nni/iMmBiiiiirffiiii THE COUNTRY CHURCH IN COLONIAL COUNTIES MARJORIE PATTEN CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY THE ANNA ALLEN WRIGHT LIBRARY ENDOWMENT FUND Cornell University Library BV 638.P31 The country church in colonial countiesa 3 1924 009 016 084 The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924009016084 THE COUNTRY CHURCH IN COLONIAL COUNTIES TO THE ORIGINAL AMERICAN The fine bronze statue in Lake George Park COMMITTEE ON SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS SURVEYS TOWN AND COUNTRY DEPARTMENT Edmund deS. Brunner, Director THE COUNTRY CHURCH IN COLONIAL COUNTIES AS ILLUSTRATED BY ADDISON COUNTY, VT, TOMPKINS COUNTY, N. Y. AND WARREN COUNTY, N. Y. BY MARJORIE PATTEN WITH ILLUSTRATIONS MAPS AND CHARTS NEW XS^ YORK GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY COPYRIGHT, 1922, BY GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA PREFACE THE Committee on Social and Religious Surveys was organized in January, 1921. Its aim is to combine the scientific method with the religious motive. The Committee conducts and publishes studies and surveys and promotes conferences for their consideration. It cooperates with other social and religious agen- cies, but is itself an independent organization. The Committee is composed of: John R. Mott, Chairman; Ernest D. Burton, Secretary; Raymond B. Fosdick, Treasurer; James L. Barton and W. H. P. Faunce. Galen M. Fisher is Asso- ciate Executive Secretary. The offices are at iii Fifth Avenue, New York City. In the field of town and country the Committee sought first of all to conserve some of the results of the surveys made by the Inter- church World Movement. In order to verify some of these surveys, it carried on field studies, described later, along regional lines worked out by Dr. Warren H. Wilson * and adopted by the Interchurch World Movement. These regions are : I. Colonial States: All of New England, New York, Penn- sylvania and New Jersey. II. The South: All the States south of Mason and Dixon's line and the Ohio River east of the Mississippi, including Louisiana. III. The Southern Highlands Section : This section comprises about 250 counties in "The back yards of eight Southern States." IV. The Middle West: The States of Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa and northern Missouri. V. Northwest: Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and eastern Montana. VI. Prairie: Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. VII. Southwest: Southern Missouri, Arkansas and Texas. VIII. Range or Mountain : Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Colo- rado, Idaho, Wyoming, Nevada and western Montana. The Director of the Town and Country Survey Department for the Interchurch World Movement was Edmund deS. Brunner. He is likewise the Director of this Department for the Committee on Social and Religious Surveys. * See Wilson, "Sectional Characteristics," Homelands, August, 1920. V PREFACE The original surveys were conducted under the supervision of the following: Addison County — Mr. Charles O. Gill, State Supervisor of the Interchurch World Movement, Hartland, Vermont. Tompkins County — Rev. Henry Strong Huntington, State Super- visor of Interchurch World Movement, New York City ; Prof. Dwight Sanderson, of New York State College of Agriculture at Cornell University; Dr. W. L. Thompson; J. A. Moore; P. L. Dunn, and others. In the spring of 1921 the field worker, Miss Marjorie Patten, of the Committee on Social and Religious Surveys, visited these counties, brought up to date the work previously done, and obtained information missing in the original study. Warren County, New York, was surveyed in the fall of 1921 by the field workers from the Committee, Benson Y. Landis and Marjorie Patten. Acknowledgment should be made to Rev. Edmond Twitchell, of Glens Falls, for the helpful cooperation and assistance rendered in the successful completion of the survey. The statistical and graphical editor of this volume was Mr. A. H. Richardson, of the Chief Statistician's Division of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, formerly connected with the Russell Sage Foimdation. The technical adviser was Mr. H. N. Morse, of the Presbyterian Board of Home Missions, who was also associate director of the Town and Country Survey in the Interchurch World Movement. Valuable help was given by the Home Missions Council ; by the Council of Women for Home Missions through their sub-Committee on Town and Country, and by a Committee appointed jointly by the Home Missions Council and the Federal Council of Churches for the purpose of cooperating with the Committee on Social and Reli- gious Surveys in endeavoring to translate the results of the survey into action. The members of this Joint Committee on Utilizing Surveys are: Representing the Federal Council of Churches Anna Clark C. N. Lathrop Roy B. Guild U. L. Mackey A. E. Holt A. E. Roberts F. Ernest Johnson Fred B. Smith Charles E. Schaeffer PREFACE Representing the Home Missions Council and the Council of Women for Home Missions L. C. Barnes, Chairman Rodney W. Roundy, Secretary Alfred W. Anthony Rolvix Harlan Mrs. Fred S. Bennett R. A. Hutchison C. A. Brooks Florence E. Quinlan C. E. Burton ^ W. P. Shriver A. E. Cory ' Paul L. Vogt David D. Forsyth Warren H. Wilson INTRODUCTION THE POINT OF VIEW THIS book is a study of the work of Protestant town and coun- try churches in three counties in New England and New York. Its purpose is to show the effect of prosperity upon the life of the Church by describing the interaction of the Church upon these communities and of these communities upon the Church. This survey does not, therefore, attempt to deal directly with the spiritual effect of any church upon the life of individuals or groups. Such results are not measureable by the foot-rule of statistics or by survey methods. It is possible, however, to weigh the concrete accomplishments of churches. These actual achievements are their fruits and "by their fruits ye shall know them." The three counties studies in this book are Addison, Vermont, and Tompkins and Warren, New York. Many considerations en- tered into their choice. For one thing, it must be borne in mind that this book, while complete in itself, is also part of a larger whole. From among the one thousand county surveys completed or nearly completed by the Interchurch World Movement, twenty-six counties situated in the nine most representative rural regions of America were selected for intensive study. In this way it was hoped to obtain a bird's-eye view of the religious situation as it exists in the more rural areas of the United States. All the counties selected were chosen with the idea that they were fair specimens of what was to be found throughout the area of which they were a part. In selecting the counties an effort was made to discover those which were typical not merely from a statistical standpoint but also from the point of view of the social and religious problems they represented. For example, the three counties in New England and New York described in this pamphlet were chosen because they are representative of large sections throughout the Colonial area. It is recognized that there are reasons why exceptions may be taken to the choice of counties. No area is completely typical of every situation. A careful study of these counties leads, however, to the conclusion that they are fair specimens of the region they are intended to represent. INTRODUCTION All these studies have been made from the point of view of the church, recognizing, however, that social and economic conditions affect its life. For instance, it is evident that various racial groups influence church life differently. Germans and Swedes usually tend toward liturgical denominations ; the Scotch to non-liturgical. Again, if there are economic pressure and heavy debt, the church faces spiritual handicaps and needs a peculiar type of ministry. Because of the importance of social and economic factors in the life of the Church the opening chapters of this book have been given over to a description of these factors. At the first glance some of these facts may appear irrelevant, but upon closer observation they will be found to have a bearing upon the main theme — the problem of the Church. Naturally the greatest amount of time and study has been de- voted to the churches themselves. Their history, equipment and finances ; their members, services and church organizations ; their Sunday schools, young people's societies and community programs, have all been carefully investigated and evaluated. Intensive investigation has been limited to the distinctively rural areas and to those centers of population which have less than 5,000 inhabitants. In the case of towns larger than this an effort has been made to measure the service of such towns to the surrounding countryside, but not to study each church and community in detail. The material in this book itself will present a composite picture of the religious conditions within these three counties. Certain major problems which were found with more or less frequency in all three counties are discussed as problems and all available infor- mation from any of the counties has been incorporated within such discussion. The opening pages of the book give, however, a summary of the condition within each county. While this method has obvious drawbacks, it is felt that these are outweighed by the advantages and that this treatment is the best one possible to bring out the peculiar conditions existing throughout this area. The appendices present the methodology of the survey and the definitions employed. They also include in tabular form the major facts of each county as revealed by the investigation. These appendices are intended espe- cially to meet the needs of church executives and students of soci- ology who desire to carry investigation further than is possible in the type of presentation used for the main portion of the book. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I The Northern Colonial Area 17 II The Three Counties 20 III The Churches 28 IV Social Agencies and Activities 39 V Folk Depletion and Missed Opportunities . . 44 VI Foreigners on the Land 55 VII The Problem of the Summer Resort .... 57 VIII What Do the Young People Need? . , . . 60 IX Over- and Underchurching ....... 64 X One Way Out — Church Federation and the Ver- mont Plan 68 XI New Rudders for Old Ships 71 XII The Hand of the Dead 75 XIII A Backward Look TJ XIV Concerning the Rural Pastor 83 XV Conclusion 86 Appendices I Methodology and Definitions 93 II Tables 97 XI ILLUSTRATIONS, MAPS AND CHARTS ILLUSTRATIONS To THE Original American Frontispiece PAGE Typical New England 21 Where Boston Gets Its Milk 22 A Beauty Spot of New England 23 Where Farmers Are Prosperous 24 The Hub of the County 26 A Reminder of Early Days 28 True to Architectural Type 32 Transportation De Luxe 39 Quite Happy, Thank You ! , . 40 Does It Pay to Advertise? .42 An Up-to-Date Farmer 45 Where Education Lags 46 A Versatile Pastor 62 One Side of a Village Square 64 Growth and Decay 65 A Rural Library 72 A Live Church in Tompkins County 81 The Only Community-Minded Church in Warren County 90 MAPS New York and Vermont: Locating the Three Counties 18 Church and Community Map of Addison County, Vt. 30-31 Church and Community Map of Tompkins County, N. Y. 34-35 Church and Community Map of Warren County, N. Y. 37 xiii ILLUSTRATIONS, MAPS AND CHARTS CHARTS PAGE I How THE Typical Dollar is Raised 36 n The Churches and Their Memberships ... 50 HI Gain and Loss in Membership 51 IV Gain and Loss in Membership ... , . 51 V How the Church Dollar is Raised . . • • 75 VI Comparative Trends of Population, Church Mem- bership and Attendance 78 VII How the Diminishing Dollar is Spent ... 81 VIII Salary Scale of the Ministers 84 IX Distribution of Membership 87 THE COUNTRY CHURCH IN COLONIAL COUNTIES THE COUNTRY CHURCH IN COLONIAL COUNTIES Chapter I THE NORTHERN COLONIAL AREA THE Colonial area was the birthplace and childhood home of a great nation. It was here that young America received her early education, when the rest of the country was a wilderness. The early colonists were a stern folk, apt to be harsh in creed, gloomy in viewpoint, intolerant in religion, but they were enterpris- ing, fearless and filled with indomitable will to succeed. They were leaders in trade and unmatched in political sagacity. Their code of living was established on a rock foundation of lofty ideals, sound principles and, most of all, love of home and fear of God. America has long since emerged victorious from her early struggles and taken her place among the great nations of the world. Today in the old Colonial area, which still serves as a living example to American civilization, it is amazing to behold the transformation three centuries have wrought. No longer is agriculture supreme. Here are cities, great and small, with congested population and mam- moth industries holding multitudes in their grip. Here is the na- tion's greatest trade area, the very core of its tremendous industrial and financial development. These changes have brought their prob- lems, not alone in the growing cities, but in the country at whose ex- pense so much of urban civilization has been built. It was in the Colonial area and especially in New England that the "rural prob- lem" first lifted its head and forced itself upon the attention. But the tide of rural life which was ebbing has begun to turn. Transition and reconstruction are in process. Rural New England is coming back, not to ascendancy but to a proper place of social usefulness. The present volume is one of three publications dealing with the Colonial area and describing intensive studies made of six counties which together fairly typify the variety of its rural condi- tions. The first volume treats of Salem County, New Jersey, studied as typical of the great trucking area. Harford County, Maryland, 17 THE COUNTRY CHURCH IN COLONIAL COUNTIES and Columbia County, Pennsylvania, are the subject of a second publication. These two counties are widely separated as to location but show striking likenesses and contrasts. In the former the popu- lation has been increased by a recent influx of farmers from the south, and during a normal year 8,000 migrant laborers are engaged in its seasonal canneries. In the Pennsylvania county, the original stock has been augmented by foreign immigration to its anthracite coal mines and to the industries of its two cities. Both counties are progressive and primarily agricultural in their make-up. The three counties considered in this volume are Addison County, Ver- mont, a general farming region in the fertile valley of Lake Cham- NEW YORK AND VERMONT Locating the Three Counties plain; Tompkins County, New York, a typical dairying section of central New York State, and Warren County, New York, one of the beauty spots of the Adirondack mountains. Certain characteristic problems are common to these three coun- ties. Certain others are distinctive, and others again are important for the light they shed on the evolution of American rural life. All three counties have suffered depletion of population. Communities big and little, have felt the pull of industry toward the larger centers. With the revolutionizing influence of the automobile, better roads have been built. Isolation has been greatly lessened. Markets have been brought nearer to the gardener. Towns which formerly be- lieved themselves a great way off from anywhere have suddenly 18 THE NORTHERN COLONIAL AREA found themselves closely connected with the outside world. The "Pied Piper" call of the cities, sounding ever louder as western agri- cultural competition increased, has made many oblivious to the values of New England agriculture, so that it is relatively in an undeveloped state. The Colonial area has all the facilities for a big future in the open country. It has a splendid system of highways and it has better markets than any area in America. The soil is far from ex- hausted and is capable of more intensive cultivation. Agricultural colleges are relatively more numerous than elsewhere and are well equipped. The natural beauty of this area has been responsible for the an- nual pilgrimage of multitudes of pleasure-seekers to certain favored regions, a circumstance which has changed the entire social struc- ture of some rural communities. In many other localities the coming of the foreigner onto the land has created a new order in every phase of community life. Much has been heard of the abandoned farms, of isolation breeding degeneracy, of fields going fallow, of rural life tending toward the development of a backward American peasantry. The other side is told by L. H. Bailey in "The Country Life Movement." He looks forward to the dawn of a new day in agriculture of the like of which the world has never dreamed. He says : 'T have no fear of the abandoned farms. Little of the older land is worn out. Some of the best farm values now lie in the old east and south. In some cases farms are not being abandoned rapidly enough, but they will all be used in good time, and we shall need them." His prophecy has begun to be fulfilled. Evidences of reconstruction are seen in the newly developed friendly relationships between town and country; in the scientific reforestation and culti- vation of the soil ; in the effective activities of the agricultural agen- cies, and also in the very spirit of the farmers themselves. It is with the effect of these changes upon the social and especially upon the religious life that this study will deal. These counties also illustrate many of the problems which char- acteristically beset country churches in a changing social and eco- nomic order. Here we have the familiar story of declining influ- ence, of weak organizations insufficiently manned and poorly equipped, of a shifting pastorate meagerly paid, of fields over- churched and fields overlooked, of inadequate programs and a too easy acceptance of the limitations of a difficult situation. But the survey also reveals various roads of progress opening before the churches which are prepared to follow them and has examples to cite of churches which have found the way out. 19 Chapter II THE THREE COUNTIES TYPICAL NEW ENGLAND OF the three counties under consideration, Addison is the most typical of "The Man with the Hoe." It is entirely rural in its make-up. Middlebury, the largest community and county seat, has less than 3,000 inhabitants and though it is the hub of the entire county and the center of its culture, industry and social life, it is still essentially a farmers' town. Wander along the main street, with its huge elms ; observe through their branches the proud, slender spire of the sturdy Colonial church keeping watch over the village from the brow of the hill ; stop a moment and count the sleepy farm horses waiting patiently at the line of old-time hitching posts by the Common. This is New England indeed. The traveler looking out over the county in its entirety is reminded of the old Shake- spearian stage with its three distinct levels. The Green Mountains and the heavily forested hills rise out of the east. The central level presents rolling lands, steep, stony hillsides and pastures within the limits of whose scraggly stone walls graze numerous cattle. The western level slopes gently down to the rich, fertile valley of Lake Champlain, whose farms are the pride of all New England. The early history of this region is marked by the many quarrels of Iroquois and Algonquins whose homes and favorite hunting grounds bordered the shores of Lake Champlain. The first white settlement was made in 1731 at Chimney Point, in what is now the town of Addison. The county remembers scenes played upon her stage by the Green Mountain boys and by such heroes as Ethan Allen and Commodore MacDonough. Vergennes was the site of the speedy building of the fleet with which MacDonough defeated the British at Plattsburgh in 1814. Tradition, history and romance cluster thick about this beautiful valley, through which the tides of war and trade and travel have surged back and forth for three hun- dred years. As industry succeeded conflict, the rough lands were made productive, and now for nearly a century this region has been a center of peaceful communities. Immigration did not start in earnest until after the signing of 20 THE THREE COUNTIES the Declaration of Independence. Then settlers began to pour into the valley, lured by the fertility of the soil and the possibilities for mills and industry afforded by the heavy forests and the splendid water power of Otter Creek. In the first census, taken in 1791, six years after the organization of Addison County, there were 6,489 TYPICAL NEW ENGLAND Congregational Church at Middlebury, Vt. inhabitants. From that time up to 1880 the population steadily in- creased. Since then there has been, however, a decline of 30 per cent., checked only by the influx of French Canadians who have bought so many of the old farms. Addison County is primarily agricultural. The land is well drained by the several small rivers and streams which rise in the eastern hills and flow in a westerly direction to empty into Lake 21 THE COUNTRY CHURCH IN COLONIAL COUNTIES Champlain. Buckwheat flourishes and nature has wisely provided plenty of maple syrup, which, the nation knows, is second to none. Dairying is the chief industry and quantities of milk are shipped to Boston and New York. Hay and forage are important money crops. This is the home of the Morgan horse, and the "banner county" for the raising of Merino sheep. Farms occupy more than three-fourths of the land area. One of the chief handicaps to the county's growth and progress is its lack of adequate transportation facilities, there being only one railroad in its entire area. The summer tourist has done much to bring about the improvement of highways, which for the most part are very good, though 45 per cent, are common dirt WHERE BOSTON GETS ITS MILK The Sheffield Milk Station, Vergennes' largest industrial plant roads. Industry centers only in the larger communities and consists of marble-dressing and the manufacture of lumber and lumber products. So it is that Addison County makes its strongest appeal to the nature lover and the true countryman. It is a land of splendid tra- ditions, of mountains, forests and picturesque drives, and above all, of well developed farms. A CROSS SECTION OF AGRICULTURAL NEW YORK In the very heart of the Finger Lakes region in south-central New York is a high plateau cut by many picturesque gorges and glens. This is Tompkins County, with a land area of 476 square miles. 22 THE THREE COUNTIES Roughly speaking, there are two t3'pes of land in the county. On the south, the country is hilly hut the tops of these hills are nearly level, though their slopes are steep and even precipitous as they drop down toward the deepl}- cut valleys. In the north the country is more A EEAUTV SrriT OF NEW EXCLAXL) gently rolling. Cavuga Lake occupies a deep gorge in the northwest and receives the stream drainage of the greater part of the area. At the head of the lake is Ithaca, a cil\' of 17,000 inhabitants and the county seat from whose hilltop'S stretches a panorama of lake, hill and valley that once seen is never to be forgotten. Ten miles north of 23 THE COUNTRY CHURCH IN COLONIAL COUNTIES Ithaca are the famous Bridal Veil Falls, dropping 220 feet into a gorge which is more than a mile long. The district around the southern end of Cayuga Lake was the home of the Indians of the same name, one of the tribes of the Iroquois Confederation. There was some travel through the district before the Revolution but no permanent settlement. In 1779 Gen- eral Sullivan's expedition passed through here and camped on the pjresent site of the city of Ithaca. In this most picturesque spot eleven men from Kingston, New York, began the first settlement in what is now Tom])kins County. This was m 1789. The county was organized in 1817 and named WHERE FARMERS ARE PROSrEROUS Bligh School at Dryden in the best farming district of Tompkins County for Daniel Tompkins, a governor of the State. The early settlers came principally from counties of the lower Hudson Valley and some from New England and New Jersey. The maximum popula- tion was reached in the year 1840. Decline from that peak has been checked considerably by the recent immigration of western farmers, and also of a few foreigners. Most of the latter are engaged in in- dustry, though some are on farms, especially in the southern part of the county. These include Bohemians, Finns and Poles. From an agricultural standpoint, Tompkins County is a fair average of the counties of New York State, lying between the dairy- ing region of eastern New Y'ork, the fruit section of western New York and the grain and alfalfa section of central New Y'ork. The 24 THE THREE COUNTIES soil of the southern part of the county is not naturally fertile, but some of the foreigners have successfully demonstrated that under careful management it can produce good crops. The northern half of the county is richer by nature, its most important products being milk, hay, potatoes, buckwheat, fruit, eggs, corn, wheat and oats. Ithaca is the hub of the county. It furnishes a splendid market for farm products, particularly for fruits and vegetables. The bulk of the industrial activity of the county is carried on here, though the industries of Groton, Myers and Portland Point together employ about an equal number of workers. Ithaca is not only the center of business and educational interests but it is a city of homes. High above the city, overlooking Lake Cayuga, stands Cornell University on the most beautiful campus in America. This consists of nearly 1,500 acres on which there are thirty-five main buildings. Nearly 6,000 students spend the college year here and the summer session and other courses enroll 3,000 more. Here is also the New York State College of Agriculture, which has an international reputation and has had a large influence on the agriculture of the county. A tourists' paradise At Glens Falls, the imposing front entrance to Warren County, someone remarked: "Have you traveled through our entire county? Then you have beheld scenery that is not surpassed this side of Switzerland." This section may well be called "The Tourist's Paradise" for here are the beauty of the Adirondacks and the charm of historic Lake George and of the smaller inland lakes with their wooded shores. The forest lands have made Warren County what it is, for they have supplied timber for the finely developed industries of Glens Falls and the cities further south along the Hudson. It is to these same lands that the county turns for its future when the forests shall again have grown to usefulness. Agriculture will never be highly developed here, for the soil is sandy, and where there is fertility pine grows up in abundance, defying successful production of any other crop. Nature has been prodigal with beauty, but frugal in giving fertility to the soil, so that while the summer resort in- dustry flourishes and provides a not difficult means of livelihood, farming seems a continued struggle to wrest a mere existence from an obstinate land. Warren County was formed from Washington County in 181 3, and contains 876 square miles of rugged mountain and valley lands. 25 THE COUNTRY CHURCH IN COLONIAL COUNTIES In the southern half of the region there are productive level lands and here the dairying industry has become of prime importance. In the early days this was the hunting ground of the Iroquois In- dians of whose struggles vivid tales are told. History recounts the dramatic coming of the Half Moon, north, up the Hudson, and of Champlain, south, down the Sorel, the English following the one and the French the other. The war cries that rang through the forests as a result of the ensuing clash of interests, were not finally silenced until after the thirteen colonies became one nation. Until 1789 this was frontier land, fit for forays, but not safe for settle- THE HUB OF THE COUNTY Picturesque and conservative old Chestertown, a favorite summer resort in Warren County ment. After the signing of the Treaty of Paris, the Governor of New York issued a proclamation welcoming settlers, and sturdy New Englanders began to migrate to the region until, in 1813, there were 8,000 inhabitants. From the close of the Civil War to 1910 the population steadily increased. During the last decade every community except Glens Falls has, however, decreased considerably. The original stock is dying out. There is little immigration and scarcely any foreigners are found outside of Glens Falls. The county is handicapped by poor railroad facilities, though the Hudson Valley Electric Line connects Glens Falls with Lake George and Warrensburg and with the cities to the south. The Delaware and Hudson Railroad runs through the central part of the county terminating at North Creek. Highways are splendid. The main thoroughfare from New York City to Montreal passes through this area, and one may sit on the hotel veranda at Chestertown and see auto licenses from al- most every state in the Union, as the cars go by in endless procession. 26 THE THREE COUNTIES At Lake George is the throat of the great system through which all north-bound traffic must pass. The industrial development of Warren County belongs to Glens Falls, where there are at present sixty-eight establishments em- ploying more than 3,000 people. The rest of the county is largely holiday country, busy in summer and quiet in winter. Thirty per cent, of the population are engaged in lumbering, but the summer industry reigns supreme in this Adirondack region. 27 Chapter III THE CHURCHES ADDISON COUNTY THE Congregationalists organized the first church in Addison County in 1785 and before 1800 fifteen churches had been built. Detailed figures regarding the religious life of the county began with the Federal Census of 1890. At this time there were 7,014 church members of all denominations in a population of A REMINDER OF EARLY DAYS The Congregational Church at Shoreham, Vt., whose organization dates back to 1790 22,277. In 1906 there were 7,565 members, of whom more than 50 per cent, were Roman Catholics. At the end of the next decade the Roman Catholic membership had decreased somewhat and the total church membership numbered 7,581. During the last ten years, though the population of the county has decreased 6.7 per cent., the total Protestant membership has increased 14 per cent. At present there are forty active Protestant church organiza- tions, all but one of which were organized before 1881. Thirteen of these are located in villages of from 250 to 2,500 inhabitants and 28 THE CHURCHES the other twenty-seven are in smaller hamlets or in open country dis- tricts. All of the churches serve a population dependent in one way or another upon farming. There are also six Roman Catholic churches, the congregations of which exceed the total Protestant church membership. There is one Protestant church for every 467 people. Except in one or two villages, there is little overchurching, and there is very little territory which is not included within the parish area of some church. All of the organizations own their church buildings, which have an average value of $15,154 for village churches and $7,101 for country churches. All of the village and nineteen of the country churches own parsonages which they endeavor to keep occupied. Church property is for the most part in splendid condition. Thirty-one pastors serve these Protestant churches, five of whom carry on some other occupation in addition to the ministry. One church has no regular pastor but is served at present by a student. Every village has a resident pastor and three-fourths of all the churches have pastors resident within their parishes, an unusually good showing. Most of the pastors receive salaries which range from $1,250 to $1,450, if $250 be added to the cash salary as the estimated yearly value of a free parsonage when provided. The maximum salary is $2,050 and the minimum is $750. The average is $1,404 for those giving full time to the ministry and $1,031 for those also carrying on some other occupation. Here as elsewhere pastoral changes are frequent. Twenty-nine churches have changed pastors every three years or oftener. Sixteen pastors, or 42 per cent, of the total number, report that they have been in their present parishes one year or less. The total membership of the forty churches is 3,689, of which number 75 per cent, are reported resident and active. Only 19 per cent, are under twenty-one years of age. Addison County's churches are above the average for a rural county in the proportion of those having systematic financial methods. Twenty-six churches budget all the money that they raise and five others use a budget system in raising money for local expenses. The average per capita contri- bution for the entire county is $17.61 — $17.15 for village and $18.38 for open country churches. Foreigners are reported residing in the parishes of twenty-eight churches, though only in one community has the Protestant church any foreign members. Thirty-seven churches maintain Sunday schools, with a total enrollment equal to only 58 per cent, of the total church membership. On a typical Sunday a little more than 29 r . /Mm / // ^\ / I V, i \J \ i kW CHURCH AND COMMUNITY MAP 30 - County Boundary - Community Baundanf "Nsighborhood Baundarif - ParTih Boundary • Porlih I Church CsnnKti'ng Lme - Circuit 0f P4ftep • HamlcT d Wllaqci ^Tewn-ovar S.OOO a Church -Whltf 8 Church -Cctaf ad a Church -IVhiti wifh Patter^ Kutdant* Q Church -Cal«r«i.wrth Pasttri Rni^net ] Cfreuit 4 Pfl9 £«hdal ,>ld^ OF ADDISON COUNTY, VERMONT 31 THE COUNTRY CHURCH IN COLONIAL COUNTIES one-lialf of the entire enrollment attends. The churches do not suffer from lack of services. Only three hold less than four services a month. In only two communities are union services held. i Addison County's churches are facinij grave prohlenis of small memberships, declining attendance, widespread indillereiice and a jlack of united effort. TRUE TO ARCinTECTlKAl, TN I'F, The Congregational Church at Cornwail, Vt. TOMPKIXS COUNTY In Tompkins County there are at present, outside of Ithaca, fifty- seven active Protestant churches, one mission, one non-denomina- tional organization at the George Junior Republic, one inactive chiu'ch, four separate Sunday schools, a Spiritualist organization and four lioman Catholic churches with 700 or 800 members. Religious activities began here at an earlv date. The circuit riders of the IMethodist Episcopal Church and the pastors of the Baptist, Dutch Reformed and Presljyterian denominations were early on the ground. In many cases the establishment of churches antedated township organization. Methodism, now the largest de- nomination in the county, struck root in 1797 when the first church was organized at Lansingville. Thirty-three other churches had their beginnings during the opening decades of the last century. Since the Civil War church organization has proceeded very slowly. Of the fifty-seven Protestant churches twenty-two are in villages 32 THE CHURCHES iand thirty-five in hamlets or open country. Church equipment is above the average. There are more buildings with more than one room than is usual and better social equipment than is found in the average county, but the most effective use has not been made of this equipment. Thirteen villages and sixteen country churches use the budget system for raising all moneys. Thirty-five churches make an an- nual every member canvass. The per capita contributions of village and country churches are $20.36 and $17.91 respectively. The county average is $19.39. There are thirty-five pastors in Tompkins County. Twenty-five churches have pastors resident in their parishes. Twenty-eight churches have non-resident pastors and four are at present pastor- less. Only eight of the twenty-eight communities have full-time resident pastors. Salaries are exceedingly low, the average being only $1,177.56, estimating the cash value of a free parsonage, where provided, at $250 a year. The average minister receives some- what more than this mathematical average but usually not in excess of $1,100 or $1,200 and free use of a house or its equivalent. Most pastors regard the future of their congregation as promis- ing. They all recognize, however, serious problems, among them • the declining and changing population, the increase in the number of pleasure cars, the lack of resident ministers and of leadership and cooperation in and among the churches, the small number of 3'oung people, the slowly increasing foreign population and the ex- isting overchurched conditions. WARREN COUNTY Warren County has in winter one church to every 354 inhabitants and in the vacation season one church to every 700 inhabitants. This fact furnishes the problem that is foremost in the religious life of the county. The first religious services in the county were held by a chaplain of the English Army which was encamped along the shores of Lake George, in September, 1775. The earliest permanent settlers were Friends and their first church at Bay Road dates back to 1785. At present there are forty-seven Protestant churches and seven Roman Catholic churches in the county outside of Glens Falls. There are also two non-Evangelical organizations, three missions, one unor- ganized church, four preaching points and Sunday schools, four separate Sunday schools, seven inactive and seasonal churches and 33 — County Bdundapi) Commdolfij Bauotfai^ •■-•--•Hiighberhood Boundary — — ^ Parlih Boundgr^ -•— PorlihA Church C«nnt(tu<3 Liiitt with Pait«r'« Rfiidtnct 6 Chur(h-C«l«r(d,wHh Paifsr't RtilHtnc* g>6< 4 Paitor-i RriKttnet xithaut Chu'th-MH* 4 Pciter'i Hffjidinct ■•■t'laut Churih-Celsrfd I Abandenrd Churih B InaLiitr Churih g Church uiinq £ch»a CHURCH AND COMMUNITY MAP 34 •Scale of M/les OF TOMPKINS C9UNTY, N. Y. 35 THE COUNTRY CHURCH IN COLONIAL COUNTIES nine abandoned churches. Twenty of the forty-seven organized Protestant churches are in villages and twenty-seven are country churches. Half of the total number depend to a greater or less extent on the summer traffic. Nine different denominations are represented, the largest number of churches, fifteen, belonging to the Methodist Episcopal Church. There are eleven communities having one church each. In the larger centers there is, however, considerable over- lapping of parishes, and in one case a serious overlapping of two parishes of the same denomination. Much territory is not included within the parish of any church, especially among the mountains in the western part of the county. The farms here are scattered and isolated. The land yields only enough for the farmers' needs and the drifts in winter prevent traveling. It was said that two entire townships were absolutely neglected during the winter of 1920 and that no services of any kind were held. HOW THE TYPICAL DOLLAR IS RAISED ADDISON COUNTY WARREN COUNTY TOMPKINS COUNTY ENDOWMENT & MISCELLANEOUS SUBSCRIPTION endowment Miscellaneous; Subscription SUBSCRIPTION endowment & miscellaneous All but six of the churches are in good repair, although thirty-one are still heated by stoves and twenty-four are lighted by oil lamps. Thirty-five churches are of the traditional one-room type, a preaching auditorium and nothing more. Thirty church buildings are valued at $2,500 or less, and only three at more than $10,000. Twenty-one churches use a budget system and twenty-five con- duct annual every-member canvasses. At least one-third of the organizations may be said to be without any organized financial system, depending upon collections and special appeals for their support. Twelve churches receive home mission aid amounting in all to $2,300, $800 of which is received by one circuit, covering a large 36 THE CHURCHES — County BounJarif — Cotnmunitif Boundary *~N*ighbsrf|ood Baundanf '~ Pari'ih Bttundorij "■• Pariih i Church Conntcting Lin* — Cireuit of Pdttor KEY ^ND SYMBOLS • HamleT ® Villaqts ^Town -ovr 5,000 D Church -White B Church -Colored a Church -White with Patior-g R»id»nn a Church -Cfflorrd.wrth Patter's Rciidtttcv g>6 CrCMit 4 Pastor** Reiidenc* without Chureh-VWiite A Posior'3 Reaidanc* without Church Colortd ■ Abandoned Church. 3 Inaclife Church S] Sundaij School firithout Church 'White 00 Sundaij School without Church -Celorod 5 Church utinj 5eha«l Btd^. CHURCH AND COMMUNITY MAP OF WARREN COUNTY, N. Y. 37 THE COUNTRY CHURCH IN COLONIAL COUNTIES and scattered field which is largely mission territory. The per capita contributions for village and country churches are $25.44 and $22.96 respectively. For the county as a whole, it is estimated, however, that 30 per cent, of the total receipts are obtained from gifts of summer people and from miscellaneous sources. The forty-seven churches command the service (in whole, or in part), of twenty-six pastors, five of whom also follow other occupa- tions. Salaries run generally from $1,250 to $1,500. There are no large circuits and only one pastor serves more than three points. The total enrollment is 2,480. The average active membership for village churches is sixty-seven, for country churches only seven- teen. As the total population is 15,350, this means that only 16 per cent, of the inhabitants are Protestant church members. Only thirty-six of the forty-seven churches conduct Sunday schools, and these have a total enrollment of 1,880, or an average of fifty-two per school. Every year Warren County grows more popular as a summer resort. Every year Glens Falls increases in wealth, industry and community progressiveness. Affairs are in no way at a standstill. The land is being extensively reforested. Educational methods are being improved, and between town and country a better, more friendly feeling is rapidly growing. There is less suspicion and more of a spirit of cooperation all along the line. There are no greater tasks to be accomplished than those presented by the churches of the county today. If the county boasted only of beauty these problems might never be unraveled, but fortunately it has also brains and a well remembered tradition. 38 Chapter IV SOCIAL AGENCIES AND ACTIVITIES IN Addison County, as in nearly every section of America today, a spirit of unrest is abroad. People are not satisfied with things as they were. There is desire for better schools, better farms, better business conditions. As in other sections of the Colonial area, schools were among the county's first institutions. Since 1845 the TRANSPORTATION DE LUXE Part of the caravan that regularly carries the children of the Consolidated School at New Haven, Vt., to and from their lessons State of Vermont has seven times made important modifications in its system of school administration, the present code having been in effect only six years. Substantial progress toward improvement in educational methods has been made on the basis of extensive surveys under the best professional supervision. In Addison County there is as yet only one consolidated school. There are two junior-senior high-schools, in one of which forty-eight of the 105 pupils enrolled are non-resident. At Vergennes is located an Industrial school in which there are nearly 300 pupils. Within the county there are no welfare or benevolent institutions or agencies, nor is there a county 39 THE COUNTRY CHURCH IN COLONIAL COUNTIES health or nursing association. Plans are under way for a new county hospital, the funds for which have already been raised. In twenty-one of the twenty-six communities there are free public libraries. Newspapers are published in four communities. As for recreational life, little has been done outside of two or three of the larger centers to meet the demand. Six communities have dance-halls, four have moving-pictures, four have organized athletics, seven have pool-rooms and there are three bands and three orchestras. Twenty-one lodges in the county have a combined membership of 1,741 and are a chief factor in the promotion of social life. Other societies number nineteen and include nine women's clubs, a gun QUITE HAPPY, THANK YOU ! The playground at Bristol, Vt., is only one of many boons conferred by the Community Club club, the Cedar Lake Boys' Club, a business men's club, the Fort- nightly Club, four D. A. R. societies, a W. C. T. U. and a country club. There are fourteen Granges whose memberships total 1,420, and which are active socially besides taking the lead in aiding eco- nomic development. In only three communities is the Church con- sidered a factor in supplying recreational activity. In four-fifths of the communities the presence of leaders is recognized, although in the majority community spirit is not in evidence. Middlebury and Bristol have proved the worth of "getting together" socially and religiously and in business life, but the more rural districts still show the need of cooperation, several inactive community clubs being an evidence of this. 40 SOCIAL AGENCIES AND ACTIVITIES Tompkins Countj presents a marked contrast in that it is splen- didly organized. The Grange and the Farm and Home Bureaus are the leading farmers' organizations. There are eighteen Granges with 2,200 members. Half of them own their halls. The County Farm Bureau has been largely instrumental in organizing the Dairy- men's League, the County Sheep Growers' Association, the Guernsey Club, the Holstein Club and the Market Gardeners' Association, and is of constant assistance in their work. The County Home Bureau has 900 members and is developing interest in many directions, one being the travelling libraries in rural communities. It cooperates with the Red Cross in encouraging health work and hot lunches in schools, and is working with some of the churches. Its program covers a wide range of activities, including household management, recreation and civics, and does for the rural home what the Farm Bureau does for the farm. Of twenty-eight rural communities in Tompkins County all but one report one or more leaders. Not all of them, however, have as yet been able to unite their localities so that they possess that in- tangible but valuable quality known as community spirit. This seems to be present in only fourteen communities. The county has an excellent school system. The Red Cross in 1920 had 8,685 members, of whom 3,270 were in rural centers. There are a Tuberculosis Sanitarium in the county and a nurse who works throughout the area in locating cases and assisting in their treatment. A summer Preventorium devoted to the building up of under-developed children is at South Lansing. Ithaca has an endowed children's home. The Ithaca Women's Clubs have recently purchased a large residence in the heart of the city which has been converted into a real Community House. Many rural women belong to this Federation and the County Home Bureau and W. C. T. U. use the building constantly. The George Junior Republic at Freeville has attracted nation-wide attention by its successful attempt to teach self-government, self-control and the dignity of labor to young people between the ages of sixteen and twenty-one, who otherwise might remain useless members of society. It is financed by fees and gifts and is one of the most remarkable industrial and educational communities in the country. There is also a well kept County Home. A State Home for dependent families is being erected by the State Odd Fellows Lodge. Even Calf Clubs and Farm Bureaus furnish social life for their members to an unusual degree in this county. Commercial amuse- ments center largely at Ithaca. Only four communities have moving- 41 THE COUNTRY CHURCH IN COLONIAL COUNTIES picture theaters, and there are but seven pool-rooms. Dancing seems to be the most popular form of recreation. Thirty-one lodges have 2,288 members and are very active. The W. C. T. U. has twenty- five local Unions and 1,500 members. It has also ten young people's branches with 107 members. There are sixty-one other societies and clubs having more than 2,700 members, showing that rural Tompkins County is not lacking in varied social activities. Every community has one or more places for recreation and one or more social organizations, but in most cases there is no definite plan for promoting this phase of community life. In Warren County there is no influence for social development greater than that of the Farm Bureau. Not only does it aid in DOES IT PAY TO ADVERTISE agricultural enterprise but it also provides many social occasions, conducts a song school and holds a large number of successful community meetings. Less than half of the twenty-eight communi- ties acknowledge the presence of community spirit, developed chiefly by the summer population, the Farm Bureau, the churches and the schools. Nineteen communities report leaders. Social life is plenti- ful in summer, but sadly lacking at other times of the year. Deer hunting is the chief sport in the fall. There are only three Granges and only thirteen active Lodges, although their membership numbers nearly 2,000. In only four communities is the church mentioned as a factor in social activity. Summer hotels are used for occasional dances and parties. Now and then a lodge-hall, school or town-hall will be found serving as a social gathering place, but in winter social 42 SOCIAL AGENCIES AND ACTIVITIES activities are scarce indeed. Seven communities have halls for dancing, six have moving-picture theaters, and six have pool-rooms. Three communities have organized athletics and there is one bowling- alley. Schools in the rural districts are generally of the one-room type, lacking in modern equipment. At Silver Bay the conference build- ings are used in winter by a Preparatory School for Boys, the en- rollment of which is seventy-five. Bolton has a private school for girls with fifty pupils. There are libraries in only six of the twenty- eight communities. There is only one newspaper published outside of Glens Falls, the County Weekly at Warrensburg. Health work is well organized at Glens Falls and more is being done each year among the rural inhabitants. The Warren County Committee for Prevention of Tuberculosis is conducting vital work and organizing educational activities. A commendable program has recently been adopted, and there are hopes for a fresh-air camp for under-nourished children. At Glens Falls is located the tri-county Blind Home which cares for patients of Warren, Washington and Saratoga counties. The Red Cross, since the War, is directing its efforts toward aiding ex-service men throughout the county. The county has a poor iafm located at Warrensburg and consisting of about 200 acres. The Associated Charities direct their attention chiefly to Glens Falls, except on urgent call from outside. Of the three counties under consideration, Tompkins alone is ade- quately organized to meet the needs of the health and the social and recreational life of its people. Addison County has only two well organized communities and Warren County, outside of Glens Falls, is more or less indifferent to the need of organized endeavor for public welfare. 43 Chapter V FOLK DEPLETION AND MISSED OPPORTUNITIES VITAL changes have taken place within the rural regions of the Colonial area during the last decade. The 1920 census shows that every state in New England except Massachusetts has declined considerably in rural population, and even in Massachu- setts it is likely that the farming districts have lost population. Rural New York State reports a decline of 6.9 per cent, and the Vermont figures show a loss of 5.7 per cent. Of the three counties under consideration Warren County has declined the most rapidly, there being hardly any immigration and little foreign influx outside of Glens Falls. The death-rate exceeds the birth-rate and young people still continue to flock to the cities. Warren County reports a decrease of nearly 12 per cent, in rural population, while Tompkins County declined 1 1 per cent, and Addison 7 per cent, in the last census period. For the entire Colonial area there was a decrease in the number of farms of 11 per cent, for the last decade as against a decrease of only 2 per cent, during the preceding ten years. New York and Vermont reported a decrease approximating the average for the area. In Addison, Tompkins and Warren counties the loss in the number of farms was from 11 to 15 per cent., there being 122,874 acres less in farms in the three counties today than a decade ago. On the other hand, wherever there is industrial growth there has been in- crease in population. Ithaca increased one-seventh and Glens Falls nearly one-tenth during the last ten years, the rate of growth having been somewhat accelerated in Ithaca and considerably retarded in Glens Falls as compared with the previous decade. Five agricultural villages in the three counties which ' have some industrial interests are growing; but, of the seven hill towns of Addison County only one increased in population during the decade apd that only slightly because of increased lumber industry. Thirteen of the sixteen valley towns in the same county declined. The great cityward surge has continued now for more than two centuries. The people of the coun- try districts have answered the call of industry and the city. Migra- tion has far exceeded normal proportions. The agricultural colleges are endeavoring to give back to the 44 FOLK DEPLETION AND MISSED OPPORTUNITIES country its share of efficient workmen. Every year sincere students of the soil, a surprising number of them city born and bred, are turning from the crowd toward what they are sure is a better future in the open country. There is an increasing number of more pro- gressive farmers, husbandmen indeed, who have achieved agricul- tural success and have by wise, fair methods checked migration from their farms. For example, there is a successful farm in the foothills of the Berkshires, which has been in the hands of the same family for three generations. The family consists of father, mother and two sons, both of whom are now young men. The father, having been elected a Representative to the Legislature, and needing more free time to fulfill his political duties, wisely placed his farm in the AN UP-TO-DATE FARMER The racing car brings the advantages of the city within easy reach of the farm hands of his two sons and gave them the complete management of it. Unlike too many farmers, he has always paid his boys a generous sum each week, and under the new arrangement he raised their salaries. In addition, he gave them money with which to buy an automobile for their own use. They bought a racing car. They know that there are no city wages higher than their own, for they have been there to find out. If they wish to enjoy what advantages the city offers, the racer is at their service ; but as a matter of fact they do not care for city life. Their land is fertile ; their crops are the pride of the community. The sense of ownership and the fact that they hold responsible positions have kept these boys contented on the farm. Though both are less than twenty-five years of age, they are already well established in a business that pays. 45 THE COUNTRY CHURCH IN COLONIAL COUNTIES Successful experiments of the kind described may help to check the exodus from the more productive lowlands. In the hills, on the other hand, farming is beset with many difficulties, and there de- pletion is still going on and will doubtless continue. In the eastern half of Addison County, for example, the seven hill towns previously referred to, whose total population now numbers only 3,245, declined WHERE EllUCATION LACS A school in the abandoned farm region in the hills of \'ermont more than three times as rapidly as the valley towns of the same county during the last ten years. Here the farms are usually too small for modern methods of cultivation. Many are overgrown with stu1)ble or consist of run-out land, where the only hope of future prosperity lies in reforestation. Foreigners have not been attracted ]>y them. Young people are few and the ambitious have long ago departed. Schools are inadequately ec|uipped. No lodges are active and no social organizations make any consistent efforts to bring people together even to talk things over. Grange suppers and 46 FOLK DEPLETION AND MISSED OPPORTUNITIES occasional dances alone break the monotony of life in the hills. The churches are weak and are declining rapidly in membership, interest and attendance. Of the ten hill-town churches, just one (a Fed- erated church) has gained in members during the last decade. Al- though none are pastorless at present, seven of them have each had five or more pastors during the last ten years. Not one of them has retained the same pastor for that length of time while three have had eight and one has had ten pastors during the decade. One would suppose that the salaries of pastors in the larger, more thrifty valley churches would greatly exceed those paid by these weak and declining hill-town churches. The margin of advantage is, however, only lo per cent. The average salary paid to the hill church pastor is $1,203 ^^'^ to the valley church pastor $1,324, while the average for the entire county is only $1,321. It is interesting to note that the average annual per capita contribution toward salaries is larger in hill churches than in valley churches, $15.70 as compared with $12.23. The average church devotes more than three- fourths of its total income to its pastor's salary, giving only 12 per cent, for benevolences, and has an average annual per capita con- tribution for all purposes of $20.04. In this matter of per capita giving for all church purposes the hill churches, with an average of $22.31, have again a marked advantage over the valley churches in which the average is only $16.77, which seems to indicate that the greater the struggle to live the greater the sacrifice a church's mem- bership will make. In the relative frequency of churches there is not much difference between the two sections. There is one church for every 467 persons in the hill communities and for every 510 persons in the valley communities. Only two of the hill churches are self-supporting, the other eight receiving Home Mission aid to the total amount of $1,487, or an average of $186 per church. Half of these churches have active memberships of twelve or less and only one church (Federated) has more than fifty active members. The membership of all ten churches includes 108 families, four-fifths of whom live in purely rural districts. Only forty-eight boys and girls are on the rolls and four churches report no young people whatever. During last year two churches gained twelve members, four others lost seventeen and four remained stationary. There are no organizations for men, boys or girls in these ten churches, though in nine of them the Ladies' Aids are as usual quite active. As to the future there seems to be little hope. Pastors and leading laymen regard indifference and 47 THE COUNTRY CHURCH IN COLONIAL COUNTIES isolation as their chief problems. Where leadership is lacking, there is always a lack of incentive to follow. Where there are few young people, the older people inevitably lack ambition and social advan- tages mean little. Religion becomes a task which often is left undone. So much for the hill towns. A different situation is found on a visit to five agricultural communities, three in Addison and one in each of the New York counties, which are developing not only along agricultural but also along industrial lines. Their combined population is about one- fourth of the total rural population of the three counties and includes more than 800 foreigners. During the last decade they have in- creased in population 5 per cent. One thousand seven hundred and twenty-five people are employed in the several industrial plants, 1,050 of them in one community. All five of these more enterprising communities have adequate leadership and all but one manifest con- siderable community spirit. Each according to its make-up is well organized in its social, religious and economic life. In one community, life revolves principally around the Corona Typewriter Corporation, which maintains an employees' club, a band and a gymnasium. Organized athletics are conducted by the cor- poration which is to employ a paid director of sports who will also serve the schools and townspeople. A new school has recently been built in which community rooms are an important factor. In another community, lodge activities are most prominent. Still another is domi- nated by the college close at hand, and this community is not only the county seat and chief shipping point but is the hub of its entire county. Social life is not wanting and the women's clubs have been a moving power in bringing about a splendid cooperative spirit in the village. Another community, lying in a deep valley in the Gre§n Mountains, has an organization of men of which it may well be proud. Its members are business and church men and through their efforts much civic improvement has been made possible. A park, which is also a community playground, in the center of the village is one evidence of their successful, unselfish endeavor. The fifth com- munity is the smallest city in the United States and the third oldest in New England. A very typical Vermont village is this, with fine ideals and worthy traditions, but not easily adapted to change. The beautiful old buildings stand in striking contrast to the fine new library on the main street and very clearly typify the problem which is slowly being solved here, a struggle between the old and the new, evidenced not only in its industrial and social but more especially 48 FOLK DEPLETION AND MISSED OPPORTUNITIES in its religious life. The D. A. R. and women's clubs are influential and the lodge and Grange have also large memberships. The churches in these five communities are a good deal above the average in their organizations. There are twenty churches, which are surely too many, though three-fourths of them have more than fifty members each. Including five Roman Catholic churches, there is one church for every 491 persons in these communities. During the last decade, 50 per cent, of the Protestant churches have in- creased considerably in membership, and last year nine churches made a net gain. Salaries paid to pastors show the same unfair, low average as in all the communities in the three counties. The maximum salary is only $1,800 and the average salary only $1,178, a pitifully low sum for a thriving community to expect any self- respecting family to live on in these days of high prices. Each of the twenty churches has a resident pastor, in fifteen cases on full time and in five instances serving two points each. With fewer churches memberships might be strengthened sufficiently to pay the pastors adequate salaries. These contrasts already shown between the less favored hill towns and those more fortunate agriculturally and industrially in- dicate the effects which these economic factors have upon church and community life. What such a situation means in the aggregate can be conceived only through a glimpse at the whole picture. There are in the three counties eighty-two well-defined communi- ties, and 93 per cent, of them are declining in population. Sixteen communities have populations of 200 or less. Twenty report that there are no leaders among them, and more than half show no evidence of community spirit. But if community life has been undermined by depletion, religious life is threatened with extinction. Of the 144 churches in the three counties, 61 per cent, have remained at a standstill or declined in membership during the last ten years. More than one-fourth of them have now twenty-five members or less; two-thirds have fifty members or less. Addison County has suffered the largest loss in church membership during the past year. Of its forty churches eleven gained eighty-five members, but fifteen churches lost ninety-nine members and fourteen churches remained stationary. That is to say, nearly three-fourths of the county's churches are declining or are barely holding their own, and there was a net loss of fourteen members from all churches during the year. In view of the abandoned farms, it is not surprising to find that there are thirty abandoned church buildings in the three counties. Some have been closed because no members were left in the parish, 49 THE COUNTRY CHURCH IN COLONIAL COUNTIES some because of nearness to the city or to a stronger church of the same denomination, others simply for lack of support and interest. Some of these abandoned churches are being used as lodge or grange halls, but many of them seem to be waiting. For what? Perhaps till the time when the community house ceases to be a dream. There are church organizations everywhere with inadequate equipment for any sort of recreational program. With a little renovating and rearrangement some of the abandoned church buildings might well fill the need of a real "meeting house" where neighbors should become acquainted. THE CHURCHES AND THEIR MEMBERSHIPS 94 Churches 30 Churches 11 9 Churches churches Under 50-100 100-150 Over 50 150 MEMBERSHIP Two-thirds of the churches have less than 50 members Besides the abandoned churches, there are the inactive churches. There are seven in Warren County whose organizations are still intact, though no services are held in them except possibly in summer. Members of the majority of these attend the services of other de- nominations during the winter or until they can procure regular pastors. They are all in communities too small to support more churches than are now holding services, but no organized effort is made to have their members regularly support the churches which they have taken to attending. The result is that no sooner have they become interested in the services of other churches than their own churches are once more opened for the summer. These, how- ever, seldom have regular pastors. Usually they are served by a 50 FOLK DEPLETION AND MISSED OPPORTUNITIES student supply, which comes and goes and serves only to keep alive the smoldering fire of denominational loyalty. GAIN AND LOSS IN MEMBERSHIP SUMMER RESORT AND INDUSTRIAL COMMUNITY CHURCHES SUMMER RESORT CHURCHES INDUSTRIAL COMMUNITY CHURCHES CHART III A situation of this kind is indefensible from any point of view. In all instances where there are inactive churches, there are other GAIN AND LOSS IN MEMBERSHIP AGRICULTURAL COMMUNITY CHURCHES 13% REMAINED STATIONARY MORE FAVORED COMMUNITIES LESS FAVORED COMMUNITIES 27% REMAINED STATIONARY 39% .lost: CHART IV churches active throughout the year. The only hope of the small, weak churches in Warren County is in united effort, not only for a few months during the winter but throughout the year; not in a 51 THE COUNTRY CHURCH IN COLONIAL COUNTIES half-hearted, indifferent attendance, but in a genuine spirit of cooperative religious enthusiasm. If denominationalism ceased to run so high there might be many a successful community church like that at Chestertown, and the buildings closed thereby would be available for additional equipment in carrying out a real community church program, so much needed in Warren County. Church ad- ministrators carry a heavy responsibility in so far as they perpetuate this situation or even allow it to drag along. Within rural Glens Falls there are five abandoned churches, and the question arises : "What is the relation of a growing city to its surrounding area? What is its killing range vs. its service range?" Cities as a rule are still quite indifferent as to the services just outside their limits. Until recently, there has been little cooperation of any sort between Glens Falls and the outlying country. On the other hand, Ithaca, with her cooperative agencies well established and her fine roads leading out in all directions into the rural dis- tricts, has related herself in a friendly and very helpful way to the entire county. Striking contrasts have been brought to light by the survey of the areas surrounding these two busy industrial centers, not only in their social but especially in their religious life. Within a six-mile radius of Ithaca there is just one abandoned church. There are six well organized churches, five of which are of Methodist and one of Baptist denomination. Though pastorates have been short during the last ten years none of these churches is at present pastorless and none is receiving home mission aid. Mem- berships are the average size for the county, only one church having less than fifty members. The Sunday school enrollment equals 95 per cent, of the total resident membership. This situation is, how- from farm homes. These rural churches are organized on a sound financial basis. All but one use a budget system and all hold annual every-member canvasses for the systematic raising of funds. A net gain of six members was made by three churches during last year. Though their programs are meager, three have the use of stereopti- cons occasionally and one church reports special meetings with speakers from the Agricultural College. None of the churches has organizations for men, boys or girls, although these constitute 53 per cent, of the total church roll, and 55 per cent, of the pupils are ever, not unusual in the three counties, all of which are negligent in organizing church social life for their people. Rural Ithaca at least names the church as its main institution and boasts of com- munity spirit and cooperation among its people. It is evident that Ithaca is not "living unto herself alone." We find her banks, stores, 52 FOLK DEPLETION AND MISSED OPPORTUNITIES schools, and all her cooperative forces giving aid to the rural area, furnishing a market for its product, capital for its agricultural en- terprises, and welcome to its citizens. Glens Falls presents a different situation. The city, unlike Ithaca, is situated at the very southeast corner of the county and belongs partly in other counties. Agriculturally, Warren County has been unable to furnish any great supply for the city. She has given timber, and in time will give it again. She has also given citizens to the industries in Glens Falls. It is, however, only recently that this busy, industrial, growing city has been moved to give anything back to the rural areas, and it is the Church which has just seen the needs of the neglected fringe of the city. In the rural area about Glens Falls is a good farming district in which more than i,ooo people are resident. There are just three organized churches, all of which are at present very weak and irregular in their activities. There is no resident regular pastor in the entire area, but services are held at seven points, and during the last year the associate pastor of the Glens Falls Presbyterian Church has held services every Sunday at as many points as possible. In one parish there are more than forty children, but only a dozen attend Sunday school. Two of the leading church members are at present holding mission study classes and endeavoring to keep the organization together. One of them remarked: "We need a young pastor and a regular Sunday school superintendent, who can wake up the young people." Several of these points — an unorgan- ized church, the County Line Mission, etc. — have been served by "anyone who would come." At one point midweek services are very successfully carried on. Much unselfish service has been ren- dered in the entire area by laymen and interested neighboring pas- tors. It is, however, the vision of the Presbyterian church at Glens Falls that has instituted "the larger parish" plan which will reopen some of these weak, struggling churches, put them on a systematic basis and place a regular pastor in the area. The type of pastor needed is one who will be disinterested denominationally and will really get acquainted with the people, not only from a religious but from a social point of view. The foregoing pages point to the development of a closer co- operation in mutual interest and understanding between farm and community, between religion and society, between town and country. The farmer will perhaps succeed in inducing his sons and daughters to remain willingly on the farm, but the churches also have their part to play in interesting these boys and girls in live programs and S3 THE COUNTRY CHURCH IN COLONIAL COUNTIES dynamic recreational activities as well as in preaching sermons to them on Sundays. With the activities of the churches the life of the rural community rises or falls. It must be expected that those fitted to forward industrial activities will go where industry is; but there are others who might succeed in the country and who would lose the urge of the city if some of the advantages ofifered by the city were brought to them in the country. Above all other agencies the Church is best fitted to assume leadership in the task of revitalizing the community life of rural America. 54 Chapter VI FOREIGNERS ON THE LAND FOREIGNERS are found in all but nine of the communities of Addison and Tompkins counties. Thirty-one per cent, of the urban and 19 per cent, of the rural populations of the three counties are foreign-born or of immediate foreign extraction. Of the total number of foreigners in the rural areas, 45 per cent. are in Addison, 33 per cent, are in Tompkins and 22 per cent, are in Warren County. In the last county they are chiefly engaged in the garnet mines at North River or are resident in Graphite, where mines were formerly in operation. There are hardly any foreigners on the farms of Warren County. Whether the foreigners are engaged on the farms or are indus- trially employed, their presence raises serious problems in religion, society and education. Little has been done in the way of American- ization outside the larger centers. Class distinction is strong. The majority of churches report that the foreigners attend the Roman Catholic church "if any," which seems to indicate a general indiffer- ence toward this incoming population and little intelligent effort to reach it. These foreigners have, however, done much toward bring- ing rural life back to its own, economically if not socially, and among them are many scientific farmers. In a certain community in Massachusetts are two farms side by side. One is owned by a typical American and the other by a Polish peasant farmer. The two are equally productive at the present time. The Polish farmer landed in America only six years ago. He worked for two years on the American's farm. He saved money and he observed the methods used by the American, who has lived all his life here. Today this Pole owns his own farm, fills his own silo, cuts his own tobacco, for which he gets prices envied by his American neighbor. He has his own home and a thriving young family. He is a good citizen and is quite typical of a large percentage of farmers in that region. The French Canadian continues, as of old, to trust in the land of the Champlain Valley, in Addison County, and in ever increasing numbers he is buying up farms and settling there. In consequence, 55 THE COUNTRY CHURCH IN COLONIAL COUNTIES the membership of five Roman CathoHc churches now exceeds that of forty Protestant churches. Everywhere is felt the growing strength of the Canadian influence. The French Canadian is loyal to his own church to a degree which might well be duplicated by Protestants. Some assimilation might be attained on a purely human basis if denominationalism did not run so high and if the Golden Rule were more definitely practiced. Successful inter-racial cooperation has been developed in Middlebury by the Federation of Women's Clubs whose committees take turns visiting in the homes of the foreign- born. Sincerity has won these New Americans. If they desire to learn English, classes are arranged. In the home of one of the town leaders there was a beautiful bowl of flowers on the table. They were the gift of "an Italian friend" of the hostess. She had come with her large family on Sunday afternoon, had talked of current happenings, strolled through the garden, and enjoyed the new records on the phonograph. There are few homes in which such hospitality is to be found. The habit of following the line of least resistance and indifference is too much a matter of course. Especially in rural New England, people need to "thaw out" in their attitude toward their leaders, toward each other, and toward the stranger within their gates. 56 Chapter VII THE PROBLEM OF THE SUMMER RESORT EVERY summer Warren County is host to more than 15,000 visitors. The normal year-round population is doubled. Ten communities, containing about half the rural population of the county, are dependent to some extent upon the summer visitor. The more enterprising communities make great preparations. The stores with their summer stock become quite up-to-date shops. All the business resources are assembled. Some of the people rent rooms or furnish board. Others run automobiles to "any place you want to go." Everywhere, everyone hustles to entertain the "city folks" in the best possible fashion, on the lakes,- through the shaded drives, over the mountains or in the tea-rooms. For all this the summer folk pay and so do the winter folk. September comes and the vacationist returns home. The year-round residents, with their easily earned incomes, begin to turn in for the season and all social life comes to a sudden standstill like a clock run down. The curtains of the gift shops are drawn for the season. Tea-rooms become restaurants or go out of business. Automobiles are glad to take traveling men from town to town and to attend funerals once again. Some of the inhabitants take to the woods and go to lumbering. Others, like one well-to-do taxi man, "do not worry," having laid aside a sum of "between $6,000 and $7,000 in two months." And what of the churches? In a good many cases they have been nearly wrecked. During the summer their pews have been filled with wealthy visitors. The resident congregation has been necessarily kept away from services to see that the guests' dinners are properly prepared. Different pastors give different versions of the effect upon their organizations. One pastor sighed and shook his head. "If the summer folks would stay at home," he said, "we might be able to manage the winter ones." On the other hand, a certain Episcopal rector remarked that if it were not for the summer people his church would have to close. In the words of Joseph Lincoln, the summer residents live on the lands about Lake George, and the "natives live on the summer residents." They depend on them not only for their daily bread, but for the support of their churches. 57 THE COUNTRY CHURCH IN COLONIAL COUNTIES On the surface the resort churches seem to be better off finan- cially than those in non-resort communities. A good many churches do not make up their budgets until after the vacation season. Sum- mer guests are, as a rule, regular attendants at services and liberal writh their collections. In non-resort communities the churches raise seven-eighths of their funds by subscription. Those in resort centers depend largely on collections, more than a third of their money being raised by this means. The non-resort churches exceed the resort churches in average per capita contribution toward benevo- lences. The average per capita expenditure is $26.99 for the resort church and only $21.94 in non-resort churches. Pastors' salaries in resort churches range from $975 to $2,500, averaging $1,557, which is larger than the average for the county. In non-resort churches the average is $1,225. The task of the summer pastor is not easy. He must please two entirely different congregations. At the end of each season there comes a sudden change. The year-round congregation has become disorganized. Programs so easily carried out with the summer life in the community, become impossible because their leaders have returned to the cities. They came here to play, familiar with organ- ized life and full of novel ideas, not afraid to express them and put them into practice. The country folk under their leadership found it easy to play with them. The guests have failed to do the real service of developing local leaders. In October, when a question was put concerning the social life of village and church under ordi- nary winter conditions, there were shakings of the head and replies of "nothing doing," or "not during the winter." A survey of the twenty-two churches affected by summer traffic shows that only three interest themselves in civic affairs, four aim to aid in agricultural enterprise, eight have socials, three have study classes or other educational programs and three have entertainments of some sort. Only four have any organizations for men, three of these holding joint meetings and proving a vital moving force in the community. Twelve churches have Ladies' Aids and only five have organizations for young men and women, while there is not a single club or society for boys or girls. Yet the net active membership- of these twenty-two churches is 1,010, nearly one-third of whom are young people under twenty-one years of age. There are more than 300 young people in the summer resort churches wondering each fall what to do until next summer when "life" will begin again. They will demand recreation. Their parents may be tired of the hurry and the social demands made upon them. They may be 58 THE PROBLEM OF THE SUMMER RESORT content without a social program. But the young people will never be content without it and if it is not provided by the Church they will find it elsewhere. It would seem quite natural that the Church should take upon itself the responsibility of leadership in social affairs of -the com- munity in winter as well as in summer. In the ten communities where vacationists gather there are only four libraries. Only one grange is active and in only four communities are there lodges. If the churches were better business organizations they would be found getting together to form some sort of organized program, realizing that here is an opportunity to make good. It is a new field ripe for cultivation. The summer folks have sown the seed and demonstrated the value of cooperation. It is not fair that the vacationists should have had all the fun. But there must be permanent leadership to organize the new ideas and not new leadership every season or oftener. Pastoral changes are all too frequent in these communities. Two-thirds of the churches in the resorts have had three or more different pastors each during the last decade. Four have had five pastors, one has had seven and one has changed pastors eight times. It is no wonder then that half the churches are either stationary or declining in membership. Fourteen out of the twenty-two churches have memberships of fifty or less, although in the ten communities where they are located there are 371 persons for every church. Only 12 per cent, of the total population of these summer resort communities are included in the net active membership of the churches. To be sure some of the communities scarcely exist except during the summer, and then several of them have large Roman Catholic and other non-Protestant populations. In a county where farms are so scattered and parishes stretch far out into the hills it is almost impossible to get people together unless there is a sufficiently inte'resting center of activity. The Farm Bureau has proved of unquestionable value in breaking down barriers of that type of indifference which is caused by isolation. It should be the task of the churches, not only in summer, but in winter to supply similar programs of such caliber as to bring together old and young for social as well as religious activity. Whether it be stereopticon lec- tures or socials, suppers, amateur theatricals or musicales, it is for the leaders of rural churches to consider. Recreation there must be, and if it is supplied by the Church as a center the entire com- munity gains both socially and spiritually. 59 Chapter VIII WHAT DO THE YOUNG PEOPLE NEED? THE Farm and Home Bureaus in most counties have asked themselves this question and set out to find the answer. So too have some of the churches, though too few have paid sufficiently serious attention to the problem. Tompkins and Addison counties are experimenting under the auspices of Farm and Home Bureaus along different lines of club activity with boys and girls. There are calf clubs, potato clubs, canning clubs, etc. The Farm Bureau in Addison County was the first in the state to adopt the plan of family membership, the success of which is not to be doubted. The young people share in the activities of their parents and are not only gaining much information regarding scientific farming but are learning to be better citizens, to know the value of team work and to realize that their help is necessary in the making of a better country life. In Warren County there is at present no Home Bureau. The opportunity for the churches is evident. The young people would gladly welcome any form of program. Twenty-nine per cent, of the church enrollment is under twenty-one years of age and yet in all the county there is but one "Soup Club." Such organizations are not only for the "par churches" of a county, but might be duplicated in every community. This boys' Soup Club stands for hikes, skat- ing parties, athletic contests, winter socials, serious talks, friendliness, and at the end of the program — soup. But it means more. It means strength and a future for the church of the day after tomorrow. In the three counties, in addition to a few Boy Scout and Camp Fire organizations (the value of which must not be under-estimated) and the usual organizations of purely religious character for young men and women, there are in the churches only seven societies for boys and six for girls — thirteen social groups with a membership of 255, compared with twenty-five societies and clubs outside the churches with a membership of nearly 2,000. A little less than one- third of the church members under twenty-one years of age are active in church organizations. The Epworth League and the Christian Endeavor are a very great influence in Christian life but 60 WHAT DO THE YOUNG PEOPLE NEED? they cannot altogether take the place of the informal, get-together social clubs. The churches lack such activities because they are too satisfied with things as they have always been. Organizations outside the church are all the time providing something new, vital, related to life, and have therefore won to their ranks a large follow- ing of young people who thrive on "something new." Until the churches are willing to make serious efforts to appeal to their young people in a like manner, church organizations for them will not be popular. Could the older people encourage the organization of young people's societies? They most assuredly could if only by the activity of their own organizations. Concerning the work of the ladies' societies, nothing need be said. The survey shows that 88 per cent, of the women on the church roll are active workers in church or- ganizations. They are, indeed, the pillars of the Church today. The men have not yet considered to any extent that a socially organ- ized effort on their part would benefit their churches. There are in three counties only eleven church organizations for men, enrolling about one man in every six of the church membership. Twenty- seven churches out of 144 report no social organizations whatever, and twenty-four entire communities have no social organizations in the churches. Contrast this situation with that which exists in the way of community organizations outside the Church. There are thirty-five granges whose membership is nearly 4,000. There are sixty-five lodges with 6,029 members (approximately) and in seventy-three other social and civic organizations there are more than 5,000 members. It is evident that something is lacking some- where in the church program. Here and there are pastors who have solved the problem of or- ganizing their people for service. For example, in one rural com- munity of one of these counties there lives a busy pastor of three churches, one of which is seven and another ten miles from his home. In order to bring his salary up to a living wage he teaches school four and one-half miles away, making the trip to and from his school on foot since two miles of the journey are over mountain land. He is not only a pastor and a teacher. He is also the local correspondent for the county paper and special reporter for the county seat's two newspapers. He plays the cornet in the town band. He also fills the position of Conference Secretary to the Sunday School Board. He is the County Superintendent of Sunday schools. He teaches Sunday school every Sunday and directs a rural teachers' training class. The main and most vital reason for his success in 61 A VERSATILE PASTOR Here is a rural minister whose life is just one long holiday. Above are represented two of his diversions — playing the cornet in the town band and "hiking" with his Boy Scouts. His other activities include preaching in three churches, teaching day school and Sunday School, acting as County Sunday School Superintendent and sitting on various committees. He devotes his spare time to reporting for two newspapers. 62 WHAT DO THE YOUNG PEOPLE NEED? the community lies in his hold upon the young people. He has three troops of Boy Scouts. They camp together, hike, and hold social meetings. These boys do not have to be dragged to prayer meetings. They come to the pastor's house and ask where the meetings are to be held, and then they attend and take active part in them. When asked as to how he had managed to break down all barriers and so solidly gain the absolute confidence of his boys, he said : "Well, when I was a boy, I remember" — and he needed to say no more. There should be more leaders of this sort. Rural churches all but entirely neglect boys' and girls' work. Church and school should cooperate more closely in the building up of Christian citizenship. Churches, which have undertaken special work among young people and tried programs for a long enough time to prove their value, have realized that through organized effort among boys and girls comes the larger devotion both in faith and in service for the future. 63 Chapter IX OVER- AND UNDERCHURCHING ONE of the reasons for the small church memberships and for the decline in attendance is to be found in the overchurching which exists throughout the area. In Tompkins County this is especially apparent. The rural population of this county divided ONE SIDE OF A VILLAGE SQUARE The School and the Universalist and Methodist Episcopal Churches at Speedsville, Tompkins County by the number of churches gives a proportion of one church to every 332 people. When the Roman Catholic membership is deducted this figure drops materially. Two communities have five churches each ; one of the communities has a population of only 900, and not one of its churches has a resident pastor. Sectarianism is strong enough to have divided this community and none of the churches has more than forty-five active members, two having only eleven each. Six 64 OVER- AND UNDERCHURCHING strictly rural coniniunities, most of them in the southern part of the county, have sixteen churches, although in each of these places the constituency cannot properly sup]>ort more than one church with a resident pastor. Some of the ohservers of the situation frankly state that the Church would he greatly strengthened if one-third of the churches in the county were eliminated. Certain it is that parish lines need to he reorganized, especially within denominations, for there are certain cases within the county where that least excusahle of overchurching sins is committed — namely, competition between churches of the same denomination. GROWTH AND DFXAY The successful Wesleyan Methodist Church at Bakers Mills. Warren County, and by its side the dilapidated Pentecostal Holiness Church still strut'Rling alouL; with a pastor Ining in tlie church liuililing atifl about a dozen menilicrs. Tin- Wesleyan Church would be still ftirtber strengthened if another church of the same denomination, served by the same pastor, less than two miles away, would consent to close its doors. The larger communities of A\'arren County are overchurched. In one town there are five large Protestant church organizations besides other smaller groups worshiping" separately. The popula- tion is only 2,500 and only one-fifth are active church members. The smaller, weaker organizations prove a stumbling block to the larger ones and they themselves can hope for no more than a static existence. Lack of unified force makes adequate financial support an impossibility. Small memberships where the population is not increasing deprive any church of whole-hearted service. If some of the small, struggling memberships would join with the stronger organizations their influence might be more than doubled. Unless some such step is taken there will surely be continued poverty in 65 THE COUNTRY CHURCH IN COLONIAL COUNTIES religious activity. Pastors will continue to "carry on," though ill- supported, and be forced to follow other occupations besides the ministry in order to live. Some will give up and join the silent strikers from the ranks of the ministry. In one instance, in a purely rural area, there are two churches of the same denomination holding services within a mile of each other. They have the same pastor, who serves also another church not far away. Some of the members of one church live in the parish of the other and the people at the latter attend service frequently in the community where the pastor lives rather than in their own, yet refuse to have their churches united. Thus the service this pastor might render to one strong church is divided into two parts and he must hold services for two small, weak congregations instead of for one large, responsive one. Contrasted with these areas, which have more churches than they can possibly support, are the neglected areas. There are three communities in Warren County and one in Addison County, with a total population of 549, having neither church service nor Sunday schools. There are not enough people in any one of the four to support a pastor and drifted roads in winter make traveling next to impossible. The consequence is that these people, excepting a few in one community who sometimes attend a school-house service, are absolutely neglected. Goshen, Vermont, has two unused church buildings, one of which is in very good repair. The pastor of a neighboring church is willing and anxious to serve the Goshen people, who number more than 100, but they have no interest in the church, and there is little use in a hard trip to preach to empty pews. The community is satis- fied with Grange life as its backbone. In a little neighborhood of southwestern Warren County there is a pastorless church, which, however, continues to grow. Its Ladies' Society and Sunday school are active, and regular services are held. Once a month a neighbor- ing pastor sends a written sermon, which is read from the pulpit by one of the leading members. Last year a splendid revival service was held here resulting in twenty-one converts and a new awakening of enthusiasm in the organization. The chief problem of this little neighborhood is its scattered population. Leading members predict, however, a good future in this field if a resident pastor is sent to the rescue. Few are the country churches that are so alive to their responsibility that they register a definite gain even though they have no pastors. In the Industrial School at Vergennes, Vermont, are nearly 300 persons. Of these, at least 160 are Protestant, and yet no kind of 66 OVER- AND UNDERCHURCHING strictly religious services are held for them. The state pays a Roman Catholic priest for his services to those of his faith in the institution and they are well cared for. The school authorities are not in favor of one denomination taking charge of services, but would welcome Protestant ministers of different denominations in turn. On the other hand, the Protestant pastors feel that little could be accomplished in this way, and the result is that no Protestant minister goes out to the school. Ethical talks, music and services of a general nature are provided on Sundays, but they are not especially of a religious nature and religious services are much needed. In the mountainous sections of Warren County there are folks who are not unlike the mountaineers of the Appalachian range and though a few are reached by a traveling missionary who serves a six-point circuit, there are many who know very little about religion. If the stronger churches in all three counties could in some way extend their parishes further out into the hills they might do a piece of real missionary work. This would mean better citizens, more church members and larger attendance and would check the decline in church strength. One-third of Warren County's churches have less than twenty-five members and of these 86 per cent, are declining. There are only seventeen churches in the county with as many as fifty members. Unless some definite measures are speedily taken, at least one-third of the present active churches must soon suffer the fate of the nine churches already abandoned. 67 Chapter X ONE WAY OUT— CHURCH FEDERATION AND THE VERMONT PLAN FOUR years ago the leading representatives of the Congrega- tional, Methodist Episcopal and Baptist denominations in the State of Vermont together worked out a plan in defense of religion in the rural community. They realized that unless some- thing was done immediately, a large proportion of the Protestant churches would soon be closed. The Vermont plan recognized the following methods for carrying out their ideals in particular overchurched communities: / 1st. — The absolute withdrawal of one denomination in favor of ' another. 2nd. — The federation of the existing churches without the with- drawal of either denomination. 3rd. — The temporary maintenance of the ecclesiastical organiza- tion of the denomination withdrawing until the entire with- drawal could be wisely effected. / In the main, the superintendents have favored and effected the first plan. A denomination which surrendered its rights to any given community was compensated by being given sole responsibility in another locality. This plan retains in each community one strong working church with overhead supervision properly geared up to the driving power of the ecclesiastical body to which it belongs. The federated plan provides for union in worship of two or more churches, with one pastor, but maintains each church organization fully and does not look to the withdrawal of any denomination. Alternation of pastors between the denominations concerned is a frequent but not a necessary feature. The local program is thor- oughly unified. Each organization contributes to its own denomina- tional benevolences and a joint committee handles the local affairs of the federation. The Vermont plan has been successful in the main. Thirty-four communities have been organized with but one congregation each. Seventy-four churches have been affected by the readjustments. More than a score of pastors have been freed for service elsewhere and approximately $3,000 in missionary money has been saved. The 68 ONE WAY OUT— CHURCH FEDERATION net average salary of the ministers has been increased, although in a number of communities the total amount paid for salaries has decreased. It must be admitted that while church attendance and membership have been increased in some places they have remained stationary or have decreased in quite a number. This is due to population changes. Two mail carriers in one community, for instance, report that in the last six years eighty farms have changed owners and all but six of these have passed into the hands of Catholics. In none of the instances reported in a state-wide canvass of the situation by the Rev. C. C. Merill, Congregational State Secretary, was there any question as to the success of the movement. In some cases the adjustment was proceeding slowly but hopefully. The standing of the church in the community was materially bettered in all cases. The chance for more effective community service was greatly enhanced, and in many cases a number of community ac- tivities under church auspices had been successfully inaugurated. In Addison County the movement for church consolidation was under way before the denbrriinational superintendents and secre- taries began their epoch-making work. Under these circumstances the federated church was the way out, and there are more federated churches in Addison County than there are congregations to which has been given sole responsibility for a particular field. Evidence appears in many communities of a successful attempt to stay the movement toward the disappearance of Protestantism in declining open country areas. There are five federated churches in the county, four of which are a combination of Methodist and Bap- tist denominations located in country districts, and the other a Federation of Methodist and Congregational denominations in a village. The latter has been most successful. Its membership has increased and during last year its net gain was twenty-nine members. The leading men of the community are the leading men of the church. Interest in community activity has been developed through the initiative of the Brotherhood. The Sunday school has increased in devotion, attendance and organized endeavor. In the country churches, federation has been more difficult. Church membership with them has not increased except in one case. During the last five or ten years the total membership of the five federated churches has remained nearly stationary. There is no reason to believe, how- ever, that any better record would have been made under circum- stances of competition. Although there have been favorable results in some cases, the 69 THE COUNTRY CHURCH IN COLONIAL COUNTIES effort toward federation in Addison County has not yet proved entirely successful. As to the success of the arrangement in one community, a leading citizen remarked: "It is our only salvation, we could do no other way." In another community, however, the Baptist part of a Federated organization desires to leave and unite with an organization of its own denomination in another community. Another federated organization uses the Methodist Episcopal and Baptist buildings each for six months of the year. Members of each organization are more or less inactive during the half of the year when their own building is closed. But these are rather defects in human nature than in the ideal of cooperation. In some cases the arrange- ment seems to have drawn tighter the lines of denominationalism. Four Protestant churches, besides a large Roman Catholic church, are holding regular services in a community of i,8oo people. The Roman Catholic constituency is estimated at 500, which means that there is a Protestant church for every 325 non-Catholics. The church records show, however, that only about one-fifth of the population are active church members. One of the stronger churches here has very cordially invited a weaker organization to join in its services. The weaker church has few members, is not self- supporting and has suffered from too frequent pastoral changes. The arrangement has not been successfully carried out, however, and both churches hold regular services at present. It would appear on the strength of the state-wide results of the Vermont plan that the denominational community church with sole responsibility obtains somewhat better results than the federated church. Probably this plan in certain communities would be a con- siderable improvement over the present situation and would effect a solution of the problems which could not be brought about by federation, for federation is sometimes blocked by dislike for change and lack of leadership along with well defined denominational lines, which always mean possible withdrawal of one body or the other from the federation. Many causes for success and failure in federation are evident in Addison County. Dislike for change in the older, settled communi- ties ; lack of leadership ; denominational lines ; a sentiment for things as they have always been — all these causes have tended to block a genuine getting together, not only in religious but in social and economic efforts toward cooperative progress. 70 Chapter XI NEW RUDDERS FOR OLD SHIPS GOOD Fences Make Good Neighbors," says the farmer in one of Robert Frost's most typical New England poems, "Mend- ing Wall." There are many farmers who still cling to that belief and continue to look upon life as a one-man job. Without adequately trained leadership rural communities can never hope to lay aside their non-cooperative creed. A pastor alone cannot make a church successful ; nor can two or three laymen — everyone must "carry on." No community can expect to grow, while its people, when interviewed as to their leading citizens, say that "they just lead themselves." The country needs new rudders for its old ships. It needs more efficient business men in its country stores ; trained librarians who will not only teach the young people how and what to read, but who will, by their sympathetic understanding and desire for the com- munity's welfare, join whole-heartedly in leading the community to better things. One young librarian is proving what may be accom- plished in a community in the West. She does more than stamp books and put them away and scowl at lads who make too much noise. She has a weekly story hour — she arranges picnics and on days when the library is closed she hikes with different groups and they read and tell stories together. She writes inspiring articles for the weekly paper and addresses the Parent-Teachers' Association from time to time. She cooperates with the school teacher. In brief, she is the village advisor, a real power in the community, wel- comed always at socials and public gatherings, and the secret of all her success is her sincerity and her desire to be of service. Twenty-one communities in Addison County have libraries, but it is doubtful if one of them can boast of activities of such interest and influence as have just been described. In the three counties there are fifty communities which have no free public libraries. The churches could and should fill the need adequately and without serious effort. There is no way in which churches might more easily become real community centers than by supplying their people, 71 THE COUNTRY CHURCH IN COLONIAL COUNTIES old and young, with the right kind of books. Less than half of the churches report libraries in their Sunday schools. Many of those which have them need a great deal of weeding. Up-to-date collec- tions of readable, interesting books are rarely found. In every parish it should be possible to discover someone to take charge of the library. If the libraries were revolutionized, the leadership of another great neglected field might become transformed, namely, that of the Sunday schools themselves. Religious education is usually the weak- est point in rural churches. Schools are poorl\- organized, and far behind the times in their methods of teaching. In the three counties there are 123 regularly organized Sunday schools connected with „». ^* A KLKAL LIBRARY One of the twenty-one libraries in Addison County the churches. Including the membership of nine separate Sunday schools these schools have a total enrollment of 8,oSo, or 74 per cent, of the number in the total church membership of the three counties. Forty schools endeavor, by means of contests and rewards, to increase their attendance, which averages 57 per cent, of the enroll- ment on a typical Sunday morning. Although membership is smaller in Warren County, the average attendance is higher than that reported by the Sunday schools of the other two counties. The enrollment of the schools of Tompkins County equals 80 per cent, of the number on its church rolls, and they average twice the number enrolled in either Warren or Addison Sunday schools, though in attendance they show a lower average, only 52 per cent, being present on a typical Sunday. Only thirty-four of the 123 Sunda}' schools report organized departments, sixty have cradle rolls and tiftv-one 72 NEW RUDDERS FOR OLD SHIPS have home departments. Only 50 per cent, of the Sunday schools report regular periods given to mission study. Religion is not yet a subject taught in public schools. The home has largely failed to teach it directly and many parents are indifferent to the Sunday school. One hour a week is set aside for teaching Christianity to our young people — that is, two days a year given to the direction of the spiritual development of the next generation. Of the 123 Sunday schools connected with churches, only seven make any special provision for training in leadership. That this training is at once necessary and difficult to provide is evident to all who have attempted to provide it. Bad roads, long hours of labor in the country and the difficulty of obtaining the proper leaders make the task seem next to impossible. It has been done, however, in many communities where training classes for young people are held weekly at the regular Sunday school hour. There are in the three counties sixteen teachers' training classes, but Warren County has only two. There is also a lack of adequate social activity. Boys and girls cannot be expected to be satisfied with annual picnics and class socials. The playground and the community service room are rap- idly becoming necessities in Sunday school equipment. In these three counties three-fourths of the schools held picnics. Fifty-six schools report class socials and fifty-three report social times as a whole. As for other organizations of a social nature, Addison County reports none, Warren has just one and Tompkins County reports eight. One pastor, interviewed on the subject of recreation, replied : "We don't want any such 'high jinks' in our Sunday schools." Now the dictionary gives the following definition of "high jinks" : "an old Scotch game in which one was chosen by lot to perform a task; hence, jollification" — and jollification is nothing more than merry- making. A social program is as necessary to religious education as food is to the health of the body. The wheels in the machinery of a "going" organization are many, and the social wheel is in no way insignificant. If such a program is carried on merely to get the young people into the Sunday school it deserves to fail, but if its motive is more fully to interest members and thereby create a desire in their youthful hearts to become loyal church members, then it becomes a vital part of the Christian message and program. From 35 per cent, of the Sunday schools, 276 pupils were made church members last year — an average of only 5 per school. Nearly one-half of this number joined Tompkins County churches, 21 per 73 THE COUNTRY CHURCH IN COLONIAL COUNTIES cent, were in Warren and 30 per cent, were in Addison County. Thirty-four pupils have entered some form of Christian work during the last decade, and twenty of these came from Tompkins County. There are many successful Sunday schools in rural America which serve as prophets of a new day. All three counties studied firmly believe in Sunday schools, but as in so many other activities, they still cling to the old-time methods. It seems unfortunate that in only twenty-six schools are classes reported • which prepare pupils for church membership. Regular classes for that purpose might be held during a stated period each year. In such a way the mean- ing of the Gospel could be presented so that the leak from the Sunday schools would be checked and the "teen" age scholars car- ried over into full church membership and Christian service. For this purpose men and women are needed of vivid personality, of energy and of imagination. It is as easy for children as for their parents to drift. Unless there is suffjcient dynamic force in the heart of the organization to hold them, they lose interest, and the Sunday school becomes a burden to all concerned instead of a place of preparation for future church prosperity. 74 Chapter XII THE HAND OF THE DEAD IN a county adjoining Warren is a small community in which there are three endowed churches. All of these endowments are more than one hundred years old. The provision of the original gift in each case stipulates that, if the church ceases to be an organized congregation of the particular denomination to which the donor belongs, the endowment shall revert to the heirs. The HOW THE CHURCH DOLLAR IS RAISED IN 18 CHURCHES HAVING ENDOWMENTS COLLECTION' .04" Miscellaneous .15' SUBS CRIPTION .62 45% of the churches have endowments. 72% of the total receipts of the county come from endowed churches. CHART V (Addison County only) combined membership of these churches is barely one hundred. They have been anxious to federate, but the hand of the dead prevents this progressive step. Consequently, each continues to support a resident minister who is condemned by the terms of the gift to minister to the few people who remain in the comipunity. It is sometimes an open question whether an endowment is a bane or a blessing to a church organization. There are in Addison County forty active churches, and eighteen of them have endowments, the interest on which amounts to more 75 THE COUNTRY CHURCH IN COLONIAL COUNTIES than $6,000 annually. Seven of them are in the open country and eleven are in villages. They have 70 per cent, of the total Protestant church enrollment of the county and nearly three-fourths of the financial receipts of all its churches. All but four of these organ- izations are served by full-time resident pastors. Three have half- time pastors and one a pastor who serves three points. Fifty -two per cent, of their expenditures are for salaries, only 20 per cent, for benevolence and 28 per cent, for contingent expense. Of their total receipts, 19 per cent, is from interest on endowment, 62 per cent, is raised by subscription, 4 per cent, is from collections and 15 per cent, from miscellaneous sources. The average annual per capita contribution per active member is $14.05, about one-fifth less than the average for the county. During the last ten years, seven of the churches have declined in membership and during last year less than half made any gain. It is human nature to expect nothing for nothing. The unpaid entertainer has usually a disinterested audience. When people have really paid for something, they grow interested in its success. To drift along on the smooth waters of endowments is easy and once having drifted it is doubly difficult to take the oars in hand again and pull for a definite mark. The system of tithing is a severe one, but it keeps an organization fit, though to deserve a tithe a church must be in reality a station of spiritual and community service. Instead of proving a check on church welfare, endowments should provide a greater incentive toward the development of pros- perity and progress. Their possession is a trust, not a crutch. 76 Chapter XIII A BACKWARD LOOK MANY of the situations and problems discussed thus far are concretely illustrated in Tompkins County, which was sur- veyed in 191 1 by the Rev. Charles Otis Gill. He made a painstaking comparison of the conditions as he found them with those existing in 1890.* The study included membership, attendance, church expenditures and ministers' salaries. These were taken as indices of the condition of the country churches examined on these points. This earlier study enabled Prof. Dwight Sanderson, of the New York College of Agriculture, Cornell University, who made the Interchurch survey of Tompkins County in 1920, to formulate comparisons between the figures gathered by him and those of Gill for 1890 and 1910. This chapter, therefore, summarizes Professor Sanderson's conclusions. The results of this comparison seem to indicate that the country church problem in Tompkins County is still unsolved. As was the case in a number of churches elsewhere for which Mr. Gill was able to find records, church attendance in Tompkins County in 1890 exceeded church membership. Whereas 19.7 per cent, of the popu- lation belonged to churches, attendants numbered 21 per cent, of the people. By 1910 the membership, in the face of a decline of 14.3 per cent, in population, had risen to 23 per cent, of the population, but only 71 per cent, of the members and 16.3 per cent, of the population were found to attend church services. By the end of 1920 there had been a further loss in population of 4.3 per cent., but the total membership had increased 13 per cent., equaling 27 per cent, of the population. Attendants had, however, fallen to 14 per cent, of the population and 51.8 per cent, of the membership. Even if all but active members be eliminated from the discussion and it is assumed that the church has no further responsibility toward those of its members who have become inactive, attendance shows a falling off of ten per cent, in proportion to membership as compared with 19 10. If the county be taken as a whole, there has been a net increase * For the detailed results of this survey and for a full description of the method used see "The Country Church," By C. O. Gill and Gifford Pinchot; Macmillan Company; 1913. 77 THE COUNTRY CHURCH IN COLONIAL COUNTIES of 13 per cent, in church membership in the last thirty years, almost all of it in the last decade. This has been in the face of a loss in population of 17.96 per cent. This gain has been registered by five of the nine townships, eight of which have lost in populatiepn. In attendance there has been, however, a decline of 45.1 per cent, in thirty years and of 17.9 per cent, in the last decade. The exact situation for the county as a whole and for each separate township is set forth in the table on the page opposite.* An analysis of the financial situation discloses a somewhat different story. There has been a steady increase in the number of 50 40 Comparative Trends of Population, Church Membership and Attendance Tompkins County o o 30 20 10 -10 -20 -30 bO 40 30 20 10 -10 -20 -30 -,*• I Churc h_Mem_b^r_sjhip •mmSmSMk^nON ^^.^t^ 'f-^ists^ -FiO -50 1890 1900 1910 1920 1930 o 0) o c (U o dollars contributed, an increase especially marked in the last decade and shared in to a greater, or less degree by every township but one. During the last thirty years the purchasing power of the dollar has, however, been steadily shrinking. Contributions later than 1890 were, therefore, reduced to terms of their purchasing power in 1890 dollars. From this point of view there has been a decline in total giving though a marked increase in benevolences. The influence of the great denominational and interdenominational drives and missionary campaigns, beginning with the Laymen's Missionary Movement and the Missionary Education Movement, is clearly in evidence here. All these campaigns of education and stewardship *The figures for 1890 and 1910 in all tables in this chapter are quoted from "The Country Church," by Gill and Pinchot. > 78 A BACKWARD LOOK w o < w H < Q « W pq W W u K u c/2 W o ^; <; K u Q < W o < u iz; o l-H CM o cw o :z; o m I— I o o c t/3 e o U a P ^g^ M I 1 I I I I ^ S S " "OQ t%60 ooq & i^S V s ? "-jOO +++ I ++ SS N 0\ 0\ ir> t-^oo « fO s S o "< I M 1 iTl D, ^ „- h" r;5 " CO of m" n" 00 NVOOO 1-1 fOwOO ■^ ir)>o 01 00 "^ lo IT) .-^ T^ lO OO CO ro -^00 c ^ ooivQr^tN'Hi-.\{ ^ Ul lO "^ M t^ -^ coo 01 t^fOroci tn^T^j- o t^o^cominoi 0\ Ci w" ■^ hT CO of ^"^ of 1m2 -*o CA-^ l-H M I-I 0^ M CO '-1 + vQ ^ o vo rovo rs. in lO Tt e^hJ CN 01 CO 01 row CO ^ I I I 1 + 1 I S £ <^ ro^O tx 01 Q \0 in i-H • -^i.-^ "^ ^oo \o 01 00 in o O ^ ^ in M w^^oo i-H fn t:j- M 00 tX, .^ hT i-T ro -^ of t-T of MD .9.^ GC^^ o g >= S >''G o c ? >, >o njrti-,ei-,n)«^ o >> -2 ON^l^ I ^ 00 t^m I i^ S < o 1 — I H < m o H < CM o 1 o-$ S H a ■c>.';:; a a "^ ^'S a fe CO ■* ooo O CO I O 01 I CO »n o a 00 ovo ;* r? Ht N 1-1 s a i-i 'rT E a ^■^^^ < u O t— I U w a o\oo ^ o ^ 1-1 r*-i ':5 ^^ §lg .2 p. J; o H covo in CO Ch t^ i-T of « a O l^ 01 O I— I H <; N < o < 1— I a o III o Pi w m .-a, ^§8 ^ 0\ -Cj tN. 01 00 00, h-T (>f M in Sis ■-J a N CO M s S>^ s a s ■3 E is ■a o^ o H 98 APPENDIX II 7. NUMBER OF CHURCHES BY DENOMINATION Denomination Addison, Vt. Tompkins, N. Y . Warren, N. Y. Total Methodist Episcopal.... 14 29 15 58 Protestant Episcopal... 46 9 19 Baptist 4 10 4 18 Congregationalist 8 S ' ■ — 13 Wesleyan Methodist... — I 78 Presbyterian — U.S.A... — 2 3 5 Union or Community. . — — 5 5 Federated Baptist and Methodist Episcopal. .4 — — 4 Orthodox Friends 21 — 3 Pentecostal Holiness... — — 3 3 Universalist — i — I Christian — i — i Brethren — I — i Christian and Missionary Alliance ■ — — I i Advent Christian i — — i Pentecostal Nazarene . . i — i Federated Congrega- tional and Methodist. i — — I Congregational yoked with Methodist Epis- copal I — — I Total 40 57 47 144 8. VALUE OF CHURCH PROPERTY Addison, Vt. Warren, N. Y. Tompkins, N. Y. Total No. of Church build- ings 42 46 57 145 Total value $298,250 $153,373 $273,350 $724,973 Average value 7,101 3,334 4,796 5,000 No. of parsonages. 32 23 31 86 Total value $75,250 $50,975 $64,956 $191,181 Average value ,, 2,352 2,216 2,095 2,223 No. of other build- ings 7 6 6 19 Total value $ 7,820 $36,000 $11,650 $ S5,47o Average value 1,117 6,000 1,942 2,919 99 THE COUNTRY CHURCH IN COLONIAL COUNTIES 9. SIZE OF CHURCH MEMBERSHIPS Church Membership Addison, Vt. Warren, N.Y. Tompkins, N.Y. Total o to 25 8 16 IS 39 26 to 50 13 14 22 49 SI to 100...... 9 8 13 30 loi to ISO 7 3 I II Over ISO 31 6 10 Total 40 42 57 139 (S churches (S churches without without membership membership figures) figures) ID. INCREASE AND DECREASE IN MEMBERSHIP DURING THE LAST 10 YEARS County , Number of Churches ^ Total Gaining Losing Stationary Addison, Vt IS 21 4 40 Warren, N. Y 14 15 18 47 Tompkins, N. Y 26 26 S 57 Total 55 62 27 144 II. MEMBERSHIP OF CHURCHES, 1920 Membership Addison, Vt. Warren, N.Y. Tompkins, N.Y. Net Active 2,777 2,030 3,357 Non-resident 770 211 836 Non-active 142 239 484 Total Enrollment... 3,689 2,480 4,677 Total 8,164 1,817 865 10,846 12. NUMBER OF FAMILIES IN CHURCH MEMBERSHIP Number of Families in Village Churches . . Country Churches. Total Addison, Vt. 685 721 1,406 Warren, N. Y. Tompkins, N. Y. 480 966 928 302 782 1,894 Total 2,131 i,9Si 4,082 100 APPENDIX II a W m ^ c^v5 g\oo l-N t^ n o_ N a «u :^ to c O 3 O 3 «^ rt c fi C C CI c (U (U - h d) (L) QJ 4J ^jajJ^ SEES (U IN f^ t-i V6 IT) M N ^ P (Ti (Ti Vi O ^' U. 1- 1-. (L) (U fLH -S SEE 0^ < ■^ s ^5?^°_g| O ro W E w ^H >H s (d cs iz; VO o , T < ^. Xfi Ifi Ifi In U 1- V-