The Monticellonian., 1908-08-20
Kew I Saved NY BOYS.

want 10 tell AcG OF M home and
why moved from town to the country
Some years ago my husband. a rail
road man. died In a neighboring
State. was left a widow with eight
little ones. six boys and two girls.
Being far from the land OF my birth
and Wha; kindred | had. decided to
return 10 my cid home. thriving city
Of South Carolina Ny husband own
ed some town i aerty al 5his place.
and fortunately j house untenant-
ed at the time So. after settling my
affairs, | moved Iay family there
Only those no have experienced IL
know what n sad Thing il is for the
widowed mother and grieying wife,
who has to gather her little brood
around her and make a new nest. A
new nest new home. alas, where
there Is no father 10 love. guide Alright
and protect from all harm. | resolved
with Gods help 10 raise my little ones
10 be a credit TO that dear father who
had gone on before.
With a heavy heart l tried to be
cheerful and make home pleasant 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
ed that he, TOO. would 60 to work OF
all things he wanted to farm. Just
think OF it, a seventeen=yearo 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
| rented a few acres near town, which
he planted in corn and peas Our
home plot he put in cotton. potatoes
and vegetables ! will not go into de-
tails, but with the aid of good farm
journal he made his first crop-a fair
crop of corn. fine pea hay, a bale of
cotton, fifty bushels of potatoes and
plenty of vegetables. This success in
a small way fired his ambition. so
boguht a small farm seven miles from
town.
That year proved bad crop year.
still he made expenses and cleared
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 | could induce my
boys to stay home the neighbor boys.
good and bad dropped in. ! soon
realized that unless some decisive
step was taken my boys were In fair
way TO be ruined But what to do
could not decide. One day. while at
the farm, kept thinking. What can
| do TO save my boys?"
As | 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 | decided
to sell my home in town and build
me a nice home on the farm. My
friends protested, You will be ruin
ed, You cant farm, You won't like
courage me, but | kept to my deter
mination.
Today | have a nice home Of nine
rooms. ten foot verandas with colonial
columns 1t is furnished and as com
Portable as any city home. My child
rem have new piano, graphophone etc.
| am not making barrels of money
but am doing fairly well with the farm.
| am running a three-horse farm this
year and am independent of labor as
| have four boys large enough to work
| have a fine vegetable garden and
an acre in sweet potatoes. | have
seven fine hogs and a pair of register
ed Berkshires to raise from, and as
fine mule colt as there is in the
country | make plenty of milk and
butter and have an occasional beef to
sell Have lots of nice chickens, flocks
of geese and ducks, turkeys, etc.
like the country. Country life | think
the finest in the world. But better
than all, | 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. am never wor-
ried about them, nor wonder what they
are doing When night comes every
little sleepy head is ready for bed.
II is such a comfort to have them all
to myself, as it were. We have a fine
school near us and this fall 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 | am thankful for the
sweet privilege of making a country
home. e.
Yhes United States has $1,000 new
farmers who have graduated from
agricultural colleges. The first Amer
lean Experiment station was opened
in 1875 by Prof. w o. Atwater. Since
then fifty other stations have been
established and the United States gov
eminent spends s11,000.0O0 annually
on its agricultural department.