The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1882-08-30
Why Boys Leave the Farm.

where they were raised. They think
this disposition to forsake rural for
arban life is certain evidence of deprav-
ity. They believe, or affect to believe,
that boys forsake The farm and flee to
Getty in order to. escape toll and lead
an easy life. They see virtue behind
and vice in the future. They think the
boys who go to a great city are sure to
plunge into dissipation, recklessness
and folly. They have convinced them
selves that people make money and OBJ
tain position in a city by fraud, cheat
ing, and sharp practices, but that they
better their condition in the country
only by acquiring habits of industry,
frugality, and honesty. Now, human
nature is about the same in the brick
walled streets of great city or in the
green fields by the winding lanes in the
country. Virtue and vice, honesty and
dishonesty, industry and idleness are to
be found everywhere that man exists.
1t is all mistake that a great majority
Of the people in a large city do not have
10 work hard for living. More people
work themselves into the hospital or the
grave in a large city than anywhere
else. A much larger number of men
broken down by hard work in middle
life can be found In cities than in the
country. The people in the middle or
lower walks of life in great city are
obliged to subject themselves to rigid
course of self-denial all the time. There
is always something to see, hear or taste
that they can not have. A boy who goes
from the city to the country is ordinarily
obliged 20 work hard to gain q living,
and to conduct himself with great pro-
priary in order to acquire reputation
znd gain advancement.
1t is wise and well to encourage the
disposition of boys to remain In the
country and to live on farms, provided
they have the taste for agricultural pur-
suits and the proper physical and men
sal requirements for such occupations.
The pleasures of country life have been
sung by all the poets from David to
Longfellow. Novelists have never tired
Of describing the fine characters they
have found in the country. The city
painter betakes himself to the tree-cov-
cred hills, the grassy fields, the singing
brooks, and the bird-haunted groves
when he wishes to portray what is
beautiful. Statistics show that vastly
more people live in their own houses in
The country than in the city. In an ag-
riculturnl community nearly every man
is engaged in independent occupation,
while the reverse is true in any of our
large cities. Besides, failures among
farmers are very rare, and hardly ever
occur unless they are the results Of
speculations. People in the country
are measurably free from the horrors Of
contagious diseases and from great cal
antilles resulting from fires, floods, and
the general stagnation of business which
is often attended by strikes and riots.
Life and property are more secure in
country than in city. No matter whether
stocks are rising or falling, whether
rents are high or low, whether currency
is scarce or plenty, the man who owns
the farm he tends will generally raise
enough to supply the wants of his fami-
" and to meet the demands of the tax
gatherer. In time of calamity people
in cities envy the lot of those in the
country. When the cheated term"
comes on, the owners of fine houses in
the city are glad to forsake them for
the pleasure afforded bv n modest cot
tage in the country. Nearly every man
who tolls to get rich in a city looks for
ward to the day when he can own a
home in the country.
1t does not follow, however, that all
boys who are raised on farms should re-
main there. Many boys were never
s'cut out" for farmers, and no amount
of work in the makeup will ever make
| good farmers out of them. They are
better at figuring than at fencing; bet
| ter at guiding steamboat than plow ;
better at selling than producing; better
at handling dry goods than slowing
away hay. They may be awkward at
any kind of farm work, but they may be
very handy at many occupations in a
shop or factory. Many boys fail on q
| farm and afterward succeed in q city.
| They have ability, but it is not of the
kind required to build fence, plow q
furrow, shape hay-stack, break colts,
or sow clover-seed. They are out OF
place on a farm and do not earn enough
to support them. 1t would be better to
give them trial somewhere else. The
| boy who fails in raising grain may make
a fortune in handling it. The country
is quite too well supplied with farmers
| who are not adapted to the business in
which they are engaged They set bad
/ examples, and injure the land they
should improve. They introduce NO
improvements, but follow the worst
kinds of practices. They raise poor
crops, keep poor stock, and support
poor fences. Everything they keep
runs down on their hands. Quite likely
they were encouraged ''to stick to the
farm" in early life, when it would have
been to the advantage of all concerned
had they been encouraged to follow the
bent of their own desire, to plow the
waves instead of the fields, to feed 8
locomotive instead of pigs, or to cut
shoe-leather instead of grass. Perhaps
some fond parents toiled to gain them
| L.. L.. hat
ter had they provided them with kits o.
tools, or given them the means to be
come surveyors or coal-rhiners. 1t may
be pleasant for a farmer to settle his
sons around him, but if they fail in the
business, he will be mortified and painec
at the result.
Many boys leave farms because there il
little for them to do on them. The in
PRODUCTION of labor-saving machinery
has greatly reduced the amount of hanC
work required on farms and produced
in some sections a surplus of laborers
The owners of many quite small farm
have several boys who must engage Ii
some paying occupation. Some of thes'
boys would be glad to obtain farms o
their own, but they have not the mean
to purchase them. Farms can no long
er be obtained for the taking withou
going long distance to obtain them
1t costs more to start in the business o
farming than it did short time ago
Materials for buildings and fences cos
more, and larger amount of machin
cry is required. The price of stool
increases every year, and the like is tru
of all farm supplies. The sons O
farmers find it difficult to earn sufficien
money by working for other farmers Il
purchase and to cultivate on their owl
, account. Most farmers hire help onl,
through the busy season. If a bo,
wishes to earn money to buy farm b
will be more likely to secure it by work
) ing at some occupation where he vii
have constant employment. A boy
: prospects of success in farming will no