The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1872-12-07


would have saved me hundred dollars
often since 1 have been in business. y
The drift of this argument is apparent
1t is sign of effort and thirst combined
able, well-lighted shop for all work to re-
sort to, when nothing can be done on the
land.
Let it not be supposed that books or lit
erary studies are undervalued in these pre-
lections. They are gems of which farm
er should be as proud as Lucretia was of
her children.
All sagacious farmers are not fond of
reading, nor do all sons of farmers love
mathematics, general literature, or the
study of languages. Yet such accomplish
ments are by no means undervalued by
them. They have elements, however,
equally important in the arrangements of
Providence, for the advancement of them
selves and others if they are seascnably
discovered and developed. Laudable am
bition should be encouraged, even if it
does not precisely tally with our individu-
al notions of what is best, in our concep-
tons of what the world requires of men,
Farmers who reason in this manner will
best secure the obedience of their busy
boys, who don't love work the father loves.
There is compensation from indulgence,
because congenial employments are bar
riers to evil influences and moral excel
lences of character are brought out by
tenderness in training.
Remember, then, to give boys employ
ments for filling up the otherwise lost
periods Of rainy days in an agreeable man.
ner. A box of tools meets more Of the
demands OF young boys than Latin gram
mar, hunting for eggs, or strolling abroad
with mischievous associates. Neither all
farmers or farm boys take delight in tools.
If one prefers musical instrument in spare
time, he should have the best to be had, if
it is clear he has music in his soul, instead
Of being considered nuisance, source of
annoyance and compelled to practice by
stealth in remote garnet. This treatment
makes them insincere, deceitful, and i'm
patient of PARENTAL control.
To promote the home happiness of farm
boys and kept them out Of mischief has
been problem with many good farmers.
and their way of doing it is not unfre-
quently productive of results exactly the
reverse of what they have been earnest to
secure. Agreeable recollections of our
childhood are intimately connected with
those parental indulgences which were
| bright spots in life, on account of being
permitted to do certain things in the line
| of our taste.
Farmers more than most other men are
| apt to consider any departure from their
| own personal views of the value of knowl-
| edge not Immediately connected with their
| pursuits as a waste-a frivolous attainment.
| They don't see any profit in doing this or
| that, and they rarely consent to permit
| their children to depart from their own
sphere of action willingly, because it is at
! tended with expense.
| Some farmers contemplate the chief Oh
| iect in life to be saving and never spend
ing. Their sous have no advantages I'M
less they break away from the restraints of
il miserly father to develope under disad-
vantages, to take positions in the world of
progress under embarrassments that might
have been obviated by judicious parental
Indulgence.
Farmers are accused of being avaricions
| as class. This is a sweeping accusation.
| Too many of them labor like slaves up to
threescore and ten, denying themselves the
enjoyment of almost every kind of social
| qualification, and, as far as possible, keep
ing their families in ignorance of what be-
| longs to advancing civilization, because it
would cost so much. Avarice is recognlz-
ed as a disease by some medical authori-
| ties, especially when it degenerates into
| that miserly form of money boarding that
| ignores all other pursuits. 1t is 4 vice of
| our day to gather enormous estates, which
| those who have them rarely ever enjoy
| The more they possess the more they COW
| ct. Those who inherit their wealth soon
| forget the source from whence it came in
The whirlpool ofgayeties to which they now
| have access. A merchant of New York
reputed to have left a fortune of sixteen
millions was in the habit of going to a
bakers shop every morning and buying a
| single muffin, which was carried home in
a bit of paper for his breakfast On his
| return on one occasion rich neighbor
| happened in just as the muffin was butter
ed. Civility obliged him to invite his
friend to breakfast. The following morn
ing he asked for two mullins, relating how
he had been deprived of half breakfast
the day before, and he might be caught so
again; therefore, preparation was made for
Il possible contingency. What Il spectacle
two vastly rich men making q break fast
on single muffin that cost two cents.-
An ancient conundrum demands, why are
the children of millionaires like the limbs
of an ak-tree? Because they flourish best
when the roots are under ground. Aya-
rice is an insdious malady especially in
| terfering with the mental development of
heirs at law. Farmers can always fortify
themselves against it by giving their chill
dren the best advantages money can pur-
chase.
1t is in the rainy day system of economy
of shop for making, altering, and mend
ing farming implements that American
farmers, particularly those in the New
England and Western States, differ from
| English farmers. have no Recollection
of seeing Il mending-shop on any farm
abroad. Doubtless there are many ofthcm.
| From the groups sitting under shelter,
hunting beer stands, smoking under the
lee of fence, or sleeping on a bench in
il dry place during the shower, it was infer
red they have not habtuated themselves as
IA class to saving time, as is customary
| with most American farmers 1t was said
| to me abroad that all the important i'm
provements of utility III farming we're
| American Inventions.
| No logic is required for convincing those
who have reflected upon the proverb taken
for text, " Time is Money! We were
designed for more elevated employments
than perpetnaly striving to hoard mp gold.
paying bonds, or purchase all the land
that Joins lis