Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1902-05-19
HOW KEEP THE BOYS?
GIRLS, ALSO, ARE PRONE TO
LEAVE THE FARM.
A Judicious Study of the Child's
Natural InclinatiOns May Give the
Parent an Idea of the Right Course
to Pursue.

Much has been said and written
about the tendency of the boys. and
the girls. too to leave the farm and
seek some other occupation, which will
prove more remunerative. or which
they expect will be so. We do not
blame them. for ambition is the right
of every one, and the young person
who does not have it can scarcely eX-
pect to be more prosperous. and may
not be boosted into higher place even
by the efforts of others.
1t is possible, however, to so direct
that ambition and encourage it as to
contine it to the farm, instead of send
ing it behind the counter, OF on an cleo
trio or steam car, or on board Il steam
ship. We knew that the natural talent
and the inclination of some boys, and
girls also, is for IA mechanical occupa'
ton. They can scarcely be kept from
it. They want to be making some
thing with hammer and nails or needle
and thread all of the time. Others have
other tastes which lead them away
from the farm, and to force them to
remain there would be almost as bad
as Imprisonment to them.
There are others whose ideas of life
off the farm is largely influenced by
their reading. Certain books may
arouse an idea that they would like to
go in search of adventure among the
Indians, or as bandits to hold up rail
road trains. or as sailors visiting for
eign countries or wrecked and living
as Robinson CrusOe did on an uninhab-
tied island. A few more years and a
little more experience usually gives dis
erection enough to show them the folly
of such dreams as these.
But the farmer who desires to keep
some one or more of his children at
home with him, to take up the bust
ness there when he shall give it up,
has no one but himself to blame If he
does not succeed in doing so. Setting
aside those who have a decided me-
chanical or mercantile turn. and they
are not many when the parent is not Al
born" mechanic or trader. the others
can be made to feel an interest In the
farm work.
, There are few boys who do not love
animals. at least such as they can pet.
and they like them none the less IL
they can see a profit coming directly
to themselves for their care of them.
Most of them also like to see the crops
, grow; fruit more often than vegetables,
because they can enjoy the proceeds of
their labor.
If boy is given calf or a colt and
Is allowed to feel that it Is his own.
and that it will be so when old enough
to be profitable or useful, and that he
will receive the profits Of it, not, as is
> too often the case. the boys calf and
the fathers cow when it comes to be
sold, he will care for it well enough
to probably make it the best animal
of it's kind on the place. He may be
, made to pay for its feed, and to care
) for it himself as he grows older, but
; If it is good one to begin with, he
will find it profit in that. A cosset
lamb or breeding SOW have served
, the same purpose.
Even better may be little flock of
, poultry, because the care of them may
be taken by either boy or girl. and with
the petting care given by one who
, loves them, they are almost sure to
yield profit Possibly the Belgian
hare might suit some others as well.
But whatever the stock might be, let it
. be good of it's kind. and pure bred, that
1 the young owner may feel proud of it,
/, and love it, as he could not love a lean,
4 misshapen mongrel that would be the
laughing stock of his companions.
There are others who have been re-
a tanned on the farm and made to love
t farm life and farm work by little
2 tract of ground. on which they could
have garden a strawberry bed or a
fruit tree, the products of which were
their own. They learned to care for
them. and were anxious to learn from
the experience of others They studied
! the details Of caring for the crops, as
older farmers do not often study. and
we have seen the boys garden and the
: boys animals good enough to put to
shame the best that the father. with
greater experience. could produce
? To make this more effectual the
younger student should be provided
1 with such books and papers as treat
: upon the care of that to which he may
have devoted himself II he reads n
: good agricultural paper every week he
/, may become interested in some other
branch of agriculture than that he has
started in as a beginning. If he does
6 let him branch out. but discourage that
tckleness that wants to swap the calf
for sheep, the sheep for hens and the
. hens for rabbits each year, especially
: if the desire for trading is based on an
idea that the new acquisition will not
need as much care or labor as the other
needed
Not all boys are industrious or enter
prsing, but many might be made so.
if when young they were taught that
to work, to try to improve on existing
methods and to economic were neces-
sary to success. To try to drive them
:, on a road that they do not like is worse
than useless. but they can often be led