The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1882-09-20
why Boys Lesye the Farm.


| this disposition to forsake rural for
urban life is certain evidence of deprav-
| 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
| tain 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,
| frugality, and honesty. Now, human
nature is about the same in the brick
walled streets of a great city or in the
green fields by the winding lanes in the
country. Virtue and vice, honesty and
dishonesty, industry and idlcness are to
be found everywhere that man exists.
1t is all mistake that great majority
of the people in large city do not have
to work hard for a 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 bv 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 a rigid
course of self-deniaf 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 a living,
and to conduct himself with great pro-
priety in order 80 acquire a 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, provided
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
beautiful Statistics show that vastly
more people live in their own houses in
the country than in the city. In an ag-
ricultural community nearly every man
is engaged in independent occupation.
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, aud
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 by a 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
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
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 pillow !;
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
yerv HANDY at manv OCCUPATIONS in a
SHOP OF factory. Many boys ran on a
farm and afterward succeed in a city.
They have ability, but it is not of the
kind required to build a fence, pillow a
furrow, shape a hay-stack, break colts,
or sow clover-seed. They are out of
place on farm and do not earn enough
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
| poor fences. Everything they keep
| runs down on their hands. Quite likely
| they were encouraged ssto stick to the
farm" in early life, when it would have
seen to the advantage of all concerned
had they been encouraged to follow the
bent OF their own desire. to pillow the
/ waves instead of the fields, to feed
locomotive instead of pigs, or to cut
| shoe-leather instead of grass. Perhaps
some ford parents toiled to gain them
forms, when they would have done be.-
ter had they provided them with kits OF
| tools, or given them the means to be-
come surveyors or coal-miners. 1t may
be pleasant for farmer to settle his
| sons around him, but if they fail in the
business, he will be mortified and panied
| at the result.
| Many boys leave farms because there is
little for them to do on them. The in
| PRODUCTION OF iabor-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
err 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 short time ago.
| Materials for buildings and fences cost
more, ana larger amount OF macnIn-
cry is required. The price of stock
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