The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1885-06-19
Short Talks With the Bows.

certain TO be 1Ounu IN IOur out OIL every
five letters received from the country,
and it Is Il matter which should be in
vestigated. Our statesmen and jour
nalist and philanthropists are continu.
ally praising agriculture as a vocation,
and the idea that the farmer is indie
pendent and happy prevails in every
story of rural life.
What has dissatisfied farmers sons?
Why is it that so many of them want
to leave the farm for any work which
will bring them a living? In most
cases the trouble will be found with
the farmer instead Of his son.
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
n should want anything better than
bare floors, Windsor chars and cow
hide boots. He would as soon 90 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 addition
to the barn. He can't really see how
any one can sit down and getinterested
in books, and why Henry and William
should want "real cloth collars and
cuffs is Il deep conundrum. When 8
O'Clock comes he gets ready for bed,
and can't see how the boys and girls
can ''abear'' company who keep them
up till until 10. The farm is conduct
ed after the fashion of a quarter of the
last century. The 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 be q 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 to.
gether, but they must answer for an
other year. The boys are held to
''serve their time" like so many
slaves or convicts, and the amount Of
cash finding its way into their pockets
yearly would not keep Il bootblack in
stock to do business.
Is the picture overdrawn? lean add
twenty per cent. to the strength of
each assertion and then not exceed the
truth.
And now what is the matter with
farmers boys? They live in a new
world-the father in an old one. No
matter how little schooling they have
had, they are better educated than he
is. Nc matter if the father refuses to
do more than subscribe to a weekly
paper, his boys are fairly posted on
the daily happenings all over the
world. He wants to farm after old
ideas-they after new ones. He got
along without knowing whether Eng
land was east or west of the United
States-without grammar, orthogra-
ply or being able to more than write
his name-without collars or cuffs or
necStics-wlthout books or papers or
amusements, and he is quite certain
that the boys a do the same.
The number of farmers sons who
are leaving home, either with a half
hearted consent, or running away, is
greater than you dream of. They
flock to the towns and cities to learn
trades; to accept of mental POSITIONS;
to take any work which will pay their
way and prevent the necessity of re-
turning to farm work.
The farmer who realizes this must
ask himself where the blame lies, and
then seek a remedy. Is there a rem
edy? Let us see.
In the first place, farmers sons are
overworked. There is no doubt that
the farmer is, too, but that doesn't
alter the case. When you rout a bow
of IA, 16 or Is out of bed at 4:3O or 5
o'clock in the morning, and work him
till Z or half-past, you are making a
white slave of him. You not Only
peril his health, but you dcform his
body. That's the cause of so manv
sons of farmers being lop-shouldered,
b~ow-backed or otherwise deformed,
and the origin can be traced to over.
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
a loss of S25 per year. If ten hours Is
enough for a ditch-digger it is all that
a farmers son should be called upon
to endure. If there are two hours be-
tween 6 o'clock and darkness on a
summers evening the boy can take up
a book or paper, or put it to good use
in some other way. AS 1t is now, he
knows he is expected to slave from
daylight till dark. and when night
comes he is weary in body and aggra-
waited in spirit.
And tho ronody 10 not aItoratbor ;r
shortening the hours of work. The
boys must have things to interest and
amuse them. They want books, mag
azines and newspapers. If there's q
chance to fix up a bowling alley let
the boys 60 ahead and make one. The
game of bowls is a healthy exercise,
and furnishes plenty Of sport. If one
of the boys has a taste for music help
him on with it. Let him have a fiddle,
accordion, organ, or whatever instru-
ment he feels he can bring music out
of. Both boys and girls should be en-
couraged to sing. To this end they
should be encouraged to get up sing
ing classes, which might meet around
from house to house. A young peo-
pies social club, to meet in the same
manner, would prove very interesting.
The farm can be made pleasanter
than the werk-shop--the farmhouse
as full of comfort and happiness as
any homo in the city. When this
takes place the farmers son will not
be the young man ne is. He will be
joyial, content, and enthusiastic. He
will be able to appear well in any So
ciety, to with any one on 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 t~hickening up his brains
N. Quad, IN Detroit Free Press.