Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1871-09-29


Boys as Farmers.
The following sketch, written by
G. ID. Warner, and published 10 the
July number of Work and Play, will
4 be read with interest not alone by
young boys who were born on West.
ern prairies, but 10y very old boys,
who were brought up among the hills
of New England. - 1 Gil
There are so many bright spots in
the life of a farm boy, that l some
times think / should like to live the
life over again; L should almost be
willing to be a girl If it were not for
the chores. There is a great comfort
to a boy i'm the amount of work he
can get rid of doing. 1t is some.
times astonishing how slow he can
10 ON an errand, he who leads the
school in a race. The world Is new
and interesting TO him, and there is
too much to take his attention off
when he is sent to do anything. Per-
haps he couldn't explain, himself,
why, when he is sent to the neigh
boris after yeast, he stops to stone the
frogs; he is not exactly cruel, but he
wants to see If he can hit 'em. No
other living thing can go so slow as a
boy sent on an errand. His legs
seem to be dead, unless he harpens
to espy a wood. chuck in an adjoining
lot, when he gives chase to IL like a
deer; and il is a curious fact about
boys, that two will be a great deal
slower In doing anything than one,
and that the more you have to help
on "a piece of work the less IL accNm
plished. Boys have a power i'm help
ing each other do nothing: and they
are so innocent about IL and uncon
ci"u-. II went as quick Ia ever |
c%nul,l.' SAYS me hoy. when his father
asks him Why tre didn't stay all
night. hen he has la'en sbsent three
hours on a ten minute errand. The
sarcasm has nn effect on the boy.
Gong after tie COWS wss a serieas
thing in my day. | had 70 climb up
y hin which was covered with wild
strawberries IN the -ea-un Couiu
n , i"rN =. AK Use rilt. h"rrie> P
Nr.r t-,. j.. .np f,agr"ut A.. pasture,
met, ..rt r"ds # " rntprgreen viii,
red tnrrie-, tufts - 80 u,ahine, roots
f sn.sauas u" le 'ug aud doZrits of
things god rtvt I>lneil, which
I could nh r-i-r II sometimes even
!ay IL my = to" NIB q tree I" look
+, r~' 10 swim IL tl,"
/ cUuid see T., -'""pi
nfst,e viIla church. 1t Becamr
very im''ortant som lines for me To
see that steeple; and In the midst of
my Investigations the tin horn would
blow a "reat blast from the farm
house, which would send a cold chill
down my back in the hottest days.
I knew what it meant. 1t had a
frightful impatient culver in it, not,
at all like the sweet note that called
US to dinner from the hay field. 1t
said: why on earth doesn't that
boy come homer 1t is a most dark
and the cows amt milkedl" And
that was the time cows had to start
into a brisk pace and make up for
lost time. 1 wonder if any boy ever
drove the cows home late, who did
not say that the cows were at the
further end of the pasture, and that
'sOld Brindle was hidden in the
woods, and he couldn't find her for
yer so long" The brindIe COW is
the boys scapegoat many a time.
No other boy knows how to appre-
ciate q holiday as the farm boy does,
and his best ones are of a peculiar
sort. Going a fishing Is of course
one sort. The excitement of rigging
up the tackle. digging the bait, and
the anticipation of great luck; these
are pure pleasures, enjoyed because
they are rare. Boys who can go q
fishing any time care but little for it.
Tramping all day through brush and
and brier, fighting flies and mosqui- |
toes, and branches that tangle the
line, and snags that break the hook, |
and returning home late and hungry
with wet feet and astring of speckled
trout on a willow twig, and have the
family crowd out at the kitchen door
to look at 'em and say, Pretty well
doEe for you, bub ; did you catch the
big n yourself? ?" This is also pure
happiness, the like of which the boy
will never have again, not if he come
to be a select man and deacon, and to
keep store. .a".L
But the holidays l recall with de-
light were the two days in spring
tant pasture land, in q neighboring
Wv Us ulaY DCy W u tillbhOA tuG
young cattle and colts, and to bring
them back agsin. 1t was a wild and
rocky upland where our pasture was,
many miles from home, the road to 1t
running by q brawling river, and up
a dashing brook side among great
What a days adventure 1t
wasl It was like a journey to
Europe. The night before / could
scarcely sleep for thinking of 1t, and
there was nc trouble about getting
me up at sunrise that morning. The
breakfast was eaten, the luncheon
was packed in a large basket.
! wish that journey would never
end but at last by noon, we reach
the pasture, aud turn in the herd
and after making the tour of the
luts to- make sure there are no breaks
in the feuces, we take our luncheon
from the wagon and eat it under the
trees by the spring. THIS is the way
to live; this Is like the swiss Family
and all the rest of my de-
acquaintances In romance
beans, rye and Indian bread.
moist, remember) doughnuts and
pie and root beer. What
richness! You may live to dine at
Delmonico's or at Phillips in the
Rue Montorguell, in Paris, where
the good old Thackeray used to eat
as good a dinner as anybody, but you
will get there neither doughnuts nor
pie, root nor beer, anything so good
a that luncheon at noon in the old
pasture, high among the Massachu-
hills! Nor will you ever, Ii
you live to be the oldest boy in the
have any holiday equal to
he one I have described. But /
have always regretted that ! did not