The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1882-08-03
Why Bows Leave the Farm.

WHcTc tuey were raised. 1n6y tnlnK
this disposition to forsake rural for ur-
ban life is certain evidence of depravity.
They believe, or affect to believe, tt at
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 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 on
ly by acquiring habits of industry, fru-
gality, and honesty. Now, human ma
ture 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
ce found everywhere that man exists.
1t is all mistake that the great major
ity of the people in a large city do not
have to work hard for living. More
people work themselves into the hospi-
tai OF the grave in a large city than any
where else. A much larger number of
men broken down by hard work in mid
die 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
l.x-1r, /,
great propriety in order to acquire
reputation and gain advancement.
1t is wise and well to encourage the
disposition of boys to remain in the
country and to live on farms, providing
they have the taste for agricultural pur-
suits and the proper physical and men
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 tree-cov-
cred hills, the grassy fields, the singing
brooks, and the bird-haunted groves
when he wishes to portray what is beau
tiful. Statistics show that vastly more
people live in their own houses in the
country than in the city. In an agri-
cultural 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 ofspec-
ulations. People in the country are at
least measurably free from the horrors
of contagious diseases and from great
calamities resulting from fires, floods,
and the general stagnation Of business
which is often attended by strikes and
riots. Life and property are more Sc
cure in country than in city. No mat
ter whether stocks are rising or falling,
whether rents are high or low, whether
cura.sncy is scarce or plenty. the man
who owns the farm he tends will gener-
ally raise enough to supply the wants
OF his family and to meet the demands
of the tax-gatherer. In times of calam-
ity people in cities envy the 10. of those
in the country. Whsn the cheated
term" comes on the owners of fine
houses in the city are glad to forsake
them Tor the pleasures afforded by a
modest cottage in the country, Nearly
every man who tolls 10 get rich in q
city looks forward to the day when he
can own 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 very handy at many occupations in
shop or factory. Many boys fail on a
farm and afterward succeed in o city.
They have ability, but it is not of the
kind required to build fence, plow
furrow, shape a hay=stack, break colts.
or sow clover-seed. They are out of
place on 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
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
poo, fences. Everything they keep
runs down on their hands. Quite like
ly they were encouraged ssto stick to the
farm" in early life, when it would have
beer to the advantage of all concerned
had thsy been encouraged to follow the
bent of their own desires to plow the
waves instead of the fields, to feed
locomotive instead Of pigs, or to -.
shoe-leather instead Of xra-- oue
SOma fond Dare-- ,-.So. IerHdpS
farr- -n,S toiled to gain them
--4a, when they would have done bet
ter had they provided them with kits of
tools, or given them the means to be-
cone surveyors or coal miners. Itmay
be pleasant for a farmer to settle his
sons around him, but if they fail in the
business, he will be mortified and pain
ed At the result.
Many boys leave farms because there
is little for them to do on them. The
introduction of labor-saving machinery
has greatly reduced the amount OF hand
work required on farms and produced
in some sections a surplus of laborers.
The owners of many quite small farms
have several boys who must engage in
some paying occupation. Some of these
boys would be glad to obtain farms of
their own, but they have not the means
to purchase them. Farms can no long
er be obtained for the taking without
going long distance to obtain them.
1t costs more to start in the business OF
farming than it did few years ago.
Materials for buildings and fences cost
more. and a larger amount of machin-
cry is required. The price of stock of
all kinds increases every year, and the
like is true of all farm supplies. The
sons of farmers find it difficult to earn
sufficient money by working for other
farmers to purchase land to cultivate on
their own account. Most farmers hire
help only through the busy season. If
boy wishes to earn money to buy a
farm ha will bo mora 1ito1v fo cpauro IL