The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1882-09-21
Why Boys Leave tho Farm.


somewhat inclined to leave the farm
where they were raised. They think
this disposition TO forsake rural for
urban life is certain evidence of depray-
ity. They believe, or affect to believe,
that boys forsake the farm and flee to
the city 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 great city are sure to
plunge into dissipation, recklessness
and folly. They have convinced them
selves that people make money and OBJ
lain position in city by fraud, cheat,
ing, and sharp practices, but that they
better their condition in the country
only by acquiring habits of industry,
trugality, and honesty. Now, human
nature Is about the same in the brick
walled streets OF q 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 q mistake that great majority
OF the people in q large city do not have
to work hard for living. More people
work themselves into the hospital or the
grave in 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 to work hard to gain living,
and to conduct himself with great pro-
| priety in order to acquire reputation
| and gain advancement.
| 1t is wise and we'll 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 mcn-
tai 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 trec-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. Lin al ag-
ricultural 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
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-
| ly 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 by modest cot
tage in the country. Nearly every man
who tolls to get rich in city looks for
ward TO the day when he can own q
| 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
"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
yer" HANDY at many occupations in q
shop or Iaotory. Many boys ran on
farm and ofterward succeed in q city.
They have ability, but it is not of the
kind required to build fence, plow a
turrow, shape hay-stack, break colts,
or SOW clOver-seed. Thev are out of
place on farm and do not earn enough
to support them. 1t would be better to
give them a trial somewhere else. The
boy who fails in raising grain may make
fortune in handling it. The country
is quite too we'll supplied with farmers
who are not adapted to the business in
which they are engaged. They set bad
examples, and injure the land they
improvements, but follow the worst
crops, keep poor stock, and support
tNSA ~AAOo' hoOp
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 plcw the
waves instead of the fields, TO feed u
locomotive instead of pigs, OF to cut
shoe leather instead of grass. Perhaps
some ford parents tOi)ed 10 Gain them
forms, N"hen they would have done be:-
ter had they provided them with kits or
tools, or given them the means to be-
come surveyors or coal-miners. 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 panied
at the result '' ~ * '# 60 NV :,
Many boys leave farms because there is
| little for them to do on them. The iD-
PRODUCTION or Iabor-savTng machinery
has greatly reduced tho amount of hand
work required on farms and prodnccd
in some sections a surplus OF laborers.
| The owners of MANY olIite small fsrno