Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1885-05-28
IRON the Christian Union.1

ated in New York; the next, eighteen
years, Is in his second year IN college:
the third, sixteen years old, IL ct home
"a beautiful home-with mother and
three younger daughters. c. was
restless IN school, and, IN spite Of our
best endeavors, left two years ago, and
has been with me IN business. But he
is very restless, and longs for farm life,
and has been urging me for permission
to go West into cattle ranch business.
He Is g model OF health and strength.
very fond of home, q great reader Of
good books, without 3 bad habit or
thought. We shrink from parting with
him so early In life. Indeed, it would
be loss we cannot bear, to have our
youngest son leave MS TO 90 into the
rough world. II occurs to me that MANY
Others may have similar trials, and that
you would say something that would
help M out. We feel that nothing could
compensate him for leaving such
happy home so early. We have urged
him to select any branch Of study, and
we viii deny ourselves to serve him.
But he is not content, and actually suf-
fers in his own estimation to get away
into outdoor life. Respectfully yours,
FATHER.
Blessed is the boy who has bent:
who knows what he wants TO be and do.
Most boys have not. A great many men
have not. They spend their life in try
ing to find ont what they are fitted for.
and fail for want of the discovery. The
average boy goes through school and
college Off he goes to college) with no
idea Of what he is going to make of him
SELF He knows as little on graduation
day as on the day he entered. Now.
however, he can wait no longer: he must
do something. He losses up. His dice
are labeled law. medicine. ministrv.
| journalism, business, blank. He throws
for choice. He goes into the ministry
because this gives him three more years
Of agreeable student life at little or no
expense; or law because law is q high
way into variety Of professions; or
journalism because he enjoys seeing The
fruit Of his pen in print; or business be-
cause he wants TO be well of, and he
does not know that over ninety per
cent Of business men fail; or he goes
home to live, or teaches for living for
year on two, because he cannot make
up his mind what to do or be. Perhaps
he chooses his fathers profession, be-
cause il is his fathers; more probably
he repudiates it, for the same reason;
perhaps q stronger classmate awakens q
short-lived enthusiasm for some calling,
TO be followed by lifelong regret that
he did not take some other; perhaps he
| just stumbles in at the nearest open
door, merely because it is open. Blessed.
therefore. say, is the boy who has 4
bent; who knows what he wants to be
and do. BY al means encourage him
Ia it.
And, in some sense, specially blessed
is he whose bent is toward agriculture.
It is, Of all callings, If rightly pursued,
the healthiest morally and physically.
| 1t Is free from the maddeninR craze OF
the great cities; from the vaingIory and
strife Of law and cognate professions:
from the making haste to be rich: from
| the burdens Of servitude on the one
hand, and the temptations Of despotic
power on the other. It can never be
crowded. There are too many lawyers,
too many doctors, and, verify believe,
too many ministers, though by splitting
our churches up into little sects we
manage to lind place and work for
them all But there are two professions
which for years to come will not be full
10 this country: one, that of the farmer;
the other, that Of the civil engineer.
The man whose ambition leads him in
either direction leads him into an open
ield, with plenty TO do, and only q
healthy and rational competition. BY
all means be grateful that your boy has
. bent, and bent that takes him ave.
from the overcrowded kidgloved pro-
LESSONS into one Of healthy, natural,
productive industry.
And your present happiness is not Go
count for q moment in the balance
against his welfare; nor in determining
what his welfare Is. The bird cannot
be kept in the nest after he is fledged.
It must fy and make its own nest
II, then, G.. were my boy, I should
say something like this to him: ssYou
want to be q farmer. Good am glad
Of it. want you to be farmer; but
want you to be successful farmer; q
master Of yonr art. And to-day agri-
culture is at once science and al art.
The true farmer Is not cIodhopper.
Farming Is one Of the learned profess
sions. 1t requires an encyclopedia
mind. Tt demands 3 preparation Is
broad and as thorough &c does law,
medicine, or the ministry. The farmer
converts the inutiIe mineral deposits Of
the soil into fruit and grain for mems
livelihood. He must know the c0nsfi-
tuition of soils, their adaptations, their
proper treatment: he must be chemist.
He must understand the nature and
functions Of animal life. the conditions
Of health and disease. and especially Of
reproduction; he must be biologist