Page 46 - 1930 October - To Dragma

This is the crowd that had gathered an hour before the opening
of the Folk School on the first day. Within the school the

auditorium is already well filled.

<$n t^Many a Country Jfeart

tural one, only a small number chose farming. As a matter of fact 85
per cent would be farmers eventually. Why? Only because they would
not have the money to train for the vocations they had chosen. Can
you not imagine the young graduate returning to the farm, forced
back into a thing he does not want to do, disillusioned, discouraged,
disheartened, his youthful hope blighted? Is it any wonder that failure
would greet his efforts? We felt that we must arrive at the reason for
the fact that most of these boys and girls desired to leave the farms,
isolation was once the answer, but with good roads nearly everywhere,
"lis reason now seemed somewhat inadequate. Just a glimpse of the
cabin homes would suggest a reason—unpainted, unpapered, for the
most part unscreened, unbeautified, a sense of ugliness, drabness, apathy
pervading everywhere; they present a most unwelcome sight. When
tney look day after day at the tired mother drudging from dawn until

ark at her ceaseless duties, or the worn father plodding along in his
trained, unsuccessful way, is it any wonder that life on the farm would

ave no appeal to their youthful spirits. We felt we must do some-
gl n to better living conditions on the farms, so that in the future,
r boys and girls would turn cheerfully toward agriculture.