The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1884-08-14
manitowoe pilot.
THURSDAY, AUGUST IA, 1891.
Short Talks With the BOYS.


asking: why don't you write some
thing for country boys" What has
been written has applied to all boys in
general way, but in this article / will
hit the country boys in particular.
To be a farmers son is. too often, to
be drudge. The farmer himself is
one, and he cannot spare his son. In
some cases this must necessarily be SO,
but there are many exceptions. To be
farmer means to be out of bed at
daylight and hard work until shutdown.
1t means, in the majority of cases,
plain clothes. plain fare and few privi-
1eges. The farmer himself may not
care for the concert and circus and ex-
cursion, and in his selfshness he re-
fuses his boys such privileges. After
his back-breaking work of the day he
may not care to sit down with a news
paper or book, but that is no reason
why he shouldn't have those things in
the house for his boys and girls. l
know plenty of farmers with cash in
bank who are too stingy to take any,
thing beyond a local weekly newspaper.
They make an old buggy do. They
have no pride about their horses and
harnesses. They buy slop clothes
for their boys, pinch 'em down to the
last cent, and then wonder that they
don't want to attend some fashionable
town church on Sunday.
The old-fashioned farmer came about
as near being two-legged hog as is
possible to get. Because he liked fat
pork the year round his family must
eat it. Because he could get along
with 81 suit of clothes every one else
must come to it. Because the almanac
furnished him plenty of reading his
family had no business to want news
papers and magazines. He wanted
his sons to feel as big as "them ere
Barker boys" and yet he refused them
everything which has made the Barker
boys their superiors.
If you will consult the criminal rec
ords of cities and villages you will find
that farmers sons are pretty disorderly
characters. They bring to town with
them spirit of recklessness that calls
for row. Why? | can tell you, be-
cause l have asked at least fifty of
them. Bring a boy up without any
the world. When he becomes a young
man and feels his lack of education
and polish ne will hate the other half
He comes TO town feeling that he has
no show and is a nobody, and this
breeds q spirit of defiance. He has
just as much right in the world as the
lawyers son. He has just as much
brains, and in his young days was the
best looking. The lawyers son has
been schooled and his mind expanded,
while the farmers son has been toiling
and drudging. Cultivation, education
and associations have made the law
yer's son fine-looking young man.
Snow, wind, rain, hard work and bit
terness of spirit. have SO changed the
looks of the farmers son that he is
ashamed of himself.
am not going to advise farmers in
the case, but I'll tell you what I'd do
if | was farmer and had boy about
10 years of age whom | wanted to fol-
low the same pursuit. I'd have kept
him in school up to this time, and he'd
be fairly posted in geography, gram
mar, mathematics, photography and
chirography. / should have sent him
to school in town in order that he
might have the rough corners sand
papered down by contact with society.
If he had any musical talent I'd en-
courage it. I'd allow him so much
money per week, and advise with him
until he could spend it intelligently.
I'd get him good clothes and encourage
him to be neat and tasteful in Dress
[ could not have done this had been
pin-pcor, but eight out of ten of our
farmers could do even better. When
my BOY came home he would find at
least one good daily paper in the house,
backed by a literary weekly, an agri-
cultural journal, a magazine and a
scientific publication. The farm
should be mapped, every field num-
bered, and we'd open a book account
80 show how many dollars and days
work were expended for certain re-
turns. My boy should be my business
partner. We'd read together, discuss
and plan together, and while | endeav-
ored to make him feel his responsible
lty, should do nothing TO make him
lose his independence.
such ideas read well. but you'd run
your farm into the hands Of the sheriff
within three years"
See here, my farmer friend, let me
give you & few facts. The average
farmer shortens the services OF his lum-
Der wagon one year by leaving il out
IN the sun and the dew. His pillow
would last one year longer if kept
painted and sheltered. For the want
OF 4 little attention his harness wears
ont only half its days. His barns and
sheds 60 to rack for the want of paint.
Where the hoof-rot could be stopped in
the first sheep if he were posted, he
stops it in the thirtieth. The farmer
who gets his agricultural hints from
the almanac loses his hogs by the chol-
era, his fowls by the pip, and his horses
slobber from his gate TO the village
store and back. Let a man run your
farm on business principles and the
fence corners would not take up four
acres out of every forty; there would
nc no old boX-drains about the house to
bring typhoid fever and doctors bills.
Those leaks in the roof of the barn
would not spoil three or four tons of
hay next year; the want of an cave
trough on the house would not cave in
the cellar walls; the first sign of dis
ease among the live stock would be
promptly treated; tools and nipple
ments OF every sort should be carefully
housed. and
Well, | am going TO shock you. I'd
have the harness oiled and bungieS and
wagons washed once week. I'd have
lawn about the house, and make q
display of flowers and shrubs; I'd give
4 party now and then, and I'd encour-
age meetings of farmers once or twice
month, not to kick about railroad
freights or jaw politics, but to post
each other on farm work and the best
way to manage it.
But about the boy? Intelligence and
energy rightly applied to farm labor
would give every farmers boy holi-
day in every week of the year. Let
HIM go fishing or hunting, or SWIM
ming or riding. Let him 60 to town
and consult buyers and sellers and
post up. Let him have books and pa
perS and tools. Give him chance to
earn something and to own something.