The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1880-11-18
The Boy on the Farm.

Our homestead farm was one of the
best in New York State, located on an
eminence commanding views of great
beauty, surrounded by friendly and in
telligent neighbors, adjacent to attrac-
tive villages, churches and schools.
NV father possessed liberal views of
life and we all INDUCED in luxuries in
common with those out of debt and
with something in the bank. My
brothers and / were given opportunities
for recreation, education and private
enterprise. While yet a lad l leased
the homestead for two years during
which term. prices ruling high, | cleared
over 81, 600 above all farm or personal
expenditures. Notwithstanding such
favorable circumstances, often cited as
a recipe for making boys - stick, none
of nv fathers children continued farm
ers. With fair prospect OF ultimately
owning the homestead, | left it, served
an apprenticeship and for twelve years
was a banker in city. There | learned
how easily fortunes are made and how
easily lost. Learned the value of good
digestion and of the refreshing sleep OF
him who labors under the open sky.
Learned, when clouds threatened, when
the waves of the panic shook my bark.
and the sea was strewn with wrecks,
that the farm was safe harbor and L
longed to cast anchor again in that
quiet retreat, remembering only the
pleasant chapters of my farm life. Do
i then regret having left the old home
stead? No, for there discomfort would
have relaxed my energies. No, for L
cannot help feeling that | am stronger
man than l could have been had l re-
manned. The principal cause of the
discomfort of the boys on the farm is
this: Many of them were designed by
the Almighty for specialties; are en-
dowed with qualifications for mechanics,
navigators, inventors, lawyers, doctors,
clergymen, etc.
What wonderful provision that all
are not born for one pursuit. What
confusion and suffering would result
were it otherwise. Knowing well the
characteristics of my brothers and
schoolmates, who did not " stick to the
farm | am confident they would have
made poor farmers, whereas in their
proper spheres they were successful.
Therefore l dispute the popular theory
that we may advance agriculture by in
ducing those boys to remain farmers
whose natural inclinations would lead
them into other pursuits. Neither can
| concede that the best boys leave the
farm. There is much in agriculture
that may allure men of ability to pursue
/ it, and many of our best balanced minds
are thus engaged. If the brother who
follows a speciality carves more bril-
liant record, it is in part for the reason
/ that he beats continuously in the same
/ channel. like the tireless Niagara. A
man struggling for success in a field
wholly unsuited to his tastes and nat
ural endowment is pitiable and often
ridiculous. Who would thrust child
/ into such bondage? The discovery of
our proper place in life being half the
( battle let us make farm homes attractive
/ to the bows, but for a nobler purpose
than to induce them to remain against
their better Judgment. There Is no
famine in the land; our farms are occu-
pied: the granaries of the world are
Overlooking. There is room, however,
for few more Fultons, Morses, Down
ings. Websters and Lincolns. My ex-
perience with farm and city life teaches
the wisdom of giving the boy on the
farm opportunities for travel and thor
ough education. If then he chooses
farm life he will make the better farmer
and more useful and honored citizen.-
Chas. 4. Greene. IN n. Y. Tribune.