of a Lecturer who has even a modicum of aptness for her oflBce can well be improved by a study of the results and methods of other Lecturers and of lead- ers in other institutions having educational aims; 'but a Lecturer cannot take a Normal training course in lecture-hour methods, however desirable that might be. Even if such instruction were anywhere given, oftener than not the Lecturer of the Grange is the busiest' wife and mother in the neighborhood. Whatever helps she has must come to her; she cannot go far afield for them. The suggestions regarding a Lecturer's methods that are set down in this little book are, therefore, writ- ten with such a person in mind and are not presumed to be a guide to a technically trained teacher. The large majority of Grange Lecturers are men and women in middle life or quite young people who have not had the advantages of higher schools or colleges which they would have liked. Comparatively few of them have had technical training in agriculture or home economics. Many of them are now assuming extraordinary burdens that their children may have what they lacked in the way of educational privileges. They recognize in the Grange somewhat of a recompense for their own earlier 103 104 THE GRANGE LECTUEER loss, and they are using their light to the utmost for the development of themselves and their neighbors. BEOOBDS The more crowded and short of time a Lecturer may be the more necessary it is that she have some definite order and system for her Grange duties. The first essential is a place for her Grange material. This may be an undisturbed desk, a shelf in a bookcase, or simply a pasteboard box kept always accessible. The important thing is that, however humble, the " Lectur- er's comer," — as some call it, — shall be separate from other associations of the home. In this place the Lec- turer can quickly put her hand on references, program outlines, clippings, and records regarding her work. The more time and system she can give to the filing of all this material, the more usable it will become to her, but even without that, the mere keeping of all Grange material together will be a first decided step toward eflSciency. Notebooks. — ^Every Lecturer needs a notebook, — ^two are better ; one for home use and one to carry to Grange meetings. The home record book is for a complete list of the names and addresses of members of the Grange. If the Lecturer holds the office in a Pomona Grange, there should also be kept a list of the newspapers of the county for mailing purposes, a list of Lecturers and other prominent officers of all Subordinate Granges and officers of other rural organizations of the county and the names of such individuals in her own and other counties to whom she may wish to send programs or METHODS IN LECTUEB WORK 105 press reports from time to time. This list should in- clude the names of the county school commissioner and the rural ministers. In the home record book should also be kept copies of programs which have been carried out by the Grange. This makes an invaluable reference, especially if the Lecturer serves more than one year in the office. Here, too, may be pasted all press reports of all meetings of the Grange, — for the Lecturer who grows in her work comes to depend more and more on the press for clinching the success of her efforts. The Lecturer's second notebook, — the one that slips into the vest-pocket or hand-bag and goes wherever the Lecturer goes, — ^is simply for handy reference, and for jotting down an address, a topic, an idea, significant and useful facts about members, or an incident that occurs to the Lecturer as having some future value. Every Lecturer ought to acquire the habit of being able to make such entries under all sorts of inconvenient circum- stances, — ^while people talk to her, while riding in a car or buggy, while churning, or while quieting the baby. Moreover, by making note of ideas as they occur to her in such close association with her own daily life and observation, the Lecturer will give her program plans a basis of reality and fitness to the actual needs and conditions of her neighbors which no amount of material gleaned from books and distant fields can pos- sibly provide. In the " hand-bag " notebook will also be slipped, from time to time, such clipped items as the Lecturer may wish to hand out with assigned topics, or which she thinks she might use in a program emergency. Printed helps. — In the Lecturer's office nook should 106 THE GEANGE LECTTJEEE be filed books, periodicals, and clippings desirable for reference. If time permits, these may profitably be sorted under a few general heads, as — Farm practices, Crops, Agricultural needs, Home economics. House- hold equipment. Farm home helps, Eural recreation, Care of children, Legislation, Eural public welfare, etc., etc. If each of such groups of clippings is placed in a separate envelope, it makes the filing more sys- tematic, but a paper clip snapped over each set answers very well. In the end any similar plan of sorting saves the busy Lecturer's time. ACQUAINTANCE WITH HUMAN MATEEIAL " I never thought about studying the members before. I have thought a good deal about my programs, but now I see- that is only a part of what I have to do." The speaker was a Lecturer who was attending a conference on lecture-hour methods where the importance of know- ing people had been emphasized. She was right; topics, questions, recitations, etc., are but the warp of the web the Lecturer is set to weave. Folks are the woof. It is necessary that Lecturers consider their members care- fully. Let the Lecturer occasionally name to herself their good points and plan to call these into play. Espe- cially should she study those people who are practically new to her acquaintance; but even among familiar friends will she discover new program possibilities when they are scrutinized with an eye to such points. Per- haps one man is a weed crank and, while he is no talker, he keeps his fields cleaner than those of his neighbors. Suppose the Lecturer gather a handful of the most METHODS IN LECTURE WORK 107 pestiferous weeds, including newer kinds, and, taking them to Grange, ask this man what they are, what he knows of their dangerous habits, and how to rid the fields of them. If he mentions other weeds, follow up the lead with questions. If he evinces considerable interest, send to the agricultural college for a bulletin on weeds and hand this to him at the next meeting. The Lecturer should make it a point to learn what papers and magazines are taken by members of her Grange, and to cultivate their use in the lecture hour. It is worth far more to ascertain what paper a member reads and get him to select one article from it to tell about in Grange than to allow him to talk at random. By watching the drawing of books from the traveling library the Lecturer is enabled to assign a review or a quotation from a certain book by a particular member, and the assignment can scarcely be declined. The writer recalls numberless instances where keeping her ears and eyes open has served the Lecturer in good stead. Once she caught the Master of her Pomona talking to some- one else about his roses. As he lived distant from her she had not known that he was an enthusiastic rose gardener; and she might have given him the topic of rutabagas instead of roses, had she not been eavesdrop- ping in a good cause! Another Lecturer was con- siderably surprised to learn that the wife of a man who was considered a progressive farmer knew nothing about the meaning of the term " crop rotation." Still another learned that half the women in her Grange understood something of the working of bacteria on clover roots but nothing of bacteria in relation to vegetable canning. 108 THE GEANGB LECTUEER Possibly there are such in other Granges ; if so, it is the Lecturer's privilege to search them out and repeatedly put simple problems and questions before them, taking pains to make the questions attractive and plain to those farm people who have not had the elements of agricul- ture and home economics in their school days. It is part of her task and joy to be persistent and patient with these older boys and girls, meanwhile rejoicing in the dawn of a better time when under the direction of the schools their boys may study farming and their girls learn of home keeping. To have a member say, " Please excuse me," ought to be enough to set a Lecturer studying until she finds some way to get that person interested and actually con- tributing to the program. Perhaps it is so slight a contribution at first that he does not know he has really made one ; and again it might seem to be a very odd one if one thinks of a program only as a " talk-fest." But it all helps in teaching the greatest lesson of the Grange, — ^namely, that one gains by sharing in this co- operatively-minded organization. PEOGEAM BUILDIlirG Progressive Grange principles and practices require that its programs shall be hidlt after a design in the mind of the Lecturer, not thrown together out of what- ever material happens to be lying around loose. A string of time-worn recitations, random talks on the spur of the moment, and some songs selected while the Grange waits, — such a hodge-podge is unacceptable to Grange ideals. METHODS IN LBCTTJEE WORK 109 Features of a balanced program, — ^Broadly speaking, the framework of a well-built Grange program is made by using two or three important topics, which almost invariably relate to the farm, the home, and affairs of public moment. These few carefully chosen subjects form the skeleton of the program, but material less pointed or less vital is often used to supplement these. Many times these leading topics are selected with a dis- tinct thought in mind that their discussion will lead to action on the part of the Grange, and, even sometimes, on the part of the community. Thus the Lecturer may place the subject of " Co-operative Laundries " on her program because there is a recognized need in that neighs borhood of relief from the heavy burdens of wash-day. In this way she affords Grange members an opportunity to learn what has been done elsewhere in this direction and to thresh the matter out with reference to the local situation. When a legislative measure concerning farm- ers is before the voters of a state, the Lecturer who constructs her program with a purpose gives that subject a leading place with full time for discussion and action upon it. In choosing subjects for discussion, the experienced Lecturer avoids top broad topics. For example, she does not give the topic " Sanitation and Decoration in the Farm Home " to one person, but asks one woman to tell which part of the house she cleans first, what room next, and so on; asks another what cleaning materials ^he uses ; another what floor coverings she considers most healthful; another to talk on curtains and draperies; another on bedroom furnishings; still another on wall- 110 THE GEANGB LECTUEEE paper and pictures; she asks a man to tell how water is piped into his kitchen, or how it might be if it is not, and another man how his cellar is made and kept dry. Instead of assigning the subject " Poultry Kaising," she announces sub-topics, as " How to Set a Hen," " What to Feed Young Chicks," etc.; instead of "Grain Crops " she gives to one person " Wheat," to another " How to Test Seed Com," and so on. Likewise with other topics. She breaks up a subject and sets a larger number of persons to thinking and talking about its specific parts. It is often said that the best Grange programs con- sist of a " balanced ration," — that is, some solids, some bulk, and some spice. The farm and the home topics, and public questions furnish the solids ; the music, reci- tations, and reading furnish the bulk ; and the " sur- prise features," the plays and the refreshments, supply the spice or relish. When any of these elements are lacking the program is too heavy on the one side or too light on the other. The balanced program has come to be the ideal for a Grange. A writer on this theme says : " By all means let us keep our Grange a Grange — not turn it into something else. A tendency to trans- form it into a playhouse or a prayer meeting should be speedily checked ; one is as bad as the other." The dis- criminating Lecturer appreciates the need of both light and serious numbers on her program in order to accom- plish her purposes. The remark of a very practical, unsentimental housekeeper comes to mind just now ; she said : " I always like radishes for my table ; they add such a pretty touch of color to it." The Lecturer has METHODS IN LECTUEB WOEK 111 abundant use for touches of color in every program — the things that enliven and delight. Eadishes are good to eat, but they are attractive, too. Herein lies a secret of the successful Lecturer ; she sugar-coats the medicine she gives, if you wish to put it that way. In still other words, she gives thought to the details of her program. She does not serve simply two or three dishes of solid food without adding relishes and inviting side-dishes, neither does she serve pie and cake alone. Program making is an art just as much as picture making, fine music, or dress making, or laying out and planting a field so that it presents a creditable appearance when finished. Therefore care must be given to details, — ^the music, the occasional recitation, reading, humorous anecdote, and such exhibits as will illustrate and drive home the more serious meanings of any program effort. Music. — Music is a lure by which a skilful Lecturer may entice a fallen Grange out of most of its dilemmas. Al l the well-known means of using vocal and instru- mental music to cheer, to thrill, and to uplift a gathering of people apply to its use in a Grange program. Indeed, fine music should be emphasized for country people more than it has been, since they do not have the privilege of the frequent concerts given in cities, and in very many sections even yet music is not taught in rural schools. The Grange has a large opportunity to serve its people through calling them to sing together and to listen occasionally to highly trained musicians. The Lec- turer who appreciates the service of music in unlocking the best of human traits uses it frequently and in vari- ous ways throughout her programs. Now and then a 112 THE GEANGE LECTUEEE Grange hires a music teacher to set it on the " singing way," but usually a person with sufficient training may be found within the membership to act as leader for community singing and a Grange choir. It is not suffi- cient to draw the musical young people within the Grange's circle of singers and players. It is at least desirable that the " community singing " shall be so hearty and spontaneous that all will sing in their hearts, if not with their voices. In the possession of every Grange exists unguessed treasures of musical ability which should be discovered and developed. There are old instruments stored away at home that should be coaxed into the Grange hall; there are stiffened fingers that should be induced to try the strings once more. In some homes, too, are fine-toned Victrolas which may be borrowed to enrich a program. Skilled musicians may live in the vicinity or visit every Grange occasion- ally and such people are usually glad to share the de- lights of their art. Even a Lecturer who is herself lack- ing in musical ability may do very, very much good for her Grange through the introduction of varied musical features. Bedtations and readings. — ^Members who do not sing or play can often recite or read well. Entertainment and sometimes striking lessons are thus brought into the program. Many of the readings given in almost every locality are of a very mediocre quality, when judged as literature. The same may be said of a large proportion of the popular songs and plays. It is a pity that amusement standards of rural people should suffer so much from the practice of allowing the ave- METHODS IN LBCTUEE WOEK 113 nues of entertainment in small towns to be so thoroughly commercialized. To offset the influence produced by motion-picture shows and cheap plays the Grange needs to give a strong tonic of more wholesome recreation. A Lecturer will not waste her time who searches long and far to find high-grade poems for her members to memo- rize, and to select readings that are simple and elevated in tone and and language. By precept and example she may do something to counteract the effects of undesir- able amusements. Dramatization. — What has already been said of the quality of other entertaining features introduced into a Grange program applies with even more force to the plays that are staged. Plays, acted parts in tableaux, character songs, and recitations — all such efforts afford one of the happiest mediums of developing the young people of a Grange. The Lecturer is wise who looks beyond the evening's success of the play and coaches her members with care because of the salutary effects of such training. Whatever dramatic characters young people assume, that they are for the time being. For this reason it is highly important that the parts taken shall be such as will ennoble and inspire. Charades, pageants, and dramatized cartoons make effective fea- tures to present during the lecture hour. Since curi- osity whets interest, it has been found a good plan to announce these merely as " Surprise Features " in the advance advertising of the program. Comparatively few plays have been written with a successful appeal to greater love for country life and its institutions, although many of opposite character 114 THE GEANGE LECTUEER •are easily found. Among the wholesome and accurate lepresentations of the farm and its social life are the plays written by Dora Hall Stockman, at present Lec- turer of Michigan State Grange. She has written a volume of short plays, out of her experience in a farm home and in rural institutions; most of these are ad- mirably fitted to use as Surprise Features or as restful interludes in otherwise heavy programs. A somewhat longer play * by the same vn-iter depicting the effect of a Grange on a forlorn farm home and its neighborhood has been mentioned in another chapter. This play was staged by Vergennes Subordinate Grange, as a com- pliment to members of the ITational Grange when that body met in Grand Eapids, Michigan, in 1919. It has been the means in many other states of leading scores of outsiders to see the Grange as an educational institution in a true and broad sense, and, as such an interpreta- tion of the Order, this little play ranks among the finest flowers of Grange literature. Choice of participants. — The Lecturer who has studied her members quite as much as she has her topics will not often be troubled to find a speaker for a subject she wishes presented. But now and then a topic does not easily suggest the right person to handle it, and it must be assigned to some member who has the faculty of delving into new subjects. Because the first choice of a member to present a certain topic often fails to bring out all its points, it is an excellent plan to assign it to two or three at the same time. •"The Coming of Happy Valley Grange to Hard Scrabble Hollow," by Mrs. Dora H. Stockman, Lansing, Mich. METHODS IN LECTUEE WOEK 115 To use children frequently should be a cardinal prin- ciple with every Lecturer. Continuance and future prosperity of the Order depend upon the children. Al- ways allow them to attend the program hour and see that some part at least is made interesting for them. Chil- dren love to be useful in many little ways; they are eager to assist in errands and to take part in the pro- gram. Such service helps them, their parents, and the Grange. The true teacher-Lecturer aims to lead as many dif- ferent members to take part in the program as is con- sistent with time and practical results. This is a first- class rule, especially for small Granges or one whose members do not readily take part in program work. Where membership is large or where there is danger of some members taking too much time, we must limit either the number of participants or the time each may use. It has been observed that wherever a large propor- tion of the Grange shares in any exercise, the social or fraternal feeling is increased. iFor this purpose Lec- turers occasionally introduce a march, fancy drill, or other co-operative exercise into their program. Sometimes use an outside speaker; by this is meant someone who is not a member of the local Grange. It may be a Grange speaker or other person from a dis- tance, or it may be a county official or professional man from town ; it may be an exceptionally good farmer outside the Grange who is asked to come in and tell how he runs his dairy or cares for his orchard; or it may be a member of a near-by Grange who is invited over to discuss some topic. But it is not wise to depend over- 116 THE GEANGE LECTUEER much on outside speakers in the local Grange program for it must not be forgotten that the lecture hour is a training school for the development^ of its own mem- bers. Yet the occasional address by one outside the immediate membership tends to prevent narrowness and conceit. If, upon such an occasion, the Grange holds an open meeting, the result may be to bring new mem- bers and widen acquaintance with Grange aims and achievements. Providing program helps. — So far as she is able the Lecturer should be prepared to tell a member where he can find helps upon any subject she has assigned him. If she reads an article or book which suggests a usable subject, she should supply the printed material or give information as to where it may be found. All members should be urged to keep a watchful eye on what they read and to preserve or bring to the Lecturer whatever seems to them of value in preparing for lecture-hour dis- cussions. Publicity. — ^A successful Lecturer once said she some- times announces as one feature of her program this: " Something you will have to come to find out about." Another Lecturer confessed that her best helpers were " a little bit of mystery and printer's ink." Both ad- vertised their progran},s by appealing to the very human trait of curiosity. May not both factors have con- tributed to their re-election year after year ? The largest and best all-round Granges in every state are those that advertise their meetings by all available means, — ^verbal announcement, press, telephone, and mail ; especially do they make- known the questions to METHODS IN LECTIJEB WOEK ll? be considered in their program hours. Such systematic advertising always brings direct results in added mem- bers and in increased influence of the Grange in com- munity affairs. The Lecturer 'who fails to avail herself of this help is like the man who uses a cradle after he owns a self-binder. What is Grange news? — ^Many Lecturers are them- selves press reporters for their Granges; others are regularly interviewed by reporters. To such the follow- ing suggestions by a skilled Grange writer will be wel- come and, if followed, will improve the quality of much of our Grange reporting for the local press. J. W. Darrow, of Chatham, E". Y., who for many years pre- pared the Grange page for use of the Associated Press, once stated: I desire information relative to important Grange mat- ters such as relate to co-operative buying or selling, edu- cational work, community service, co-operation with the schools, churches, or other fraternal organizations — ^in short, anything that you think other members of the Order ■wxmld be interested to know. In respect to co-operative baying I wish to know the amount or number of articles purchased during the year, value of the same, saving tO members, etc. And in regard to community service, tell me what, if anything, your Grange is doing to promote the interests of the community, town, or county, as for in- stance, in village improvement, support of charitable in- stitutions like county hospitals and visiting nurses, regu- lation of sanitary conditions, improved highways, village reading rooms, entertainments, etc., etc. 118 THE GEANGB LECTUEEE A model Grange report. — ^Before me is what I con- sider a model Grange report. This appeared in the Grange department of an enterprising local paper and occupied nearly a column of space. There were other Grange reports, not so long, on the same page; and another paper of the same town maintains a special Grange department. It speaks well for the press that it recognizes in the Grange one of the constructive forces of the locality, and, incidentally, it is interesting to know that the county in which such fine Grange ad- vertising is done ranks as one of the strongest Grange counties of its state. I have referred to this particular Grange report as a model, and now let me analyze it as such. There is a wide difference between some Grange reports and a model report, often because the press reporter does not understand which features to enlarge upon and which to touch lightly ; and, again, a press report may not amount to much simply because there has not been much in the meeting to chronicle. This report is a good one, first of all, because there was plenty of material for the reporter to put into a write-up ; and, for a second reason, the reporter caught the salient facts and set them down. This Grange did things, apparently, from start to finish. Moreover, the report shows that the Grange has equip- ment so that several activities may be conducted at one time, reaching different ages and tastes. The reader learns that after the opening business the girls went to the kitchen and, under the supervision of two women, prepared tea and light refreshments which they served later ; and at the same time the boys retired to another METHODS m LECTIJEE WORK 119 room where they planned club work under the direc- tion of the teacher of agriculture of the city schools. Meanwhile, led by the officers, the older members of the Grange laid plans for the ensuing year and discussed matters concerning rural school improvement. The re- porter goes somewhat into detail as to these discussions, and that is one of the model features of the report ; peo- ple care more to know what was said during a discussion than to learn merely that a certain topic " was dis- cussed." The business session was devoted to the con- sideration of the exceedingly important matter of form- ing a co-operative elevator company, somewhat along the lines of the stock shipping association promoted by this same Grange the year before. Announcements were made of a special meeting to discuss further the co- operative project and of a Grange social, both indicat- ing how this Grange keeps something continually before its members. Besides the considerable quantity of heavy work accomplished at this meeting, there were readings and some particularly fine music, — ^features which ap- peal to some whom the heavier part of the program does not attract. The names of the participants and the titles of their selections appear in the report. In giv- ing notice of the proposed co-operative meeting the re- porter listed the menu for the dinner — a very excellent idea, as such announcement wards off the pot-luck type of Grange feast. At this same meeting the Master an- nounced committee appointments for the year, and the report gives the names of appointees on each committee so that members have them listed for reference and those not present may read them in the paper. A noticeable 120 THE GEANGE LECTUEER fact about these committees is their unusual number, showing how the ofiBcers divide responsibility and enlist as many of their membership as possible in special activities undertaken by the Grange. Besides the usual committees there is a " Kitchen committee " and a " Dining-room committee," both changing quarterly ; then there are captains of each of four degree teams, and committees upon " Good of Order," " Women's Work," "Dances," "Entertainments," and "Educa- tion." A press reporter who sifts out the gist of a meeting in such a fashion as this is -^ne of the leaders of that Grange, whether recognized as such or not. And a Grange that furnishes its reporter with such substantial material to report is one that has rare leadership. Such officers plan their Grange work and they also work their plan. They see visions and work to materialize them. Perhaps they do not often recall that the old prophet said : " Without vision the people perish " ; but whether or no, they work on the prophet's principle in conduct- ing their Grange. Printed programs. — One of the practical turns lec- ture work has taken in recent years is the tendency to announce programs considerably in advance. Most Granges that do this also print their programs, dis- tribute them among their own members, and exchange with other Granges. The aims to be attained through these plans are better dissemination of Grange informa- tion among the entire membership; better attendance because reference to the printed program informs mem- bers as to dates and places of meetings; and, greatest METHODS IN LECTUEE WOEK 121 of all, assurance of better preparation for the parts assigned. This last point is pre-eminently the shining goal always before the ambitious Lecturer. If a single member can be induced, either directly or by adroit means, to go to new sources outside himself for informa- tion on the topic assigned him, it is a victory. By notifying a member several weeks or months in advance of the time he is expected to present a topic, the Lec- turer gives him little excuse for failure and much in- centive to prepare his part well. Considerable experi- ence with the use of the advance program has revealed some marked examples of painstaking preparation ex- tending over more than the time ordinarily allowed for such. The work of each quarter has laid like a map before the Lecturer and she in turn has been able to plan its proportions carefully. The printed programs have been in demand both with the home Grange and with those of neighboring localities. How much of the in- creased attendance is due to them is not known, but doubtless it is considerable. Some Granges print their programs for a year in advance. Theoretically this method has the advantage of unifying the work of the whole year and giving a still longer time for preparation. On the contrary, it is not a plan that will work itself. Programs must needs be followed up at the time of presentation, much the same as if just issued, as some will overlook their assign- ments; there will occur unavoidable vacancies; and there will unexpectedly arise vital questions that must be inserted to keep the work up to date. Moreover, members recently admitted should be used on the pro- 123 THE GEANGE LECTUEBE gram before the year is over. By confining the issue of advance programs of Subordinate Granges to the quarter, these objections are obviated in large measure. CONDUCTING THE PEOGEAM When the Master reaches the head of " Literary Ex- ercises " on the general order of the Grange, the Lec- turer assumes charge and conducts the program she has prepared. AH the tact and perseverance, all the radiat- ing good cheer with which she has been endowed, should now be called into play. Eemembering that diflSdent natures blossom best under friendly eyes, she summons, too, her reserve forces of confidence in certain of the timid members who have been assigned parts on the program. While it is true that in the best conducted Grange programs the Lecturer does little talking, yet she can add much to the success of the meetings by care- ful attention to the few remarks with which she intro- duces the members who take part. A brief and pointed word of explanation may be given also regarding some of the topics announced, or concerning the author or subject of a recitation or song. Thus the Lecturer may often add to the effect of the whole program by linking its parts together. Encouragerment of discussion. — It bears repeating that the vital aim of any Grange program must be the increasing expression by the members of their own opinions and convictions. This is best accomplished by throwing the meeting open for general discussion after a subject has been presented by the one to whom it was METHODS IN LECTURE WORK 133 previously assigned. In proportion as a Lecturer suc- ceeds in enlisting her members to discuss topics brought before the Grange, so is her success. A number of years ago, when I was serving as Lec- turer of Michigan State Grange, a co-worker put into my hands an article clipped from a current number of the magazine known as The Circle. It included a de- scription of a Grange lecture hour, and so' admirably did it set forth the tactics of a teacher-like Lecturer that I circulated it as widely as possible among the other Lecturers of my state; and now, in the belief that it may prove helpful to a yet larger number who are wres- tling with the problem of getting discussions upon seri- ous themes, I am making it a part of this chapter upon lecture-hour methods. Brother Burritfs Oold Mine. — The Lecturer -was a woman. The subject she had set for the evening was : " Potatoes — how shall we grow them for bigger yields and higher quality ? " The Lecturer called upon one after another for an ac- count of their methods and experiences. Some were good talkers and spoke interestingly and helpfully. Others were backward, ill at ease, plainly did not know how to formu- late expression in a dozen words about practices in which they were highly proficient. This 'is the Lecturer's oppor- tunity to get them to thinking, to draw them out. There was one brother who was notably a good potato grower — a wrinkled, stooping, kindly-faeed old man. Several times he arose as the Lecturer called upon him, only to sif down again, saying, " I ain't no talker." 124 THE GEANGE LECTUKEE "Brother Burrilt/' persisted the Lecturer, "you know more than any of us about growing potatoes ; what can you tell us of your methods?" "I dunno/' for all the world like a schoolboy who has forgotten his piece. " What kind of seed do you use ? " " Best I can buy." " What variety do you find best ? " " Green Mountain and Irish Cobbler do best by me now. I've planted different kinds; some used to do well, but don't seem to do no good no more around here." This was jerked out a few words at a time. He sat down quickly, hoping the inquisition was over. " How do you plant, whole tubers or cut ? " persisted the Lecturer. " Cut. About two or three eyes to a piece. Not par- tickler." " How much fertilizer do you use ? " " All I can get. Never been able to get more than I would use yet." " How do you apply your fertilizers ? " " Depends." "On what?" "If it's strawy, I'd plow it in; if well-rotted, I'd top- dress after plowing in the fall." " Do you always plow in the fall? " " Depends." "On what?" '* Condition of ground, and what I intend to plant. If I had a good stand of clover I'd wait till spring and let it get a good start and then plow it under." "For potatoes?" "Potatoes or anjrthing." METHODS IN LECTTJEE WOEK 135 " Do you use commercial fertilizers ? " " 'Tain't much good tryin' to farm without." "With potatoes?" " Potatoes or anything to my way of thinking." " How much to a hill ? " added the Lecturer. "About half a pound of the best quality. I mix my own and I know what I'm using." " You would not trust to the ground being rich enough to give you a good crop with stable manure alone ? " " No. If I could put on thirty to forty tons to the acre year after year I might risk it. But where I am stable manure isn't easily got. I reckon to about double the crop after doin' everything else I can to fit the ground by usin' commercial fertilizer." " It seems to be your experfeneej;^ Brother Burritt, that it's not much good trying to raise potatoes in this section without heavy fertilizing?" ^ " That's so, but that ain't all. If you don't cultivate right and spray right your fertilizing won't do it alone. I set myself for about three hundred bushel to the acre and I reckon to divide it in about three. For the fittin' of the ground and right eultivatin' about a hundred; for right fertilizin' about a hundred ; and for right sprayin' about a hundred. The weather I throw in for good measure, 'tain't no use worryin' about that. If it's fav'rable and you've done your part, then crops is good. If it ain't, then you lose. But you won't lose so much even then if you does what's right. In f armin' you got to know what to do and then do it, no matter what the odds against you, and then most times after the fight's over you're not clean busted up." There was more in the article to the same purpose. It 126 THE GEANGE LECTUEBE was like pulling teeth to get Brother Burritt to talk, but he overcame his timidity toward the end and made a real contribution to the lecture hour. Points to consider. — Brother Burritt is exactly the sort of man that one finds everywhere. He is in your Grange, and he attends the same Grange I do. A study of the method by which this Lecturer secured his assist- ance in discussion is well worth any Lecturer's time. Notice, first, the use of tact ; second, perseverance ; and, third, observe her familiarity with the subject she was trying to get the man to talk upon, — she knew potatoes, at least well enough to ask questions about them. Brother Burritt had, stored up in him, a genuine mine of valuable information, gathered from experience and observation, but his Lecturer had to use the pick and shovel of her profession in order to unearth it. An- other time he will yield up his treasures with less effort on the Lecturer's part, and it will be a less painful process for him. How many, many times have other Lecturers called upon a "Brother Burritt" and utterly failed to get at the gold they knew was stored in his mind! Why did these Lecturers fail ? Was it for lack of tact, per- severance, or familiarity with the subject under dis- cussion, — one, two, or all of these? If a Lecturer is born tactful, she may be thankful. If she is not, she need not despair, but should cultivate this quality ; thai exercise perseverance; and make herself so familiar with the main topics on her program that nothing that seems like stubbornness or lack of education or con- fidence or anything else will keep the member, who METHODS IN LBCTUEE WOEK 137 really knows something about the subject, from helping her. Use of oijeds, exhibits, etc. — ^Lecturers who use all possible resources keep in mind the fact that people learn more quickly and remember more vividly the im- pressions that they receive through sight than those they receive through hearing. They make an ally of this fact by the free use of objects, illustrations, and exhibits of many sorts. If a member brings to a meet- ing an extra-sized potato, or a nearly perfect ear of corn, he should be ranked in the Lecturer's estimation as having contributed to the educational training of the hour. He has offered the Lecturer an opportunity to ask him concerning the culture that produced so good a specimen ; and this very simple act on his part cultivdtes the man himself. It was Euskin who said : " The great- est thing a human soul ever did in this world is to see something and tell what it saw in a plain way." In the ideal Grange there will be a table in the hall set apart for exhibits. During the ini^rval between Grange nights, every member who finds a particularly fine product of his orchard or field or garden, or discovers an especially interesting blossom of the wayside or flower-border, will, if possible, preserve it and take it to the Grange for the exhibit table. Eelics, curiosities, and oddities, as well as the new and novel of modern times, will find a place there. "Whatever is brought will serve as a contribution to the lecture hour. Perhaps people will look at the exhibit only during intermission, but more often questions will be asked and answered regarding the specimens. Valuable information will 128 THE GBANGE LECTTJEEE thus be given and members will remember because they saw as well as heard. Art of questiormng. — The art of questioning in such a manner as to lead a person from the expression of one thought to another of wider scope has been the subject of volumes. Perusal of them might help a Lecturer, but practise of the art is her surest method of attaining it. New Lecturers need especially to appreciate some- thing of the value that lies in knowing how to ask ques- tions. They will find abundant opportunity to use such knowledge both in and out of the lecture hour proper. To avoid ashing direct questions is a growing Lec- turer's first precaution ; for, if a shy member can safely say " Yes " or " No " he immediately does so and re- tires into silence, forcing the Lecturer to try a new tack. A new Lecturer, who evidently had not practised the question method, once stated her troubles in these words : " We have about one hundred members who are will- ing to do anything but discuss topics. I have never seen them carry on a lively discussion." Now, such a situation as this may not really be as discouraging as it at first seems to be. It is probable that it is due simply to want of development on the part of the people, who may never have practised expressing themselves. But, on the other hand, it may come from want of a leader. If this latter is true, this Lecturer has met her big opportunity; for it depends very largely upon that officer to lead this fine body of one hundred men and women into the art of discussing topics, or, what is the same thing, the habit of saying what they think in METHODS IN LECTTJEE WOKK 129 orderly fashion before other folks -who are much like themselves. If you are the Lecturer, how shall you go about it? First, do not make any grand flourish of plans, but simply announce a program in advance. Put upon that program at least one carefully selected sub- ject that you know will be quite familiar to all or many of your members. When you announce the topic at the meeting, call first upon the person you feel is most sure to respond. In case he says a few words and sits down, quietly ask him questions that vsdll draw him out fur- ther. Do not ask him to rise, and in no other way call attention to his having disappointed you. Have your questions so well in mind that you are prepared for a regular siege until, by some means, you have excited contrary opinions or awakened latent thought upon the subject in hand. To take the contrary side and invite opposite views often succeeds when other means fail. As I have repeatedly stated, much depends upon fitting a topic to the person who is to handle it. After this, more than half the rest depends also upon the Lec- turer. Therefore your people must be -studied even more than your program helps ; you should make your- self familiar with their successful lines of farming, or other work ; above all, discover their fads, what they do for the love of it, and prepare to bombard them with questions along those lines. Kemember, " fail " is not in the dictionary of a Lecturer who will do these things. Two very simple methods of inducing people to take part in general discussion are a roll-call exercise and a question box. There may be some new Lecturer who does not know what is meant by the " roll-call " in this 130 THE GEANGE LECTUEER sense; very many Lecturers ask their members to come prepared to respond briefly at the calling of the roll by giving some fact or quotation or by answering some question; it is expected that every person present will feel under obligation to respond, — in fact the success of the exercise lies largely in the extent to which every member rises to that responsibility. When the Grange is new or many of the members are strange to program work, the Lecturer selects a subject that is easy to dis- cuss, and undertakes to secure a response from every person present. She is patient, keeps smiling, and will not take a shake of the head for an answer, but simply plies a question from another angle of the subject when a member hesitates to participate. She does not insist that the member rise to answer, since she knows he will soon do as others do if she keeps him in practice. Little by little, if she is faithful and enthusiastic herself about her program, she may safely ask questions that require more extended replies. Above all, she should not be- come discouraged, for if, by dint of much persistence, she succeeds in inducing members voluntarily to take part in discussions, she has planted in them invaluable habits of mental and social co-operation. SIDELIGHTS ON LECTTJEE HOTTE METHODS At times antithesis makes a stronger appeal than positive directions. This form of addressing Lecturers, in order to help them discover their possible faults, was effectively used in a set of simple rules sent out several years ago through the New York Grange Lecturers' Bulletin: METHODS IN LECTTJEE WOEK 131 If any Lecturer is in doubt about the way in which Grange lecture hours are rendered dull and uninteresting, the following six very simple rules will be found to work to perfection: 1. Never make any preparation for the program in ad- vance; simply rely on your ability to call on the members after they come. 2. Always apologize for the program before it begins, then nobody will expect much and so will not be dis- appointed. 3. Occasionally announce that there will be no program that evening; say that you intended having one but were so busy you didn't get at it. 4. Do not feel any necessity for being in your place on time; it never disturbs the Master to have his ofQcers late. in arriving. 5. Don't bother to have printed programs ; it's too much work to try to carry them out. 6. Never take the trouble to thank members who have helped you out ; what is the use after they have done what you asked them to? Advice of a National Master. — When Mr. S. J. Lowell, now Master of the National Grange, was Lec- turer of New York State Grange, he did much to strengthen lecture hour ideals. Among many friendly messages to his co-workers which re-invigorated their courage, he once addressed them in these words : Are you in earnest? Are you enthusiastic? Then suc- cess is surely yours. First plan! Then organize! Then act! TeU the Master that the best Granges begin on time. 133 THE GEANGE LECTURER Entertain always, but let it be as a leader to something of value. Build your program as you would a house, with a good foundation, which is wisdom. Make it beautiful with thought and assistance. Furnish it as you would a home, with things to uplift, to entertain, to make better; then add joy and laughter. Strive to draw all to you by the strong tie of friendship, then so direct that all shall labor cheerfully to develop our resources — mental, physical, financial — ^to this end: "We propose meeting together, working together, and acting to- gether for our mutual protection and advancement as occa- sion may require." A call to service. — ^Another high official who has ren- dered distinct service to the humble Lecturer of the often lonely Subordinate Grange is Mr. Charles M. Gardner, past Lecturer of Massachusetts State Grailge and at present Editor of the National Grange Monthly. When a Lecturer, Mr. Gardner exemplified the strongest traits of the office: he cultivated his members; he planned wide-awake programs which combined sense and humor ; he was unusually adept at conducting the program hour with snap and vigor ; and, finally, he was a master reporter who saw that every live topic and every new program feature was promptly written up for the papers. Such an experienced Lecturer talks to others oi the same office in language they comprehend. It is a pleasure to pass on to others the following words by Mr. Gardner: tQpirst of all, let's forget that any member has ever re- fused or failed to take a promised part.^ Of course there METHODS IN LECTUEE WOEK 133 have been such ones within your experience, but let's drop the remembrance and go after them all again. Chances are they will be pleased at another asking, which will mean a chance to atone for the time they failed before. Then let's never forget that everybody has a talent — and draw it out. This is an old preachment, but it's for- ever got to be repeated. In starting it will be a lot easier to rely on some of the old standbys ; but for the sake of the Grange and its members it will be a lot better to enlist some of the new ones. If a new class has been initiated, make a note of each, get thoroughly acquainted with them and make sure that everybody has a chance to do something for the lecture hour before the year closes. Be a leader^ sound a keynote at each meeting and holdji the thought all true to the key. Keep the program within proper bounds ; counsel with the participants ; be sure that no questionable features ever creep in; give all the help you are asked for but do it quietly and cut down the quan- tity of talking you do from your station. The most suc- cessful generals have talked little. Be a leader! Encourage prompt opening, reasonable closing, some- thing doing every moment. If things drag, run in some rousing Grange songs between numbers, but be sure there is someone present who will lead promptly and surely. Get a new supply of tact, draw on it daily and hourly, and order new carloads of it every day in advance. Enter upon the work with good courage. Your office is one of exceptional opportunity. Never find fault, but let the atmosphere of good cheer, of co-operation, and of interest so thoroughly pervade all your work that your associates will catch the spirit and make it count for the best results. Always thank your workers, never complain. 134 THE GRANGE LECTURER help the backward, forgive the delinquent, don't get dis- couraged. You are bound to win. Fellow Lecturers, here's to success! Thankful Lectwers. — The Lecturer who is thankful for small favors finds larger favors flowing in the wake ''of the little ones. In fact, to cultivate the habit of ex- pressing appreciation of every least help given by mem- bers is one of the surest steps a Lecturer can take in the path of success. This matter of thankfulness has been mentioned on previous pages, but it is one which will bear stressing, so great a part does it play in suc- cessful lecture work. A good example to keep in mind is the familiar story of the happy old colored woman who was noted for her piety. When reminded that she had only two teeth left in her head, she exclaimed : " Oh, yes, honey, I knows dat; but thank de Lord, de's oppo- site each other ! " One of the most valuable of Grange members was a dear old man who could not speak, sing, or do anything else for the program. But he always held out his hand to those who had done something, and said : " Tou did that weU. I was proud of you." And so he wonderfully blessed his Grange. No one thing helps a Lecturer so much to succeed as having faith in her members. Let her believe in their ability and their wdllingness to help, — ^believe in them even more than they believe in themselves in these ways. She cannot tell what a member may become until she has tested him, and nurtured his ability with encourage- ment and confidence. Let her think how it is with her- METHODS IN LECTUEE WOEK 135 self when someone says heartily, " Yes, you can ! I know you can do it ! " This is what she should say to every member in her Grange after she has carefully selected a task for him. " Always it is faith in some- one or som,ething that inspires us to lift our work above the commonplace." Eaith and confidence in the mem- bers will not only lift them out of their former selves, but it will lift the lecture work high above the common- place. The play spirit and rural recreation. — The Grange, in recent years, has concerned itself more and more with play and the true spirit of play. Composed, as this organization is, of hard-working men and women, — many of whom passed their youth before the God-given uses of play were recognized as they are now, its lecture hour offers a seed-bed for the inculcating of right ideas regarding well-directed recreation. The Grange, there- fore, needs to study and to develop the great natural resources of play-tendencies which exist — ^largely latent — in its membership. For this reason, if for no other, the Lecturer does well who works out some neighbor- hood plan in co-operation with rural teachers, county T.W.C.A. and Y.M.C.A. secretaries, and boys' and girls* club leaders. Since it is true that play and social activity are as natural to boys and girls in their teens as physical activity is to babes in arms, it is strange that sometimes Granges attempt to repress or discountenance such in- stincts. In this broad realm of social need and life Lecturers and other leaders in Granges have a wide 136 THE GEANGE LECTUEBE range of usefulness. It is well known that the dance question has torn asunder more rural organizations than any other one thing; and these dissensions have almost invariably arisen because the inherent liking of young people for social activity was frowned upon instead of being encouraged to express itself in a wholesome at- mosphere. When the young folks insisted upon dancing the elders absented themselves and refused to mention the parties. In many cases where dancing was pro- hibited nothing was attempted as a social counter- attraction; yet perhaps dancing was the only thing that suggested itself to the inexperienced young people. There are other attractive fields in which youthful energy delights to express itself, — fields which Granges have left for the most part uncultivated. One of these is the acting of assumed roles — dramatics in simplest - form. The laddie who simply dresses the part of his highland ancestors while he sings some sweet Scotch air introduces his staid Grange brothers into a new world of vivacious, fascinating entertainment, full of end- less variety, information, and development for all con- cerned. Where Lecturers have eyes to see the far^ reaching possibilities in this direction they wUl make capital of the hint and enlist young people in illustra- tive presentation of songs, stories, history, art, and poetry. Charades, tableaux, illustrated readings, acted proverbs, motion songs, as well as the usual simple plays, are bits of action that make strong appeal to the spirit of youth. And why? Because such demonstrations call for the play of imagination and love for the pic- turesque and venturesome; they demand of the young METHODS IN LECTUEE WOEK 137 people a responsibility in planning and preparation as well in execution, all of which makes challenge to their powers and invites response. Wheels within wheels. — Strictly speaking, the Lec- turer's domain is within the lecture hour ; but one wheel set turning there may turn other wheels. Very often, particularly in large Granges, the Lecturer has several sets of " wheels " revolving within the one big lecture- hour circle. She forms groups of members, each work- ing on its own topic or task, and each group in time will produce its play, its surprise feature, its refresh- ment treat, or its findings on a given study subject. Thus the executive Lecturer is like a good general who directs many activities. In quite another way the Lec- turer sets other wheels in motion. These are in the homes, on the farms, or in the community life of the Grange neighborhood. The majority of farm homes need not only material equipment to save the waste of human strength; they lack a generous supply of good literature, music, and art. Farm folks hunger for more sentiment, more poetry, more pictures to ease the round of daily duties. They need eyes unsealed, ears unstopped, and hearts opened to the finer things that lie on the threshold of the work-a-day world of the senses. The Grange may be made the open door to this larger life for its members. In respect to these things the Lecturer has before her a great opportunity to help members of her community in most practical ways. She can, if so minded, often be the means, through her lecture hour influence, of bringing into the neighborhood added home conveniences and labor-saving equipment. 138 THE GRANGE LECTUEBE besides more good books, finer music, and a higher grade of art. It may assist someone if a concrete example is here set down of how this sort of opportunity has been seized upon and put to use. One spring day a Lec- turer asked every person present at a Grange meet- ing to tell what improvement he would try to make during the coming season. One after another of that group of men and women arose and told what he had hoped or planned to have or do. " It was the most interesting roll-call we ever had," someone was heard to say. Certainly the range of improvements was wide and the items varied enough to hold the rapt at- tention of all from start to finish. Not one of the improvements named but might have touched ofi a whole discussion had there been time. !N"ot one of them but might mean a better and brighter home, or farm, or indi- vidual for having been attempted. Not aU of them were realized, of course, but hope expressed is nearer realiza- tion than if never given a voice. Nothing is ever done unless somebody dreams it first, no temple is reared, no ship built, no battle fought, no machine made, no book ■written, no field sown, no harvest reaped, except it first takes shape in someone's brain. This is why the " One Improvement Club " plan is a very practical proposi- tion to work upon in our Granges. Here are some of the improvements that members of this Grange above referred to promised to attempt : a cement silo, a porch, fifteen acres of alfalfa, chickens and flowers (despite desperate discouragements from combining them in the past), making the farm pay without help (by a father METHODS IN LECTTJEB WOEK 139 whose sons had left the home farm), a vacuum cleaner, disposition of accumulated things-that-may-come-handy, making over the door yard, tinting the walls of the living room, realizing a higher price than that of the previous year on grains fed to stock, installing a gaso- line engine for sprayer and washing-machine, making or buying a fireless brooder, laying tile drains, buying a gasoline flatiron, setting out new shrubs and straw- berry beds. One man hoped to enlist his neighbors with him in cleaning up an old neglected burying ground: another resolved to do more reading that would keep him in closer touch with public affairs ; while the oldest per- son present promised himself to try to hold a stronger rein over his temper. Was that not a fine day's work under the direction of a Lecturer who set no narrow confines about the possibilities of the lecture hour ? The "group plan" of study. — Two fundamental features of successful Grange management are, to set every member to thinking, studying and entering into activities along lines new to him; and to make each feel it pays him to atttend Grange meetings. Every person who joins has the right to expect these returns. In order to accomplish this we shall need to go a long way to find a better plan than that by which State and National Grange sessions are handled. In them every delegate is assigned to a committee and expected to share in the responsibility of that committee's duties. In this way every delegate is set at work at the very outset. A similar method of dividing the Subordinate Grange into committees or groups holds within it great possibilities. The subjects assigned to the groups should 140 THE GEANGE LECTUEEE be carefully selected, with due regard to the interests and needs of the locality. Not many groups should be made up, unless the membership is very large. Perhaps four would answer in most Granges, and the subjects taken be quite broad. Later, other topics may be chosen and subdivisions of the first general subject selected. Suppose, -at first, a Grange divides into only four groups, known as: 1, Soils and crops; 2, Farm ani- mals; 3, Home economics; 4, Child training. Allow each group or committee to select its own leader, or one may be appointed by the Lecturer. The m,embers of a group should be encouraged to make note of facts, inci- dents and experiences which they run across and bring these to the group meetings to share with other members of that group. Use may be made of these groups upon the regular programs of the Grange; at a meeting one group will be given a quarter of an hour in which to report its findings, and at another time the entire Grange will break up into group meetings, one in each corner of the hall. All will be admonished to talk group topics when they so meet. Best of all it will be possible to stimulate through these groups an improvement of the neighborhood in various ways. The spirit of community pride will be aroused. A sort of rivalry may be engen- dered among the groups as to which will set on foot real movements for the common good. Perhaps the Farm animals group will cast about to see how better stock may be introduced; the Soils and crops group will test soils, compare treatment and canvass for orders for lime and fertilizers, or enlist members in better METHODS IN LECTUEB WOEK 141 methods of seed selection. We can fancy the Home economics group presenting balanced ration menus for the home that vie with those served to stock at the bams ; while the group that devotes itself to child training will quietly establish a closer study and more sympa- thetic understanding of the children of the neigh- borhood. Again, at times, textbooks are used in Granges with marked results. The methods of using them are, per- force, adapted to the circumstances and convenience of the members of each group. Several State Granges have to their credit a goodly list of books relating to farm, and home, and civics which have been studied in a more or less thorough manner in their local organizations under direction of the State Lecturers. As the exten- sion work of our Agricultural Colleges increases its forces of available field men and women, there is taking shape a somewhat clearly defined scheme of co-opera- tion among the various farm associations which prom- ises to encourage even more definite home study and investigation. In some instances the central office and paid agents of the Farm Bureau are serving as a clear- ing house for arranging and advertising series of lec- tures upon given subjects. This means that, when a few men of each of several Granges are keeping production costs (milk, sugar beets, potatoes or other farm prod- uct) and a few in other nearby organizations are doing the same, an expert farm accountant will visit all such groups on one trip. Another series, perhaps, is planned for a half dozen groups of farm women who are study- U2 THE GEANGE LECTUEER ing to ascertain how much of their family living is taken directly from their farmsj and a trained field woman will go from one to another of these classes and carry very much of the experience and enthusiasm of one to the others. The extent to which such a plan may be developed is limitless. There is gain in such a plan as this, too, which far exceeds the saving in expense and time. It is, indeed, actually carrying out the old pre- cept of the founders of the Grange, — reaffirmed at its fifty-fourth annual convention, in 1920, — ^which reads: " Cherishing in our hearts every kind feeling towards all other Orders and Associations, which seek to pro- mote human welfare, let us strive with them, working hand in hand, for the good of our fellow beings." Tie the ends. — ^In addition to what has been said upon the subject of ideals and plans for progressive Grange work, there yet remains one word. It has been urged that to build strong, efFective Granges one must dream dreams of what a model Grange, set down just where it is now, would do for its community. I have gone further and said that to realize this ideal means more than t© dream dreams. We must do things. And now the closing injunction that comes in this coimection is one I have heard a certain forceful leader use when directing the work of many men under him. It is this : " Tie the ends." Dream dreams, do things, but, in addi- tion, tie the ends. Perhaps at some time you have seen a grain seed-bed that was not quite fine enough, but, nevertheless, the planting was done. You may have loaned an implement to a neighbor who, in returning it, left it at your front METHODS IN LECTUEB WOEK 143 gate -with a bolt gone that unfitted it for immediate use. Possibly you bave gone through a day with a woman who was a " master hand at turning off work," and yet at night confusion still reigned about her and tasks were incomplete. Just as, mayhap, you have loaned your writing materials to " the dearest daughter in the world," and afterward had to cork the ink bottle, pick up scraps of waste paper, wipe up blots, and set your desk to rights ; and it is barely possible it was your own son who, one night, brought up the cows and left the gate insecurely fastened after them. To all such this man would say, " Tie the ends, friends, tie the ends ! " Perhaps you have seen a Grange set out to celebrate an anniversary with special intent to re-inspire its earlier membership. A great feast was prepared and the best speakers the Grange had produced in the county were invited to respond to toasts. During all the prepa- ration it was said this effort was for the express purpose of bringing back the members who had allowed dues to lapse and had fallen from the roll. When the day came all went finely — all except the reinstatement of former members. Oh, yes, they were present; they ate of the sumptuous viands, they laughed over the wit of the speakers and roundly applauded every well-made Grange point, but not one re-joined the Grange. The fact is, no one asked them to do so. Not a word was said to them about it. The plan of the day had been good, and much hard work had been put into carrying it out, but Us ends were not tied. Many another project fails because, like this one, it falls short just at its close. Its ultimate aim is lost sight of in the process 144 THE GEANGE LECTUEEE of its execution; those who work at it become so ab- sorbed in the doing that they forget the real object of the work. It is a homely saying, but there is much meat for reflection in the injunction, " Tie the ends." CHAPTEE IV TEAINING OF LECTUEEES " The present drift toward furnishing more efficient Lecturers because they shall be better-trained Lec- turers, is one of the most significant, as well as one of the most hopeful, tendencies of the times." The ulti- mate progress of the Grange is particularly concerned with this statement from The National Orange Monthly. Lecture work is not what it was when the Grange was in its beginnings ; there is an increasing demand for the work of specialists in the making and conducting of programs. This demand can be satisfied only by afford- ing opportunities for the training of such people as have been elected Lecturers. Many of these people in the beginnings of their terms do not have correct ideas of the scope of the lecture hour; few of them have a definite and adequate conception of the duties of a Lecturer. The demands of the office were once set forth by N. J. Bachelder, when he was Lecturer of the National Grange : The important work of State, Pomona, and Subordinate Lecturers is executive rather than oratorical. The most successful Lecturer is not necessarily the one who makes the best speech, but rather the one who has the greatest faculty for getting others to speak. It is not what is done 145 146 THE GEANGE LECTUEER for members but what members are induced to do for themselves that makes the educational work of the Grange, of value. We should encourage the young and the diffident to become writers, readers and speakers, and thus develop to greater usefulness the latent powers of the members. Im- parting instruction to members of a Grange consists in telling !hem what to do and how to do it, as well as a dis- play of oratory. We must recognize that self-help stands near the head of the list of things that bring success in life, and pre-eminently so in matters of education. However cultured or literary a Lecturer may be, she may fail from lack of executive force. / One of the great demonstrations of self-help organiza- rtions among farmer folk has been the discovery and turning to account of their own leadership. Pre- eminent leaders, perhaps it is true, are born, not made ; but many who might be real leaders never develop their ability in that direction. Many others never are given the right bent and their inherent aggressiveness runs to waste on worthless ends; it is not led out and har- nessed to logical efforts. The Grange at this point offers the plan, the experience, and the incentive to the proper development of leadership. To imagine in every member a more capable man or woman, to see in every officer greater skill in duty, to picture beside every Grange a better Grange-to-be, and to see in every defect an opportunity for a possible virtue — to do these things paves the way to the discovery of leaders. This is the province of the Lecturer and, perforce, in the discharge of her duties, she becomes a finder and developer of leadership for her community; by virtue of such efforts TEAINING or LECTIJEBES 147 she unconsciously comes into a position of volunteer leader among other possible leaders. The strongest and best results in the long run follow the work of the volunteer leader — ^trained and directed by the expert. The personal forces which make pos- sible the highest community development are resident, not imported. What is done for men — and for com- munities as well — is apt to weaken them ; what they do for themselves is sure to strengthen. The rural church, Sabbath school, country school, in fact every rural or- ganization, cries aloud for leaders. The Farm Bureau affords a notable and recent example in that it has made heavy demands upon the Grange for men to head many of its enterprises ; and, by reason of lacking local meet- ings of its own, it must continue to depend largely upon the Grange to initiate and train its leaders. Thus the Grange, through its intensive, twice-a-month plan of meeting, furnishes an ideal practice school for beginners in rural group undertakings. The Master of Wash- ington State Grange, Mr. William Bouck, has well said on this point: One of the crying needs of the Grange in our state is a more efiBeient lecture service. There are efficient Lecturers, to be sure, but not enough. Our Juvenile work just being developed should remedy this shortcoming by commencing at once studies in parliamentary practice, followed by a debate at every meeting. This same practice should be followed in our regular Grange meetings. So many of our best fanners — the most progressive ones — are utterly in- capable of expressing themselves in public on any question though vitally interested in it, or are lost when presiding 148 THE GEANGE LECTUEEE at a meeting and unable to handle it or to guide it, or to take their place upon the floor and hold their own when a serious question is at stake. The Grange is a training school for these matters and every Lecturer should be on the job, not neglecting one single opportunity to train the members along these lines. We sincerely hope that the juniors will turn over to us in the future a lot of well- trained men and women. If they will do so it will justify any cost we may incur in organizing Juvenile Granges. Lecturers need to he impressed by the demands which our times make upon the Grange to develop leadership for every sort of rural activity. It is a widely recog- nized fact that rural districts have furnished a large part of America's leadership. Someone in referring to this has said : " In this country you can never tell where the next great man is to come from. The only thing we can feel reasonably sure of is that he will come from some little farm or from the prairies or from the backwoods." One of the greatest obligations incumbent upon the Grange is to strike the scales from the eyes of Lecturers and make them see these leadership oppor- tunities ; for the trouble with much of our lecture work comes from simple blindness on the part of Lecturers. They should be given light from every available source. This chapter is the place to raise the questions as to "what is being done to assist Subordinate Grange Lec- turers to recognize their need for some special lecture- work training ; and to set forth what means are offered to provide for those needs. There are three avenues available for the help and training of Lecturers which seem worth noting here; — (1) uniform topics, (2) TRAINING OF LECTUEEES 149 classes in rural leadership, and (3) Lecturers' con- ferences. tjnifoem: peogbam topics A mighty stride forward was taken when, in 1894, the National Grange Lecturer issued a little circular relating to lecture-hour programs and sent it to all State, Pomona, and Subordinate Grange Lecturers. To Mr. Alpha Messer, Lecturer of National Grange from 1893 ' to 1899, belongs the splendid credit of conceiving and putting into effect this and other innovations in Grange lecture work which have since been more or less closely followed. Three great needs existed as he saw them, namely, to keep local Granges alive through action, to secure uniformity of topics for discussion among all Granges, and to afford Lecturers a stimulus and training through personal contact and discussion of their prob- lems. These changes proposed by Mr. Messer were based on the belief that the Grange Lecturer's depart- ment needed system and order as much as does a busi- ness enterprise. The initial circular suggesting program outlines for use of Lecturers, which was sent out by Mr. Messer, was followed for several years by a quarterly bulletin authorized by the National Grange. This bulletin contained a suggestive list of two topics for each month together with other material designed to assist Lecturers. In his report upon this new department, Mr. Messer said: The leading objects of the quarterly bulletin have been 150 THE GEANGE LECTUEEE to strengthen the educational features of the Order, to sys- tematize, in a measure at least, the lecture work, and to encourage and assist Subordinate and Pomona Lecturers in their difficult and important fields of labor. In order to carry out the great cardinal principles which underlie the Order, and which are the very foundation of civiliza- tion, society, and government, it is absolutely necessary that our farming population, which constitutes nearly one-half the voting power of the nation, should become more homo- geneous and the possessors of that broadened, enlightened thought which can come only from a better knowledge of the ethics of morality, of social conditions, and of govern- ment. The great mission of the Grange is to develop and assimilate the thought of our farming population along these lines. Upon another occasion, speaking on the same theme, he stated: The educational work of the Grange is not for the pres- ent only, valuable as that may be, but it reaches out into the future, and will have an influence in solving the prob- lem of self-government, or government by the people, which, sooner or later, must be the government of the entire world. The Grange, then, not only has a grand opportunity before it, but a great responsibility resting upon it so to fulfil its mission to educate and develop its ^lembers by thought and action as to bring great content- ment and happiness to their homes, insure peace and pros- perity to the nation, and make it the bulwark of liberty for all time to come. Probably Mr. Messer himself did not at first recog- nize the full force of one result which came inevitably TEAINING OF LECTUEEES 151 and powerfully into evidence from his seemingly hum- ble effort to improve the lecture vrork of all Granges. This important result was that of focussing the thought and discussion of thousands of farm people upon the same subject at approximately the same time, thereby arriving at a consensus of rural opinion which was well- nigh irresistible. The psychological as well as practical effects of such concert of thought and decision upon vital subjects of the day are beyond estimation. For more than a quarter of a century modified forms of this method of dealing with public questions have been in use throughout the Grange organization, and have been of untold value in guiding and educating Lectur- ers. The National Grangs has, practically without interruption, continued the plan of having broad and general subjects regularly suggested to the entire force of Lecturers for their use in preparing programs. At present much space is devoted in The National Grange Monthly to topics of current legislation, co-operation, and home economics, which are suggested to the end that programs of Granges may tend toward uniformity in these essential subjects. This Monthly circulates quite generally among members of the Order throughout all states, and, in addition, all of the larger State Granges publish their own official papers. In each of these state papers the State Lecturer maintains a Lecturers' department where questions concerning state affairs and the more local farm, home, and civic conditions are pro- posed for discussion by the Subordinate and Pomona Granges. Ohio State Grange was the first to publish a series of suggestive uniform topics and circulate them 158 THE GEANGE LECTUEEK among its Subordinate and Pomona Lecturers. This was initiated by Mr. 0. M. Freeman, then State Lecturer and now Secretary of the National Grrange, in 1897 ; Michi- gan followed in January, 1899, under the Lecturer lead- ership of Mrs. F. D. Saunders. In some states the State Grange, or its executive committee, chooses a few promi- nent and vital questions and recommends them to all Granges of the state for discussion and action. Still another means, which is employed to a considerable extent by both State and Pomona Lecturers, is the Grange year-book. In these year-books are included suggested programs, lists of miscellaneous topics suit- able for discussion in the lecture hour, plans for novel program features, sometimes a few recitations and plays tha| are particularly suitable, and many facts and bits of Grange information that afford aid to a Lecturer in her work, CLASSES IN EXTEAL LBADEESHIP Occasionally there comes within reach of a Lecturer opportunity to attend and participate in a training class or conference called by some other association than the Grange, — such as a rural teachers' institute, a Sunday School convention, a Country Life conference, or a con- ference of rural ministers, or of the county T.M.C.A. or county Y.W.C.A. Each of these organizations has to deal with some of the varied aspects of rural prol>- lems which inevitably engage the interest of every Lec- turer who seeks to improve her methods and to attain more concrete results with the members of her Grange. The benefits which accrue when a Lecturer attends such TRAINING OF LECTITEEES 153 meetings as these are two-fold: the Lecturer not only gets a broader outlook upon the rural field and receives definite help for her part in it, but she is often able to acquaint members of other organizations with something new concerning the aims and accomplishments of the Grange. LECTTJEEES' CONEEBENCES " Any leader can lead somewhere," says a writer in Rural Manhood, " but it is the trained leader who with the air of certainty goes in the right direction. Pur- pose is hidden in his suggestions ; reason is back of his rejections ; he knows where he is going, how he is going to get there, and why he did not follow the other routes. Although he may be leading through a swamp he has never seen before, he proceeds as though the path were familiar." From the first there has developed an in- creasing recognition of the need of many Lecturers for assistance in their work from sources outside them- selves and their own immediate surroundings. Not all Lecturers need this help since they are themselves school- and college-trained people who have constant access to libraries, possess acquaintance with agricultural edu- cators, and who travel considerably. All of these ad- vantages afford much assistance to such Lecturers ; but a majority are not thus outfitted for the duties of their office. Moreover the pressure of more insistent duties prevents the giving of much preparation for the pro- gram work. An instance of the conditions under which some Grange Lecturers work may be gained from the following personal glimpse, which, although not written 154 THE GRANGE LECTURER for that purpose, was printed in the National Grange Monthly: When I tell you that I have a family of nine children, with seven at home; that I am working out of doors as well as doing all my housework ; and that I live three miles from our place of meeting, yet never miss a Grange meet- ing, you will know that I am some busy woman ; but I am always ready to do all I can for the Grange. The need felt by Lecturers and organizing deputies for information about the Grange was early met by the printing of millions of leaflets for distribution; but experience and observation soon pointed to the necessity for a closer bond among these workers. Even the fur- nishing of uniform program topics by the National and State Lecturers to the Pomona and Subordinate Lec- turers did not suffice; the personal element, which alone could add proper stimulus, still was lacking. It was seen that in order to achieve highest success these officials must have opportunity for personal conference with those who could direct to the best in Grange ideals and methods ; this was suggested in 1897 by Mr. Alpha Messer to !N"ational Grange: I desire to call your attention to the seeming necessity for some movement looking to greater concert of action in regard to lecture work. It seems to me that if some pro- vision could be made whereby State Lecturers would be able to meet the National Lecturer and carefully consider the lecture work in the various states and in the country at large, better and more satisfactory results could be TEAINING OF LECTUEEES 155 Beeured from the same amount of labor. This would b6 in the direct line of efforts that are being made to sys- tematize and give greater uniformity to the educational features of the Grange. From this suggestion resulted, in the following year, three regional conferences, — ^held at Concord, E". H., Philadelphia, Pa., and Columbus, O. These were truly inspirational occasions. While distances and the ex- pense of travel have since curtailed the area of the Grange conference plan, great credit is to be attributed to these early experiments in establishing and sys- tematizing Grange lecture-hour methods; and they re- main the greatest triumph of the entire Grange educa- tional achievement. Immediate value radiated from those pioneer efforts to assemble Lecturers by themselves for discussion as to the best means of discharging their official responsi- bilities. The Lecturers who attended responded at once with a fresh zeal and an impetus in their work which wrought truly remarkable results. Order and system were recognized as essentials of success and a deeper appreciation of the high calling of the office was every- where inculcated. One State Lecturer, who attended the Columbus conference, which was the smallest of the three held that first year, returned to his home with such a stimulating report of the advantages of uniform programs and the conference plan for systematizing lec- ture work that both innovations were forthwith adopted and have since been in continuous use in his state. They are deemed indispensable lecture-work methods in 156 THE GRANGE LECTUEER other and equally enthusiastic Grange states, and account in large measure for the changed ideal of the Lecturer as a platform speaker to that of a teacher and leader. The conference plan is unquestionahly the best means thus far instituted to afford training for Lecturers. As the institute is to the school teacher, and as the group study plan is to the Y.M.O.A. secretary, so is the Grange conference to the Lecturer. Its character and scope are so constantly undergoing adaptation to meet changing needs that it is impossible to predict what it may lead to in the future, but it is not presuming to say that it is a feature of Grange educational work that will abide. These conferences are sometimes held in connection with the county Grange and conducted by the Pomona Lec- turer, if the State Lecturer cannot be present. Again, each conference includes a field of several counties and a series of conferences is held, arranged for consecutive days, with each Lecturer in these counties given op- tional choice as to which conference she will attend. A roll-call at each conference affords a check on total attendance. Where a state is covered by conveniently located conferences in this way, and an additional round-up conference is held during the annual state Grange session, the majority of the Lecturers are reached once a year. In ITew York, Ohio, Washington, Oregon, Michigan, and the New England States the con- ference habit is particularly well confirmed, but every- where Lecturers are becoming imbued with a recogni- tion of the helpfulness of those occasions where two or three Lecturers are met together. A Lecturer in attendance upon one of these conferences gets glimpses TBAINING OF LECTUEEES 157 of experiences of others which are most illuminating to her. For instance, no one who was in one conference, which the writer recalls, will forget the Lecturer who had come at her own expense because she felt need of help in her dual capacity as Lecturer of both her Po- mona and Subordinate Granges. Belonging to a Grange in which only two members were American bom, she found there were many problems. It was difficult to draw the older members into literary exercises and even in social ways they were reserved; this had led her to call upon the school children and to put older children in charge of portions of the programs. In this way eight new members had lately been added to the Grange, she said. Suggestions were made to her by other Lec- turers present along the line of getting the women in- terested in cooking contests and in appealing to their knowledge of native customs and recreations. Surely the sympathy expressed toward this persevering woman leader through the suggestions offered by the others must have strengthened her to overcome many an obstacle, while it made their own difficulties appear much less formidable. Over against this Lecturer's problems and in strong contrast to them, stood out the obstacles de- scribed by three or four Lecturers of Granges that met in towns of 5,000 inhabitants and upwards. Here the city amusements, with all the glare, and blare of com- mercialized entertaimnent, had to be competed with or young people would be lost to the wholesome and in- vigorating influences of real Granges. These are but hints of the many and varied points discussed at these meetings. Best of all, perhaps, is 158 THE GEANGE LECTUEEE the strong atmosphere of the lecture hour that pervades any conference group of Lecturers. There is the sense of kinship in their common aspirations and endeavors for lecture hour attainments; kinship realized, too, keenly and perhaps most helpfully, when discourage- ments and seeming failures are discussed, for then it is that some hrave-souled Lecturer opens up the treasures of her triumphs over similar difficulties, and the courage of her victory is heartening to all. The testimony of one Lecturer upon the value of the training afforded by conferences expresses the attitude of scores of others : " Without exception I have returned from every Lecturers' conference with a broader idea of the possibilities of lecture work, with a higher idea of the aim we should have in that work, and a deeper sense of my failures in making use of the material right at hand. Should the Lecturers in any county agree to work in unison to promote a measure — ^to work for any school improvement, agricultural experiment, or social reform — and should discuss it together in conference, it would start a leaven that would work into a ' loaf ' worth while. The notes I have taken at the several conferences it has been my privilege to attend are kept in my ' Grange comer ' and are often referred to." In order to stimulate attendance upon the conferences, Granges are often asked to bear the expense of their Lecturers to them. This serves a double purpose; not only is attendance of the Lecturer made more sure, but a Grange is itself stimulated through having a share in the Lecturer's preparation for her duties. In Ohio an exceedingly practical method has been employed re- TEAINING OF LECTTJEBES 159 cently to secure attendance of Lecturers at conferences and to enlist the active co-operation of Granges at the same time. This plan seems to be highly commendable ; Mr. Harry A. Caton, Lecturer of Ohio State Grange, says of it: Our biggest conference last year, and the one that with- out doubt was farthest reaching in its results for good, was held at the time of the State Grange meeting in Columbus. Every member assigned work on the conference program responded and the program was highly studied and care- fully prepared by some of the best Grange workers of our state. Our only shortage was time. Our conference at Cleveland this year will probably be larger. Last spring the executive committee decided that any Grange in our state making a net gain of fifty or more members from Sep- tember 30, 1919, to September 30, 1920, would be entitled to have its Lecturer's traveling expenses paid to the 1930 State Grange meeting from State Grange funds. A sur- prisingly large number of Granges made the grade. Most of these are coming to the State Grange Lecturers' Con- ference. We expect to arrange the program for State Grange so that each day there will be some time devoted to this conference work. Where the Lecturers' conferences have become a regu- lar feature of a State Grange's yearly program, lists of printed questions are issued for use in the conferences. These questions in turn suggest others and assist greatly in securing more thoughtful discussions of the vital problems connected with lecture work. The following list of such questions has been used with marked results in the 'New York conferences under leadership of S. L. Strivings, Lecturer of New York State Grange: 160 THE GRANGE LECTTJEER 1. How much time should the Lecturer have for the program ? What is the duty of the Master of a Grange toward the Lecturer's hour? Of what should a hundred per cent program consist? How often should a Grange give the degree work? Should meetings be held weekly? Should the Lecturer's hour be open to non-members ? Why? 7. Who outside Grange members should be invited to take part in the program? Should the Lecturer's hour ever be omitted? Why? Should Pomona, Ceres, and Flora have charge of programs during the year? What special nights should be observed? Below is a suggestive list: Visitors' Night 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 8. 9. no Competitive Night (Married vs. Single members) Patriots' Night Historical Night Whittier Night Law Night Pilgrim Fathers' Night Thrift Night Educational Night Bird Night Anniversary Night Memorial Night Corn Night i^ Flower Night 11. How do you conduct a debate? Graces' Night Garden Night Past Masters' Night Pomona Night May Festival Night Strawberry Night Drill Night Recreation Night Neighbors' Night Children's Night Ladies' Night Forestry Night Story Night Poetry Night Prize Speaking Night Spelling School Night TRAINING OF LECTUEEES 163 12. Do you, get, your members to, take part in the pro- gram ? How ? IS. Who should be given, firsi; pla(;e, t|ie younger or older members ? lA, At what age may bpy^ and girls Beeom^e members of a Grange? 15. Have you had any experience with juvenile Granges^? ExplaiUi 16. At what age must children be. exqludjed from the Grange room? 17. Do you have any trouble with the dancing question ? 18. Should, city folks be allowed to join the Grange ? 19. Whom would you blackball ? Quote the pledge in this regard. 20. Are insurance members valuable? 21. What do you do to create interest in the Lecturer's, hour? 22. How do you organize a degree teani? 23. Of whom should a degree team consist? 24. Can degree officers give the secret work in conferring degrees ? 25. Should Pomona Granges meet monthly? 36. Where can good song material be obtained for, the Lecturer's use? 27. Would an interchange of lecture material through the State Lecturer's office be helpful? How might it be carried on? 28i. How far should a Lecturer go in introducing politic^ themes into her program? 29. Should a L^etijrer plan for a Grange fair? 30. What sepvie.e should a Lecturer render in suggesting vocations for farm boys and girls? (Many occu- pations related to farm work are in need of assist- 163 THE GEANGB LECTUKEK ants, veterinarians, farm bureaus, nurses, cow testers, club leaders.) 31. Will it pay to have motion pictures in the Grange? 33. How can a Lecturer compete with the town movies? 33. Should the State Grange buy and supply reels for Granges having machines? 34. How can I get a Grange choir ? 35. Will it be wise to get the community chorus to sing in the lecture hour? 36. Shall the Grange join with other organizations in erecting and using a community house? 37. How much purely entertaiBtment material should a program contain? 38. Wihat is a penny drill and how many Granges ob- serve it? 39. Should outside speakers be invited frequently? 40. Give three main features a Lecturer should have in mind in building a well-rounded program. 41. What work in anticipation of winter evenings is a Lecturer justified in asking members to do? 43. Should communications addressed to the Grange be read by the Lecturer? 43. What should be the relation of the Farm Bureau and the Grange? 44. What do you think of visiting another Grange and supplying the program, and they the supper, and the reverse when they visit you? 45. Should the Grange attempt to record and retain lo