Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1882-07-19

To go into particulars and give few
suggestions which occur TO us, we would
say at the outset that the education is
the first step TO be taken in giving a
bent To the youthful mind. One is TOO
apt to think that a farmer need know
very little beyond the rudiments, "the
three Rs" as It is said, "rcadin, ritin
and rithmetic." There is no greater
mistake than this, and a parent can do
his child no greater wrong and injury
than to act upon such thought. We
are precisely rs we are educated; the
mind is opened, "led out"-that is the
radical meaning of the word-into a
large space, the larger, broader and
deeper as the education-thc leading
out-has been more complete. And il
John is to be a doctor, and James a
preacher, and Bill is to remain the
farmer, Bill has every right and need
for as good an education as his brothers.
And as he is so accorded his right the
better farmer he will be and the more
satisfied with his position. For can we
not see how the boy will perceive the
slight and injury done himP and it will
give a wrong bias to his thoughts and to
his mind, and he will scorn his life as
something so mean and low that he
must needs be kept in ignorance
to fit him for it. Every one OF
us can see daily how "dumb'
the workman is who is unable to read
or write. He cannot use his head and
the brain in il simply gives him the com
mon senses only. The other senses, OF
the perception of the fitness of things
and of the results of causes which 90 to
make man. work effective and sue
cessful, and all those which serve to at
tract an educated person to rural life,
are wanting, and the wants are more
understood or realized than is the want
of sight to person who never saw the
light, or the want of language to one
who never spoke or heard II word.
Every farmer has been plagued with
such ignorant men, whose work is
worth very little compared with that OF
a man who, when he is told to do a
certain thing, can perceive at once why
IL should be done SO and will do it in a
right and effective manner. Now, can
q farmer who has denied his boy this
natural right, not to say privilege, be-
cause II is more than that, feel that he
has done his duty to his child and given
him fair start in life? To be good
and successful farmer and to lind in
farm life all the pleasures and enjoy
ments which belong to it, and which lie
hid in it, requires as good an education
rs for any other business and pursuit.
Why is the student who enters tcchnic-
al college where boys are taught sur
vcying, mining and working In metals
put through an examination in Latin
and other languages, and in grammar
and spcllingP A man can measure a
chain, or strike drill. OF Use n file with
out knowing how Caesar fooled the
Gauls by diplomacy and beat them with
his tactics, or how Eneas first came
from the coast of Troy to Italy and the
Lavinian shores. Ii is the discipline
of the young mind that is required, the
habit of thought which study creates in
it; the faculty of learning and the learn
ing how to learn, which are acquired
by this discipline, that are of value,
and these are MS valuable and as neces-
sary TO the young farmer to make him q
successful, contented and happy man
as TO his brother the lawyer, or the man
of business. Therefore, to keep the
farm boy on the farm he should be
thoroughly well educated. But we
must hasten, for space fails to write at
length on this grateful subject. We
will only, then, consider one other view.
Interest is the great handspring of our
desires and our acts When we see
that our material interests are served by
this or that course of life, we are nat
urally drawn to it. Then let the farmer
early give his boys and his girls an OPP
portunity of doing something that will
bring them in recompenso for
their skillful care and labor They
will soon learn that the better they do
this work the more profitable it will
be for them. and the first stone of the
foundation will be laid upon which the
child will hereafter build up a success
full life. 1t is the want of profitable
work, and the dreary prospect ahead of
poverty and dependence, which impels
the farm boy to bundle up his small eff
fects and turn his course to the towns
and cities, where also too often he finds
himself crowded and jostled out of place
and opportunity. Then early turn the
boys attention to some special branch
of agriculture. Give this one dozen
or u hundred dwarfpears or apple trees;
that one an acre of Strawberries anoth-
CT a dozen sheep; the girls flock of
poultry or a choice heifer or an orchard
or garden for themselves, and let this
possession be theirs inviolably; not
"Johnny's trees, but fathers pears"
but Johnny's pears, for which when
they are sold the agents check shall be
handed to Johnny for him to deposit in
his bank. What a stake in life and the
wide world the boy then has, and how
knowingly he knows it, too. BY and by
this boy may be another Charles Down.
ing or Patrick Barry, or a successful
small fruit-culturist, or great shepherd
or cattle man in the far West; and the
daughter may be known far and wide
as the maker of the best butter in the
whole country and take the first premi-
um over all the old dairymen.
DO not let it be supposed there are too
many farmers. For every farmer who
is at work ten men are required to sup
ply him with clothing, houses, tools,
transportation for his produce, and 9TH
Vi hVScSSullcS tlu COIulOTtS, anu tno
fewer the farmers, the fewer of these,
and the more farms the moro men are
set TO work by the farmers. There are
farmers, fruit-growers, florists, nursery
men, shepherds, dairymcn and GLACIERS;
all these to be made of farm boys. And
there arc fruit-growing, dairying, poul-
try-kceping, Bookkeeping, hower-cul-
turc, all furnishing pleasant and profit
able occupation for women. There is,
indeed, no lack. The ancient condition
yet remains: "Thc harvest truly is
great, but the laborers arc few" Farm
ing In all its branches is profitable and
safe employment, and because il is the
staple and fundamental industry upon
which all others rest and by which all
others are supported, it can never be
overcrowded or overdone, because the
more productive it is the more il calls
for help from thousands of other indus
trious workers. Therefore, there is
plenty of room for the boys in it, and
the girls, TOOL acvart. IN ~ Y.