Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1882-01-06
An Important Crop on the rnrm.

An Important Crop on the Farm.
In the closing paragraph Of recent
article in these columns, (the Practical
Fdrme'), the writer stated that the most
important crop our farms can produce Is
that of bright, intelligent, honest. earn
est boys and girls. Upon this product
Of the farm rests, more than upon corn
and cotton, the future Of our great Re-
public.
To some these statements may sound
like over statements, and the words thus
used may seem foolish and erroneous.
All ask of such reader is that he will
carry the thought out and see where it
will land him. May I ask, what are
farms forp Why does the farmer plow
his soil and sow his grainp BY what
measure does the farmer reckon his sue
cess as man? The half bushel in which
the wheat, after II has been cleaned, may
be measured, using straight edge"
drawn with zigzag motion over the
upper surface, is not the only measure
of the farmer. There are other stand
ards of measurement that he should use
simply because he is man. The half
bushel has its proper place, but 1t should
never become the means of estimating
the success or failure of farmers life.
There are many weights, things that
material measure cannot compass, and
it is therefore all the more important
that their value should be understood.
1t sometimes seems rs if some men
never gauge themselves, and live on from
year to year without a knowledge of
their capacities for living, and rs con-
sequence fail to see the true grandure
and worth of life. On the other hand,
there are men who seem to have taken
their measure, and, finding it small, are
not satisfied with the truth, and continu-
ally magnify their endowments and
strive to make the world believe them
wiser and better than they really are.
Perhaps the reader can call to mind some
person who by common consent, so 10
speak, fills only peck measure, yet en-
deavors by methods not here set down
to reach that peculiar mental state where
he thinks his weight more than balances
that of score of other men.
1t is not my purpose to carry out the
line of thought her begun, but quickly
pass to conclusion that the reader
must accept, that the true measure of n
man is not the grain he raises or the fat
cattle he sells, but the character he builds
for himself and the aid ho give to others
in their reaching after more perfect
manhood and womanhood. If this is
granted we can take up our subject of
the leading farm crop. If true living is
not a thoughtless drudgery of the pres
ent but constant striving after, though
never attaining to a better and better
state in the future, we must measure
the work of every person, whether banker
or bootblack, by higher standard than
anything of time or sense.
have in my mind middle-aged
farmer. He is comfortable rs far as this
worlds goods are concerned. A heavy
mortgage no longer hangs as a dark
cloud over the whole farm, casting its
gloom into every heart in the household.
The farm has been paid for by the severe
labor of all hands old enough TO aid in
the great task. Early and late the father
has plowed and pitched, hoed and har-
vested. The boys have grown up under
this pressure, and have reached early
manhood with little else than the ability
to do hard days work six days in the
week and wait for the next work day OH
the seventh. Ingrafted into the very fiber
of their lives is this one thought, work,
tUork, WORK. They have not taken a holi-
day in so long a time that they would
not feel quite Sat home" on an excursion
or with picnic party.
Let me give a fair sample of day in
those boys lives. 1t is spring. First
comes the too familiar rousing call which
brings them out of deep sleep. q pity
a boy who must thus be started on his
daily labor.) Their feet strike the cold
bare foor-I would not describe the fur
niture of that room-and in n few Sec
onds they are on their way to the barn
one loaded with slops for the squealing
pigs, another finds long row of horses
to feed and the stable to clean. A third,
and the youngest of the trio, brings up
the COWS. A busy hour passed and they
all meet again at the wash sink, where
they make hasty toilet for breakfast.
The fast is soon broken and the lads are
off for the field, where they plow, if old
enough, and harrow until the dinner
bell rings. The horses must have an
hour of incoming, but the boys are kept
out of mischief by hoeing in the garden
clearing out the leach, turning the grind
stone or pass the time at some Other
similar job of which there are always &
large number to be done. The afternoon
is spent in the field, and as the nigh
falls the three boys, as tired as boys car
very we'll get, return to the barn ant
yards to do the chores. Supper follows
and shortly after the boys go to theil
room, we will not say in the dark. Oh
livious of all the beauty which nigh
surround their lives they pass thei
sweetest hours of the twenty-four il
sleep.
This is not an overdrawn example, ant
no one would find any fault if it was no
uninterrupted. One day reflects all thu
others, and the lad lives only in an at
mosphere of labor. Work is good and
am a strong advocate of it, having gon'
so far at times rs to believe it is almos
synonymous with genius; but there cal
be too much of it. Into the virgin sol
of youthful souls much sunshine shoul'
fall, that the rich harvest of full, well
matured life may be gathered in all it
beauty. Noplace offers SO many natura
inducements to noble life as that of
farmer. From the soil come our bes
men. and plead for better culture q
the crop of children, that we may hav
the number vastly increased and i'm
proyed.-Dr. Byron ID. Haisted.