The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1902-01-22

farmer is educated for the farm and
takes pride and glory in being farm
err"
Very wisely, the Roanoke Times
says:
There are comparatively few city
boys who drift into the country, while
the number which find their way to
the city is large. A minister address
ing large audience as Buffalo the
other day said that very great per
cent. of the successful men in the cities
were those whose early lives had been
spent in the country, and who had
drifted to the city in search of fortune.
If this Is true, and 1t is true, as most
anyone will admit, all the more credit
is due these country boys who find 30
much of temptation and glitter await
ing them when they come to town.
There is no doubt about the hardships
the country boy has to put up with
when he reaches the city. He is U.s.
ually very lonely individual. He
lives in a dingy clearinghouse, fol-
lows regular routine of work and has
little comfort. When he gets through
with his days labor there. is nothing
for him to DO but to 60 back to his
lonesome room and 90 to bed. He
arises the next morning and goes over
the experience of the day before.
Every day is the same. tits small
wonder that many of them yield to
the allurements that the city presents
at night and find panionship
among those who are not good for
them. Yet those who do stick to the
determination that brings them to the
city always succeed. They have 10
struggle harder than they would in
the country, but their opportunities
are larger and the fruit Of their labor
more valuable. Bringing with him
the freshness and vigor of the country
atmosphere, the country boy is able to
impart more energy TO his work and
to give more careful attention to his
duties.
"The city-bred boy going to the
country to live usually finds it a bore.
He is used to excitement and some.
thing to occupy his mind when he is
not at work. His evenings are more
of burden to him than those of the
country in the city. He rarely stays
long, and if he does remain be ia often
heard to complain of the hard fate that
has condemned him to such life.
The surroundings may be comfortable
to him, but they are different from
those he has had in the city, and they
do not appeal to him. Getting up ear
ly in the morning and retiring early
at night are new to him, and furnish
a revolution in his habits that he is
unable to adapt himself to without
much Inconvenience. Of the two
classes the country boy coming to the
city Is the more cOntented. 1t is to be
deplored that 80 many should leave
the farms and seek aliying elsewhere.
The country needs, not the boy who
comes from the city, but the boy rails
ed in the country. 1t would be better
If his vigor and fresh energy were di-
rected in building up the resources Of
his native neighborhood. This is his
natural heritage, and one that he is
better fitted to develop than the boy
from the city. Yet the cities would
soon miss the country boy and his I'M
press upon their affairs were he stop
Joining forces with them.
The changed conditions for the boy
in the South are sketched by the Char
lotte Observer, with the addition
Of some good ad vice, as follows:
"In the time before the civil war it
was not necessary for parents to worry
about what their sons would do when
they grew up. Outside the professions
the great occupation was raising cot
ton, and the average youth got a most
excellent training on the plantation or
farm. This training together with q
cOmmon-school or college education,
turned out young man at twenty-one
years Of age who was capable Of going
Immediately to work planting and pro-
ducing cotton or tobacco, occupations
that were amply respectable, and
when attentively followed, reasonably
profitable. For those who had no taste
for the professions of law, medicine
and th~ ministry there was always
this unlimited opening, and in grow
ing UP the boys were always sufficient
ly in contact with it to qualify them to
successfully conduct its operations. |!
"In the new conditions that have de-
veloped since the civil war the situa-
ton OF the youth as to future occupa-
ton, is very materially changed. 1t
has become important for parents to
concern themselves while the SON Is
et>young as to what he is going to
prepare himself to do in after life.
Education alone does not qualify a
young man to make living. With or
without education, experience and
practical training are also necessary.
Much of this experience and practical
training could be acquired at an early
age if>some care was taken to help a
boy decide what he proposed TO pre-.
pare himself to do and he was brought
into some sort of contact with his work
while he was yet boy.
"Even If the boy should afterwards
conclude to change his first purpose,
the practice and experience had in his
first selection would not be lost. The
contact Of the country boy with farm
life and bis experience and training
on the farm Is we'll known to give him
preference in the city over the city boy
with no training at all in almost any
competition for q job.
"It is pitable the number of well-in-
structed youth the colleges are turning
out who have selected no particular
occupation, and who at twenty one
years are, in many cases. more helpless
in q matter OF actually doing some
thing than farm boys twelve years old.
"In saying this there is no purpose
to disparage educatian. On the con-
trary, the room for farther develop
ment Of education is practically un-
limited. But the number of college
graduates who each year start out
hunting 'positions,' who are willing to