Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1903-06-23
Farmers, Bows.

Farmers Boys.
We have great respect for the typical
farm boy reared by hard-working parents
and early accustomed to doing chores
and later to working upon the farm.
When to these experiences we add the
influence of Christian farm home, even
limited school privileges and attendance
upon divine worship on the Sabbath, rug
ged constitution, healthy body and good
mental capacity, we have about the most
interesting and promising piece of hu-
manity under proper management that
can be found in the homes of the people
engaged in any industrial pursuit. When
the attendance of these boys at the dis
trict school and academy, if they go so
far, is completed, there comes about the
most important question in their lives,
for it has bearing upon their entire life
work, in the matter of deciding what they
will do next. Right here is where the
turning point in their lives is met and
their future career determined.
We think there should be some very
good and conscientious advice given at
this time by parents and others interest
ed in the welfare of the boy. The quite
commonly expressed idea that a boy
should get a college education and then
determine what course he will pursue in
life and what preparation he will make
/ for it is not the best advice that might
be given. 1t is not good advice even for
those who have plenty of money to spend
for an education and is decidedly not
| good advice for a farmers boy.
The boy should decide or have de-
cided for him by interested parties
what vocation or profession he will un-
dertake and then prepare himself accord
ingly. If he decides to become farm
er, and he will make no mistake in doing
SO, he should attend the agricultural
college and take one of the several
courses open TO him. These vary in
length from few weeks to four years
and will afford advantages in proportion
to length. If he decides to become an
engineer, a skilled mechanic or artisan,
an architect or a leader in any of the
industrial pursuits, he should also attend
this college, for it is the exponent of in
dustrial education in the state. If it is
decided that he shall enter any of the
so-called professions which require class
ical training he should attend classical
college and obtain the liberal education
provided at such institutions, with the
special training in the profession select
ed to follow later.
We do not think the line separating
the educational work of the industrial
and classical colleges has been as clear
ly drawn as the conditions should war;
rant to enable the farmer boys or their
advisers to determine where the boy
shorld go for an education. If person
wishes topurchase groceries he applies
for groceries where they are kept for sale,
and if he wishes to purchase plow he
goes to store where plows are sold.
He does not buy something because it is
recommended and then make such use
of il as he is able. In the same way he
should obtain an education in the insti-
tuition in which the education he needs is
furnished. In this statement we make
reference TO the education obtained be-
yond the mere rudimentS that every boy
is expected to have.
We once heard of a professor in a class
steal college who undertook to prove
that what was called an academic
course offered the best form of educa-
ton for a boy who was to become farm
er as well as for the boy who was to be-
come a preacher or a lawyer. He said
the study of the languages and mathe-
maticS trained the mind and with this
training farmer is qualified to go out
and investigate any of the problems
which face him. To make his point
clear he said to illustrate: "rake
farmer who sharpens his axe or Scythe
on grindstoue-does he carry piece
of the grindstone away with him? In the
same way boy at college should sharp
en- his wits on the classics and on mathe-
matics and then use them to cut his way
in the world" An old farmer who
heard the speech made this reply: ut
is true that the farmer sharpens his
scythe on the grindstone, but he always
carries milestone in his pocket"
This is homely illustration of great
truth. There are no persons that need
special education more than the farmers,
and there are no sciences in which there
are more to be taught than in those re-
lating to agriculture. The necessity for
special education exists in all indus
trial pursuits among those who expect
to rise above the position of day labor
er. and the earlier in their educational
career as farmers or mechanics that !
this special education is taken up the
better will it be for those who are lifting
for these occupations, and when the idea
is more generally promulgated there Will
be more students in our industrial col
leges. 1t has been the tendency of class :
ical institutions to have all boys get
college education and then select their
occupation or profession, and our indus
trial colleges have not done much differ
emily, on account of false modesty as to
their standing as colleges. We advise !
the farmers boys to decide early in their
careers what occupation or profession
they will undertake and then go to the !
institution to prepare that provides the
education needed.-Mirror and Farmer.
To my mind, the man in this day who
is to be pitied is the New Englander
who loves rural life, and takes pleasure
in breeding domestic animals, and who
has money to grant him slight diver |
sion in this direction. He buys farm,
the old homestead, possibly, engages a
foreman, stocks up with improved AMI
mails, and starts out to see the develop
ment of his most cherished ambition.
The first thing he hears is that the ami /,
mails he has purchased are mo good
or at least are not so considered by the
high priced foreman who has been in the
habit of keeping other varieties, and can
see no virtue in an innovation. The
same trouble arises in regard to the
farming utensils that have been pur- |
chased, and after new stock and new I'M
plements have been procured to suit the
fancy of the farmer he notifies his en-
ployer that he has been offered better /,
| position in another state, and rs his
wife's folks came from that section, he
has decided to leave, and has already ac'
cepted the new position. There IS
nothing to do but procure new fore !
man, and the moment that he strikes the
farm he tells the proprietor that he does
not understand for his life how any fore
man could do anything with the equip
ment that he finds there. The stock Is
all run down and of inferior quality, and
! the tools out of date, and if he is to re-
remain he has got to have things as he
has been in the habit of having them.
The farmers wife also discovers that the
house is in terrible condition, both in-
side and out and must be repapered and
newly painted if she is going to occupy
it. She also discovers that it will not DC
at all agreeable to her to "board the
men,, and that they must be provided
with lodgings and fare outside the house.
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