Woodruff County news., 1908-10-01
How | Saved My Boys.

why moved from town to the country
 Some years ago my husband, rail-
 road man, died in a neighboring
 State. I was left widow with eight
 little ones, six boys and two girls.
 Being far from the land of my birth
 and what kindred I had, I decided to
 return to my old home, a thriving city
 of South Carolina. My husband own
 ed some town property at this place,
 and fortunately had house untenant-
 ed at the time. So, after settling my
 affairs, I moved my family there.
 Only those who have experienced it
 know what a sad thing it Is for the
 widowed mother and grieving wife, who has to gather her little brood
 around her and make new nest. A
 new nest, a new home, alas! where
 there is no father to love, guide alright
 and protect from all harm. resolved
 with Gods help to raise my little ones
 had gone on before.
 With heavy heart I tried to be
 cheerful and make home plesant for | my children. My eldest son went to
 work in an office, and the others, with the exception of my two youngest,
 were sent to a good school. A year or two passed and my second son decid- ed that he, too, would go to work. Of all things he wanted to farm. Just think of it, a seventeen-year-old boy,
 reared in town, where we could not have a garden. How can you farm, son." asked, with no experience and
 no one to teach you? To please him
 l rented few acres near town, which he planted in corn and peas. Our home plot he put in cotton, potatoes and vegetables. I will not go into de- tails, but with the aid of a good farm | journal he made his first crop-a fair | crop of corn, fine pea hay, bale of cotton, fifty bushels of potatoes and | plenty of vegetables. This success in | small way fired his ambition, so l boguht small farm seven miles from | town.
 That year proved bad crop year,
 still he made expenses and cleared a little money. In the meantime found that my little boys at home were | growing away from me. In spite of
 my efforts to prevent, they were get | ting in bad company and would go on | the streets. When I could induce my | boys to stay home the neighbor boys, good and bad, dropped in. soon | lot y,vo1A dAoiciu0 | step was taken my boys were in fair
 way to be ruined. But what to do I
 could not decide. One day, while at
 the farm, kept thinking, What can
 I do to save my boys?"
 AS I sat there my idle gaze wander ed over the quiet fields and green woods. All at once it flashed into my mind that here was the solution to my | problem. Then and there I decided to sell my home In town and build
 me nice home on the farm. My | friends protested, "You will be ruin- ed," You can't farm," You won't like the country" Every one tried to dis courage me, but I kept to my deter l imitation.
 Today I have a nice home of nine | rooms, ten foot verandas with colonial columns. It is furnished and as com fortable as any city home. My child ren have new piano, graphophone etc. am not making barrels of money, | but am doing fairly well with the farm. I am running a three-horse farm this year and am independent of labor as I have four boys large enough to work. I have a fine vegetable garden and an acre in sweet potatoes. I have seven fine hogs and a pair of register
 ed Berkshires to raise from, and as fine a mule colt as there is in the country. I make plenty of milk and butter and have an occasional beef to sell. Have lots of nice chickens, f1ocks of geese and ducks, turkeys, etc. l | like the country. Country life I think the finest in the world. But better than all, I find that my little boys are mine again. There is no mischief
 for them to get into. When there is no farm work to do, they go fishing or to
 that haven of delight for small boys, the wash hole" Some days they hunt
 berries and plums. I am never wor- ried about them, nor wonder what they are doing. When night comes every
 little sleepy head is ready for bed.
 It is such a comfort to have them all
 to myself, as it were. We have fine
 school near us and this fall I want to
 send my eldest daughter to college.
 The little boys have their friends from town occasionally. They enjoy this. They work cheerfully and seem to
 take as much interest in every thing
 as do myself.
 So may say that home in the coun- try has proved a success in every sense of the word. I am thankful for the
 sweet privilege of making a country home.
 The United States has 15,000 new farmers" who have graduated from
 agricultural colleges. The first Amer
 ican experiment station was opened