The Brookhaven leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1883-1891, 1883-04-26
STICK TO THE FARM.
m Omen Letter to a Farmers Ro,

IV ahHs
An Open Letter to a Farmers Boy.
My DEAR JAMEs:-You ask me for
some advice as to your future work in
life. You say that you are dissatisfied
with the prospect of being a hard-work-
ing farmer all your days, but at the same
time you do. not consider yourself a
genius, and do not expect to become a
Stewart or a Vanderbilt, or to acquire a
vast fortune by speculation. You ex-
pect to work for your living; but you
think there may be some pursuit which
would be equally remunerative and not
SO laborious and mOnotOnous as the
farmers. You ask if it would not be
better for you to become "first-class
mechanic" than to be farmer.
This is an important question, not
alone to you, but to many other boys
who take serious view of life; whose
common sense gives them a fairly cor
rect estimate of their own powers and
capabilities, and who wish to learn a
business for which they are adapted,
which will give them fair wages, rea-
sonable amount of leisure, and re-
spectacle position in life.
Now, it is curious fact that workers
in almost every branch of industry take
gloomy view of their own business,
think almost.eyeryb body else is better off
than they are, and generally try to dis
courage others from, entering their vo-
cation. The farmer and mechanic are
about equally ready to say; '.Our -busi-
ness is going to the dogs. If were a
young man l should learn something
else" Sometimes they do this from the
selfish desire to keep down the supply
of workers in their own line, in order
that the demand for them may be great
er; sometimes from the habit of judging
other occupations by the standard of
their most successful men.
But the fact remains, in spite of this
almost universal disparagement of their
own pursuits among workingmen, that
some occupations are more, some less,
desirable than others; and shall try to
give few reasons for thinking that a
farmers boy, unless he has decided
bent for mechanical pursuits, such as
will quickly take him into that ''upper
story" where there is always plenty of
room and recompense, had better
stick to the farm"
First, the farmer has the priceless
boon of independence. He is his own
employer. He comes and goes when
he pleases, not when another man
pleases. He is responsible to no one
but himself. He is captain on his own
ship. No matter if he only has pota-
to patch from which to get his living, he
is master of that potato patch; his rule
there is none to dispute in his workshop.
His prosperity depends on his own
thrift and enterprise, not upon the pros
perity and liberality of an employer.
He asks no man what he shall do or
how he shall do it,. except as matter
of advice. He "cares no more for Lord
James Douglas than Lord James Doug
las cares for him." He is man among
men, sovereign in his own domain. The
man who owns and cultivates his little
piece of ground can snap his fingers at
MIR. Lofty, and sit on his fence with his
hands in his pockets when the Great
Mogul goes by; tor he is getting his liv-
ing at first hand, and need ask no fa-
vors of anyone. The average mechanic,
on the other hand, is little more than a
hired serf while he remains a mechanic;
he surrenders his individual liberty to
his employer for his wages, and works
through another mans brains; he is an
automatOn manipulated by the golden
wires of capital. He learns to gauge
his work by what is required of him, not
by the standard of intelligent and con-
scientious service. Unless he is an ex-
ceptional case, his self-respect is un-
dermined by the temptation to :" Loaf
while the boss is not looking, and to
work industriously under his eye. He
becomes a school-boy instead of a man;
learns to look furtiyely and fearfully at
his employer, and brides his manhood
through the necessity of pleasing him or
losing his work. The mechanic is a
subordinate in his department.; the
farmer is chief officer in his; and it is
better to be captain Of q canai-boat and
preserve your independence, than to be
second-mate ON the Great Eastern and
have no mind of your own.
Secondly, the farmer has health; or
the means of getting it free of cost if
he does not possess it. His business as
sures him, in larger measure than al
most any other, natures grand con-
servers of health-air and exercise.
These are better tonics than any which
go into peoples stomachs. City pa
tients get them after paying for doc
tors prescription, but to the farmer
they come '.as free as air." Better
than any one else the farmer can CON-
bine business and the hygienist's golden
rule:
Take the open air-the more you take the
better;
Follow natures laws to the very letter;
Let the doctors go to the Bay of Biscay,
Let alone the gin, the brandy and the whisky.
Freely exercise keep your spirits cheerful.
Let no dread of sickness ever make you
fearful:
Eat the simplest food. drink the pure cold
water,
Then You win be well--or at least you ought
The farmer is free from many of the
temptations which beset workingmen