| Show Desirable Rural Situations Situations' to End Movement From Farm to City ity By LR R. R GEORGE H. H THOMAS Chicago go I r T IS said that our every y country road i is a a aboy boy beating his way to t the IT city That accounts for one of our rural problems ms Agriculture is 9 still Americas America's s 's biggest business but a majority of of- Americans now live in cities Contrary to popular opinion the smallest rural communities com com- grew in population during the last census decade Our littlest communities and towns up to 2500 inhabitants are not populating populating lating our cities There is no gener to explain the fact St St. St St. Andres Andre's deYs church Farm arm Ridge in LaSalle county is an example ot of means of fos fostering ering a desirable rural situation Farm Ridge is n not t teven even It is a community only in in inthe the sense th that t it has has' hasa a center of religious md social life no store no post postoffice no town to hall ball no movie no wayside barbecue One stands on on the church land a property two city blocks long at atone atone one end is the thc church athletic the other is the chur church h cemetery looking north east an and west o over r the fertile rolling roIling prairie he s sees sees' el eln n a farmhouse the only one in sight ight a mile away Here lives the nearest parishioner St. St Andrews Andrew's is supporting self but appearances appearances belie every traditional traditional feature of the church ne near r the home which is the meaning of the word parish On most any average occasion the churchyard is packed 1 with cars the rectory lawn swarms with children from a few weeks old to boys and beautiful girls in all years of the thc teens The fricas e one gets at the parish dinner is not cold storage chicken After dinner the church is paCked for services arid and there are some outside outside out out- side who cannot get in This countr country church is a unique experiment station for solving a ann ann- national na- na rural problem It has been a success against handicaps For it was established more than five seventy years ago One marker in the little cemetery in the churchyard hears the insCription Horace B Beardsley Beards Beards- Icy ley born Kent Connecticut 1 1782 82 |
