The great West. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1889-18??, 1892-02-19
FARM AND HOUSEHOLD.
CULTIVATING THE MOST I'M.
PORTANT FARM CROP.
The Farmers Boys and Girls-Sortinc
and Cleaning Wool - Public
Roads-FArm Notes and
Household Helps.
What Children Can Do.

A little man scarcely out of his
childhood came to me the other day
with a pair of young steers which he
waited to sell, writes Henry Stewart
in the Northwest Agriculturalist His
youth led me to question as to his
right to dispose of the animals. He
said they were his. the calves of his
cow and he had raised them and fed
them from his own fodder and corn
he was the son of a farmer at some
distance whom l knew. and his whole
story was so interesting that many
farmers boys, and their fathers. too,
may learn valuable lesson from it.
The farmer had good farm with some
outlaying land some 800 acres in all.
He had divided off fifty acres for each
OF his three boys. who each had a
COW. few sheep and some pigs of
their own, given to them for their
own use and profit The boys worked
for their father on wages which were
paid in produce. They had together
cleared up some land and put it in
crop for themselves. They had stock
and corn for sale, and intended to buy
a pair of mules to work their land
with. The young steers were this
boys share which he was to put into
the pair of mules He had fifty
bushels of corn besides which he
wanted to sell. I bought the steers
and the corn. and the whole came to
$55, which the little fellow wrapped
up and put into his pocket book. tied
with a leather string, put it into his
pocket and trudged away in as bust
ness Like manner as any man might
do. to walk the dozen miles or so to
his home.
A few days afterward the father of
the boy passed my house on his way to
the village with load of grain. I
stopped him and asked about his boys.
Eyes, said he my boys have land and
stock OF their own. and help me to
work my farm. They Go better work
than any hired man / ever had, and
they are doing we'll l want them to
stay with me. We are getting old and
would hate to be left alone. 1t is a
lonesome thing to have the boys here
and there hundreds or thousands of
miles away from us. One of my neigh
bors is living that way. One boy is in
Oregon. another is in Alabama, and
the other in Texas. They had no
chance at home and as soon as they got
money enough to get off, off they
went I have all my children at
home and all have property of their
own. which they do as they like with,
except sell it; that they cannot do
without my consent; but bless you.
they wouldn't sell their land for any
money. One girl owns all the tur-
keys and chickens. and the other
owns the garden and attends to the
milk and butter; she has two COWS of
her own, and pays for their feed by
helping her mother in the house.
They all have their own money, buy
their own clothes, and have more
sense than a score Of trifling neigh
bors who are too idle to work and
make a living for themselves, let
alone for their children. NY boys
and girls are all satisfied, and it will
be good man who will get any of the
girls away from their mother MY
father did the same for me, and when
l was old enough to have a home of
my own had money enough to buy
the farm where l am living, and have
always had a few dollars in my pocket
more than l needed
This little history of united family,
industrious, careful and thrifty, might
easily be repeated in thousands of
farm homes. 1t is solution of that
vexed and much discussed question,
'.How.can the boys be kept on the
farm?" The father can become the
magnet of attraction. the center of a
force and influence which. like mag
netism, acts and reacts by induction,
and binds the separate instincts into
one harmonious whole. The depart
ure OF ones children one by one from
home. unprepared to go out into the
world. without the necessary training
and independent methods of thought
and action which insures success in
life is one of the saddest things that
can happen in a family. 1t is the end
of life to many parents, with whom all
the ties which bind a man or woman
to the home are severed. and existence
then becomes covered with a dark
shadow, darker than ever when 1t may
happen that u boy Or girl goes wrong
and makes a failure in the outset of
life.
The farm may be made the best pre-
paratory school for all other occupa-
tons. The training insures habits of
industry thoughtfulness patience,
perseverance; fortitude under disap-
pointment and energy to oppose sue
cessfully all obstacles. That is real
farming. not mere scratching of the
ground. and contentment with the bare
necessities Of life. And with the home
training, farmers should give close at
tention 10 their schools The rural
schools should be as good and effective
for the education of young people as
those of the cities. No farmer who
spends money for the fertilization of
his fields, should begrudge a liberal
support to the schools which are
fields for the cultivation OF the
young minds He must see in this
the great profit to be obtained.
He should expend a reasonable
cuu, in newsnaners of the hest Find