Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1903-06-09

for labor, or for laying on flesh. How
many long winter evenings, how many
stormy days or listless hours give
golden opportunities for improvement
Intellectually, nd so profitable finan.
cilly, are wasted by farmers?
Touching farm profits: How many
farmers can tell just what it costs
them to produce one hundred pounds
Of pork or beef, or a ton of hay, or an
lei of corr or oats? Ask any manu-
facturer what it costs him to produce
articles Of his own make, and he would
be stupid, indeed, if he could not tell
down to the merest detail. He makes
money at his factory, although 1t lies
idle a greet prt Of the twentyAfour
hours and all the Sundays in the year.
The farm factory runs on while the
owner slumbers, and on all the Sun
days the crops grow. Compare the
success. of the business man with that
Of farmers. Why does one amass
wealth while the other gets along
most any way? Because the bust
s man thoughtfully uses right
methods. His thinking machine is
kept in good order by trade papers
and journals that cost him 50, IS and
SO each a year. The farmer can
hardly afford to oil up with a ~fifty-cent
paper, while 81 is to most a fabulous
outlay. for mere hook larnin'," and
30 he goes along "by g~uesses."
Now, there must be . willing mind
or the leisure hours and knowledge
will be as useless as water poured
into q sieve for thirty plants. Uncon-
scious ignorance Is always self-satis-
faction. There is. besides, the neg
lect Of ones duty to ones children, q
cause Of great reproach upon many
farms. Let each child have a berry
patch for his own care. Give it q
lamb or weakly colt to bring up. In
terest him in the crops, the flowers.
the birds and vines. Allow him to
help in keeping the place tidy, and
in identifying all unsightly places.
These boys who are to become farm.
ers must place agriculture upon the
same scientific basis as that upon
which other industries rest, and it will
be equally as profitable.
Let the children study books treat
ing Of natural history; topics for dis
cussion in the home, as What is the
soil? What it's constituent parts p?
How do plants grow? How can we
grow larger crops of hay, cereals.
roots, etc? Let them have hotbeds
and cold frames. Let them study how
to rear and carr for domestic animals,
and so manage as to secure larger
profits from their labor, products or
flesh. Natural history study is now
only a mere incident of school life;
give 1t a prominent place in the farm
home. How pleasant to see Children
on good terms with all Gods crea-
lures! The heart softened letimes
will never afterward be su,lied by
cruelty. Germs of kindness, If early
planted, will grow and ripen, and the
Eiind will become imbns d with the
principle of respect for the life which
God has created. Give me the child
whose face brightens WI sympathy
toward all living things-whose eyes
sparkle with Joy at the many ways Of
Its dumb dependents, and fill with
tears when they die.
AS farmers ought we not to mark
with gratitude that all nature is
moulded, grouped and combined in
endless varieties of lovliness, so as
most fully to crafty that longing for
beauty with which man alone has been
endowed? After all our wants have
been satisAed-after we have been
clothed, housed and warmed-this
good gift has been added over and
above. as an aver blooming flower laid
upon u path through life, to be en-.
joyed apd acknowledged with edor!ng
thankfulness. II we have 90 enliylt-
ened ourselves that we have a taste
for intellectual pursuits, we etali not
be unhappy In the intervals of bust
8 or pleasure, or resort to low
companions OF amusements that de-
grade. Cicero says Of poetry and the
arts-and we may apply the words to
all intellectual studies: "They give
strength in youth and Joy in old age,
adorn prosperity and are the consola.
ton Of adversely: at home they are
delightful, and abroad they are easy;
at night they are company to us;
when in travel they attend US; in our
rural retirement they do not forsake
u.s." The farmer may, and perhaps
will. ask where Il the utility Of all
this? Practical utility is not to bv
overlooked; but II mankind had never