The news & observer., 1901-03-03
THE ADyANTAGES or BEING A COUNTRY BOY
By John Wanamaker President David Starr Jordan of Leland
Stanford Jr University; President Chas F. Thwing of
Western Reserve University; Bishop Vincent; Late
Gov Mount Of Indiana and Jessie A. Fowler
Copyright 1901, the Christian Herald, New York.


country bred any advantages over the city
boy? Are there any real compensations
for The loss of those opportunities of eul-
ture and development which are supposed
10 he peculiar TO city life? Has the boy
raised ON the farm no substantial conso-
lalions? Does he enjoy no special and
exclusive opportunities which do not fall
to the lot of the city boy? This is the
enbject which has held the attention of
he group of distinguished contributions
whose views. prepared especially for The
Christian Herald, are given below:
HE FACES REAL LIFE.
David Starr Jordan. president of Leland
Stanford Jr. University, Palo Alto, Cal.
The first advantage of country boy is
that he has grown up face to face with
realities, ard knows that there are such
ihlngs and how TO master them. j value
no part of my own education more thai
what learned on a farm. Not that
want 10 do any OF those things now, buf
that the habit of meeting things sqnarell
and doing them was a vital part of my
cducouon. The horizon of the farm is
narrow, but that is good for a boy. II
leads him to see clearly. To get. race 10
face with nature and action, is the puF-
pose of the nature study" and "manual
training" which in the city schools imper-
fectly take the place of farm life and farm
work,
Minor advantages of the farm are its
health and freedom, the absence OF waste
I'M lei j&ure. and the certainty OF mastery
over the horse: a thing without which no
man should be turned loose in the world
as educated. But. first of all, place the
contact with realities and the need OF the
country boy TO meet and master them lot
himself.
A 4F.E HOMERIC
BY Charles f. Thwing, D. D., Ii. D.,
President OF Adelbert College and West
crn Reserve University, Cleveland, O.
Among the chief advantages of being a
country boy are the advantages or SIM
plicity OF life and freedom of conduct. In
simple life the boy eats plain food,
wears plain clothes, sits on plain chairs,
sleeps in plain bed room, and associates
with plain people. He is free from lux
rrant living and elaborate conditions. lie
kncws nothing of the splendor which man
makes The necessities are brought TO his
home every day and the natural means OF
filling them are present. His life IL quite
Homeric He waits on himself. II he wants
ANYTHING done, he does it himself. He
earns the little spending money which he
has and often transmutes that little
spending money into money saved. lie
comes close to nature in his moods or
rest and reflection and he works hand IN
hand with nature in his every endeaVo'
lie is content with little. or rather his III
tic Ae converts into much. Such a life
and condition help TO make a man VINO
emphasizes the realities of character and
who is able to put proper values on ali
the elements which go to the constituting
of the great world of humanity.
second advantage is the advantage OF
freedom of conduct How free is the
country boy. The fields and the forest
are his Fairgrounds, the ponds his race
course: the trout brooks his private pre-
serve. The steers and the colts are his
co-workers and all the children OF the
neighborhood are his playmates Ills
nursery is the mows and the bays OF the
harm. and the wood shed which unites
the house and the barn, is his trotting
mark. He is not .'cribbed. cabined or
confined" His horizon is not sky line
made by rows of brick blocks. He secs
the sun rising above the great valleys ana
he secs II set behind the everlasting hills
His world is a big world and in it he Is
free to come and to go.
FACE TO FACE WITH NATURE.
Rt.-Rev. Vincent. p. E. Bishop so. Ohio.
The dweller in the country is brought
more constantly face to face with God in
nature than the dweller in town can ever
he. I'm the cities, said Sydney Smith
..all Is mans work apparently-we see
only Caesar and his power. In the coun-
try Gods hand Is seen oftener. and closer
TOO" The townsmans business leads him
to deal chiefly with secondary causes.
His own human sbrewdness and skill are
Tho things he constantly depends on for
success: so that he comes finally 10 feel
nc If all his own comfort and ha opnf SIS
depended on himself In the markets ard
i'm his office he handles by the wholesa
eu tho great natural food products, cloth
ipg and the materials of wood and stone
out of which houses are builded They
all mean to him only SO many thousands
of dollars In his business mind and pro-
cesscs God is left out of the account al
together. or course, if he were to stop
and think back a little, he would see that
no could not but even bite of bread into
his own mouth unless God had first
caused the seed to spring and the wheat
and corn to grow. He couldn't put a
coat on his back or that OF his chlldreh II
God had not first created the sheep Win
the wool on its back. He couldn lu.
shoes on his feet except for the nlde OF
the cattle nor build his house unless Goa
had first provided the forest and the stone
quarries So with all the PHILOSOPHERS anu
sciences with which the city dweller Is SO
much occupied.
The dweller in the country, If he Is a
thoughtful and earnest man at all, Is a
devoutly religious man. He lives face 10
face with God in Gods direct work in ma
ture. He sees God as the primary cause
of all those things which sustain human
and animal life and which make the world
beautiful. All these facts appeal directly
10 his own primary instincts Of truth;
they go to his heart as Well as his head;
and he does not have 10 go through a
long. roundabout process of reasoning to
get to the right conclusion.
The farmers Sundaw. if he is a religi-
Gus man at all. IS better Sunday than
The city mans. 1t is more completely the
Lords day. In the city even on Sunday,
the business houses. If they are not open
are still forever before your eyes, sug-