The Democrat. (Scotland Neck, Halifax Co., N.C.) 1884-1896, 1894-08-23

IOIUliIlS, dlu NucH YOU idNC min III
hand
1t seems, then, that YOU have boy
that ought to be something in life
What will YOU do with him. Well
suppose you give him chance, and let
him help make himself. Many boy
has failed to be man just because his
father wouldn't let HIM Now man,
really great man, need not be law
yer, nor politician nor physician,
nor a preacher he need not be in any
of what you call "the professions. 7"
He may just be plain levelheaded,
cultivated farmer, and still be man
If the Maker seems to have endowed
your boy with special gifts for any of
the professions, why let him follow it,,
and lend him helping hand while he
is getting ready. But don't conclude
that you must make professional man
out Of him just because he is a bright
boy. Where in the world did ever the
notion come from that men must pick
out their clever boys tor LAWYERS, doc
- Il, ko
to make farmers out of? A little
thought will show you that the dull
boy is quite as likely to succeed in
other things as he is in farming. If
any business in this world requires a
clearer head and sounder judgment
than good farming does, this writer
doesn't know what that business is.
Now, suppose your boy is to be a
doctor you try to get money enough
together to give him an average gen
eral education, and then put him in a
medical college. And you would try
to give him the same chance, if he
wanted to become lawyer. Why
should boy who is to farm be neglec-
ted, and be the only one that is neglec-
ted? The preacher, the lawyer, the
physician, are not made IN the schools
really, but by the actual practice in
life ;; and yet, 1t is good thing Tor
them to learn the principles of their
profession before they commence the
practice. They might after awhile
pick up those principles themselves,
without ever going to school but if
they can learn from experienced teach
ers in few months what they must
otherwise learn alter many years, if
ever at all, it pays to go to teachers.
Now stop and think whether the fol
lowing statement is true: One intel
ligent, thoughtful farmer in commu-
munity influences the farming of the
entire community, because the neigh
bors watch him and learn from his
methods. Well, If all could be trained
and thoughtful, would it not be that
much better? One may learn the art
of hillside ditching after awhile by ac-
tual experience but it would clearly
pay him to lay out little money in
learning it before the soil has all wash
ed off One may learn after awhile
that some manures, excellent in them
selves, kill each other by mixing but
it is surprising to know how many per-
sons die in ignorance of that fact One
Of the most successful planters the pres
ent writer knows, after fifty years Of ex-
perience, wasted his money and dam
aged his crop by mixing Peruvian gu
ano and hickory ashes.
The feeling is common that general
education for farmers is purely orna-
mental. and that if boy is certainly
going to farm, a very meagre bit Oh
schooling will do for him. There is
a prejudice against "book-learned" far
mers as being theoretical and unpracti-
cal. OF many such farmers this is un-
doubtedlv true but is it not also true
of many not "bool. .learned % If man
has not sense enough to put principles
into practice, he hardly has sense
enough to practice much without prln-
ciples. The mill doesn't turn out houl
if You put pease in the hopper and
you can't reasonably expect bread from
an oven in which there was no dough
If you send natural fool to college, you
will probably get back about the same
E1Dd of fool Prov con Sidor friaD6