The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1889-09-01
B0YH00D ON THE FARM.
A Life with a Bright Side That Is Always q
Pleasure to Remember.
Written for the Indianapolis journal.

Written for the Indianapolis Journal.
An active life of over forty years, most of
which has been devoted to helping boys to
become good men. has confirmed me in the
belief that, as society is now constituted.
the sons of farmers are the fortunate boys
of our country. This good fortune is en-
HANGED by living a considerable distance
from ever the villages. God made the
country, but man made the town." lie an
old adage, but a true one, and for these
reasons: The country boy lives closer to
nature. He learns to 'look through nat
ure up to natures God" Instead of street
Arabs" for companions, his compan-
ions are the domesticated animals. No
harm ever comes from such COM
p~anions. The dog is usually made q
metaphor to represent meanness. And yet
it is true that the dog is the embodiment of
some of the noblest of traits. His fidelity
to man is positively sublime. If our hui
manity possessed more of the characteris-
tics of the dog the world would be the bet
known the frfindship Of a faithful dog.
Then the farmers boy acquires an init
mate knowledge of the wild animals yet
left in the woods about his home. He learns
their habits in a way not to be learned in
UOOkS. Ilc DtCOIucS u udtuIdltSb. liz
plumage and song of each bird that fills the
woodland with music are familiar to him..
He learns to hunt. He constructs his own
traps and rarely, kills himself with
e.. gun; Scarcely has he donn ned
horseback. His father never has the care
of "breaking the colts to ride or to work.
The farmers boy manages this department..
If there should be good matches" among
the calves of the herd, he constructs a rude
L. ..nI ~-.1xae <a,o do HE As11,.~ IL
does not use the dainty sleds sold in the
city stores to hitch behind buggies and
sleighs to be pulled along the streets. He
makes his Own sled, selects the highest hill
In the neighborhood. and enjoys a sport
paper. A farmers boy is familiar with
forestry" He knows at a glance every
kind of tree in the woods.
He learns to swim at 1.-The old swimming
hole" so that when he has an opportunity
to work. That is his vocation.
Even when the school term begins he does
not cease to work; for he must hurry home
to do the chores" The schools in the
the country boy learns as much in o and
five months as the city boy does in twice
the time. l do not make this assertion
from theory. know it to be q fact. Feed
ing the stock, saving and carrying in the
wood. milking the cows. have the happy
effect of making his evening. study the
more pleasant. At the age of fourteen the
country boy is 'self-supporting." He may
not have learned to smoke cigarettes or
swear. He may be dressed in plain clothes,
but he has rugged health, and can down"
in a wrestle his city cousin many, years
older. He never learns how to make his
living selling fruit or boiled eggs
at the trains, but he knows how
to pillow and handle horses. He may never
have attended q theater, to hiss and jeer
from the galleries, but he can play base
balr and 70 home to help his mother and
thus tighten her burdens. He reads but
few books, but he knows more of the his
tory of his country than boys in the cities.
SIDE. One of these is the abuse of Ben
Franklin's maxim, early to bed and early
to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and
wise" Some farmers retire at sunset and
storer, balmy Sleep is deprived of her
rights. Boys are hustled out of bed at an
outrageous hour They are sent to the barn
to rouse the sleeping horses and other stock
/ recall neighbors who considered it a dis
grace not to eat breakfast by candle or
famp-light. Their hobby was 'early-
rising" and yet. 1 know they accomplished
no more work han others who kept more
sensible hours. further observed that, upon
| reaching manhood, their sons left the farm.
Disguised, and went to the cities, where
they could get respectable hours for sleep.
Farm life, to them, had been a drudgery.
The home circle, of evenings, they had
never known. Just here is found one of
the chief causes why so many boys leave
the farm. If farmers would observe prope
hours, if their homes were made more
pleasant, if their sons were provided
with good books and papers, if they
would but allow enough sleep to
knit up the raveled sleeve of care"
| their sons would not seek other vocations.
There is no reason why farmers should not
be as "well read" as merchants in the cities.
Their sons are entitled to the same culture
as city boys. 1t is all wrong to disgust
their children with farm life. Ben Frank
liz is credited with saying that the hours
for sleep should be six hours for a man.
seven for q woman, and eight for a fool.
If such were true / would most certainly
| Join the fool club and trust to the con.
sequences. Farmers boys should strike, il
not for the 'eight-hour law" at least fol
Excessive labor, with no mental cult
ure, brutalizes human nature. Human
beings should not be made to tot.
like like the OK. Country life has
many charms which should be
enjoyed. Its sports are of the rarest kind
these. John Howard Payne made himseli
immortal when he wrote Home. Swee,
Home" and it was d country home h.
described. George p. Morris was born in
city, but his "Woodman Spare That Tree
with a friend, who asked him to turn asid'
and visit his birthplace. When they
reached the spot they found the occupant
of the old homestead making ready to Gu
down the old oak that shaded the home
Morris's companion protested IN the word
was preserved. There is no home ik,
one in. the country. There Ia N,
! boyhood like on the farm. But IL must b