Book excerpt: The American Country Girl is a book by educator and author Martha Foote Crow. It explores the experiences of young American girls growing up and living in the countryside. Crow draws out the often overlooked contribution of farmer's wives and daughters, whose numbers in the whole of America were approaching seven million at the time of writing her book. She also gives a vivid picture of country life and the clash between the Old world of manual tasks and the new world of modern conveniences.