, 1885-05-20
pRupaERY ON The FARM.
where tho oid-Fashlersd Farmer missos
If-PIea for the Boys. u

lAs RuAu = l-ttter.I
1t is a curious position in which an
old-fashioned farmer and his son are
placed The old man is content with
some improvements on the ideas of
fifty years ago He can't see why any
one should want anything better than
bare floors, Windsor chairs, and cow
hide boots lie would rs soon go to
meeting without a collar as with
one. He "rayther likes" the music
OF an organ, but If he buys an organ he
won't feel like building that adj
dition to the barn. lie can't really see
how any one can sit down and get in
terested in books, and why Henry and
William should want real CLOTH col
lars and cuffs is a deep conundrum.
When 8 o'clock comes he gets ready for
bed, and he can't SEQ how the boys and
girls can 'sabear'' company who keep
them up until 10.
The farm is conducted after tho fash
ion of a quarter of the last century. Tho
house may be painted once in five years,
but the chances are that it is allowed to
go ten. The barns have needed repairs
for years past, but it's cheaper to lose a
ton of hay by the leaks than
to buy new shingles. The fences
are rotting down, but next winter will
DO a good time to split rails. There are
half a dozen panes Of glass needed about
the house, but If the broken lights were
renewed they might be smashed again.
The democrat wagon has been about
worn out" for the last FIVE years, and
that's the excuse for not having it
painted. The harnesses will hardly
hold together, but they must answer for
another year. The boys are held to
serve their time, +" like so many slaves
or conyicts, and the amount of cash
finding its way into their pockets yearly
would not keep a bootblack in stock to
do business.
And now what's the matter with
farmers boys7 They live in a new world
tho father in an old one. No matter
how little schooling they have had, they
are better educated than he is. No
matter if the father refuses to do more
than subscribe to a weekly paper, his
boys are fairly posted on the daily hap
penings all over the world. He wants
to farm after old ideas-they after new
ones. He got along without knowing
whether England was east or west of
the United States-without grammar.
photography or being able to write more
than write his name-without collars or
cuffs or neckties-without books or pa
pers or amusements, and he is quite
certain that the boys can do the same.
The number of farmers sons who are
leaving home, either witha half-hearted
consent, or running away, is greater
than you dream Of. They flock to the
towns and cities to learn trades: to ac-
cept of mental positions; to take any
work which will pay their way and pre-
vent the necessity Of returning TO farm
work.
The farmer who realizes this must as
himself where the blame lies, and then
seek a remedy. Is there a remedy
Let us sec.
In the first place, farmers sons are
over worked. There is no doubt that
the farmer is, too, but that doesn't
alter the case. When you rout a boy of
IA, 10 or IS out of bed at $3.50 or 8
O'Clock in the morning, and work him
till 2 or half-past, you are making a
white slave of him. You not only peril
his health, but you deform his body.
That's the cause of SO many sons OF far
mers being lop-shouldered, bow-backed
or otherwise deformed, and the origin
can To traced to oYer-exertion while
growing.
There isn't a farm in this country on
which the hours of labor couldn't be
shortened to ten hours without causing
n loss of $50 per year. If ten hours is
enough for a ditch-dieger it is all that a
farmers son should be called upon to
endure. If there are two hours between
6 o'clock and darkness on q summers
evening the boy can take up : book or
paper, or put it to good use in some
other way. AS it is now, he knows he
is expected to slave from daylight till
dark, and when night comes he is weary
in body and aggravated in spirit.
And the remedy is not altogether in
shortening the hours of work. The boys
must have things To interest and amuse
them. They want books, magazines
and newspapers. If there's a chance to
Ak up 2 bowling alley let tho boys go
ahead and make one. The game of
bowls is n healthy exercise, and fur
nishes plenty OF sport. If n of the
boys has a taste for music help him on
with it. Let him have a fiddle, accordion,
organ, or whatever instrument he feels
he can bring music out of. Both boys
and girls should be encouraged to sing.
To this end they should be encouraged
to get up singing classes, which might
meet around from house to house. A
young peoples social club, to meet in
the same manner, would prove very in
teresting.
The farm can be made pleasanter
than the workshop-the farmhouse as
full of comfort and happiness as any
home in the city. When this takes
place the farmers son will not be the
young man he is. He will be jovial,
content and enthusiastic. He will be
able to appear well in any society, TO
converse with any one IN the topics of
the day, and he will have some future
outside of the day in and day out toll
which is crooking his spine and thicken-
ing up his brain.
Flour from -cottou-Tree seed.