The Green Forest tribune., 1908-08-21
How | Saved My sovs.


 little ones. six boys and two girls.
 Being far from the land of my birth and what kindred l had, decided to return 10 my old home. thriving city Of South Carolina. My husband own- ed some town property at this place, and fortunately had a house untenant- cd at the time. So. after settling my affairs, l moved Thy family there.
 Only those who have experienced it know what sad thing it is for the widowed mother and gTieving wife, who has to gather her little brood around, her and make new nest. A new nest. q new home, alas! where there is no father to love. guide alright and protect from all harm. I resolved with God $ help to raise my little ones 10 be a credit to that dear father who had gone on before
 With heavy heart ! tried 10 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-ol boy, reared in town, where We could not have a garden How can you farm, son., l asked, with nc experience and no one to teach you? To please him I 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 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 a small way fired his ambition, so boguht small farm seven miles from town.
 That year proved a bad cTop year, still he made expenses and cleared little money. In the meantime l 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. l soon realized that unless some decisive step was taken my boys were in fair way 10 be ruined But what to do I could not decide. One day, while at the farm, kept thinking, What can I dc 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 I decided 10 sell my home in town and build me a 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 l kept to my deter imitation.
 Today I have rice home of nine rooms, ten foot verandas with colonial columns. It is funished and as com fortable as any city home My child ren have new piano, graphophone etc.
 I am not making barrels of money but am doing fairly well with the farm. l am running a three-horse farm this year and am independent of labor as I have four boys large enough to work.
 l have fine vegetable garden and an acre in sweet potatoes. l 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, fiocks of geese and ducks, turkeys, etc. like the country. Country life l 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. 1 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 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 1 do myself.
 So may say that home in the coun- try has proved success in every sense of the word. I am thankful for the sweet privilege of making a country home.
 Tho United States has 15,000 new farmers,' who have graduated from agricultural colleges. The first Amer ican experiment station was opened in 1875 by Prof. w. O. Atwater Since then fifty other stations have been established and the United States gov ernment spends $11,000,000 annually on it's agricultural department
 Why wouldn't movement to utilize some of the many acres of corn stalks that go to waste every year for pa per pulp, instead of devastating the forests, be in line with the movement for the conservation of our natural re- sources? Without doubt, in years to come we will see every pound of plant tissue not made use of for feed