The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1906-07-07

OF national development along any
line. For many generations the term
farmer" has been spoken with thinly
yelled contempt. Why is it so? Simp-
ly because the. rural people have so
long forgotten the dignity of their
calling! because they have allowed to
pass unnoticed the great possibilities
for beauty and refinement of life
which their surroundings ever offer
them; because they have not lived up
to their opportunities. Therefore the
conditions of modern life have isolated
them socially and In consequence,
drawn the best of their prdducts-both
the finest and best of their family and
farm products to the city, leaving only
"culls" both human and vegetable.
These deplorable conditions have
come about simply because the farm
ing people have not realized the posi-
bilities of life In the country. l pre-
sumo 1t Is only the natural expression
OF human nature to view the disad-
vantages of immediate surroundings
and contract them with the bright side
of life seen in the distance. Yet, the
members of the farmers family too
often feel that in their life lies most
of the shadows, and in the lives of
the town people most of the sunshine.
This deplorable condition of mind can
be, and will be dispelled Just so soon
as the influences now actively at work
broadening the farm life, making it's
child-life more beautiful and appre-
ciative, have taken firm hold on the
present generation.
The right kind of education is all
io Va nHs
farm life, not against it. as we have
the younger generation ON the farm,
then through them, the world, that
farm life can be made attractive and
highly educative. The reason SO many
young men and women leave the farm.
is simply because they know only the
sOrdid side of their work. They need
to be taught more about the sciences
related to farm life, and how to apply
them to derive the greatest benefits
and profits. The greatest difficulties
which confront the American farming
people are not so much that their
homes are subject to unfavorable con-
ditions, as that the occupants fail to
see and appreciate the great POSSIBLE
A deeper ppreciation-conseq
a greater love for nature. must be in
culcated in the minds of the children.
The people must be awakened to an
appreciation of the importance and
far-reaching benefits to be- derived
from the present nature study" move
ment In the rural schools. When the
children have been brought into close
communion with nature in their early
youth they come to love and appreciate
all her beauties, feel the sweet, indis-
cribable sense of peace which she ever
gives to her lovers, and grow SO at
tached to the soil that they could not
be induced to leave the farm.
The creator intended man to live in
the open air, and close communion
with nature has ever proved the best
condition to develope all the highest
spiritual and mental capacities of man.
All the most noted artists, sculptors,
poets and writer's loved and lived
close to the soil, drawing their inspira-
ton from their knowledge of. and close
communion with Mother Nature.
Modern art and literature are ad-
mitedly weak. And why? Simply be-
cause modern life is SO far divorced
from the soil, and the world is looking
to the awakening of the farmer for
their regeneration.
Although they seem to have forgot
ten 1t, the farmer, the cultivator OF
the soil, the man who is really the
connecting link by which humanity
clings to its first parent, is not only
the foundation stone of all economic
and political life, but he is also the
great hope Of the race that future gen
erations will return to soulful knowl-
edge and love of nature.