The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1899-01-18
AGRICULTURAL.
Take Care Of Your Brains,

tanning their independence, and secur-
ing the just rewards of their labors
than clear heads, cool, even tempers,
and good judgment. All that Ameri-
cans mean by the word "brains" the
farmer needs, and the farmer of the flu
ture will need brains more even than
the farmer of to-day. Two things the
young farmer needs TO attend to, his
health and his education; he wants not
only sound mind in healthy body,
but well-trained mind as well. The
successful business man is man of
power, he is far seeing, capable, ener-
getic; the farmer needs to be all that,
needs abundant capacity for physical
and mental work. Every farmer
should seek to give his children just as
good advantages as possible in order to
fit them for their future work, and
while he may draw back from paying
out large sums for their education, he
can without expense provide for their
future health and strength, and he can
also do much for them educationally
without great cost in money. Let
every farmers family remember that
they can rise or fall in the scale of in
telligence, land let it be their aim to
rise. This does not mean TO get hold
of little or good deal more money
than their neighbors, but it means that
they grow in intelligence, strength of
mind andbody, wisdom in using money
and managing their business, and that
they be united in living lives of sobrie
ty, economy and morality.
Every farmers home ought to be
SO attractive that the young people
will love it far better than any other
place. In the long winter evenings
there is abundant opportunity for the
cultivation of the real home life. The
whole family should love 10 gather in the
farmers sitting.room to talk, read,
study, and enjoy each others society.
City men may have nowhere 10 60 ex-
cept to the saloons, but every member
of the farm home ought to unite in
making it the one place where all the
members will delight to 60. Then the
father and the boys will be saved from
the evils which beset the man or boy
who spends his evenings away from
home. If farmers son wants to make
the most of himself in brain and body,
if the farmers daughter wants to make
the most of herself in every way, let
them keep up the love of home and
spend all the time they can-especially
evenings-at home. Nine times out of
ten if the young people are out late
they will lose much sleep and will feel
the worse for it the next day. That
means loss of power. Ninety-nine
cases in hundred, if the farmers boys
are at the village every night, they will
learn to smoke, and often worse, but
that Of itself is bad enough. No boy
or young man who smokes can be as
much of man or rise as high in the
world las he could were he non
smoker. And the deadly cigarette
ruins-that is just the word-utterly
ruins thousands and tens of thousands
of fine young men. The boys of the
farm should let all of this sort of thing
alone. Let the city and village boys
ruin their brains, blight their hopes,
destroy their powers by smoking, drink
ing, and all this host of evils, if they
choose, but let the boys of the farm
take care of their bodies, their brains,
their intellects. For just as sure as
can be, the strong must rise above the
weak, the man with the clear strong
head above the puny muddled-brained
victim of bad habits. If the farmers
of any section want TO rise to the top,
let them live right themselves and train
their children to good habits of living.
Teach them to let entirely alone all
smoking, chewing, drinking, sitting up
late, staying out late nights, shield their
young people from every demoralizing
tendency so far as they can. For all
this there is nothing like real old. fash
toned faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as
personal Savior, the only one who
can care for, and keep, and guide in
this world of sin, who is able to save to
the uttermost all that come TO God by
Him. Sin is everywhere in this world,
it is causing pain, woe, sorrow, and
misery; and what all men need and
what they have in Christ is Savior
from sin.
But there is great need for brain or
mind power for the farmer in another
direction. Who are the families that
make the most from their farms, their
diaries, their products? Are they the
ones whose members are the strongest,
are able to lift the most, do the hardest
days works2 Or are they the families
hot 1. II.