Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1908-08-01
Starting In Life.

We have a warm place iG our heart
for the sincere farm hoy. If, when
farm boy attalns his majority. he
could follow the advice he has been
handed from fond papa, mamma and
grandpa. and editors. teachers and
preachers there would be such an
abundance Of material eventually for
college presidents, statesmen and
fnanciers that we would scarcely have
any one to run the farms of the coun-
try. But all advice is more or less
ideal thus much of it is wasted
4 good many complaints come to
our ears these days from farm boys
about the difficulty of getting start
in life It is to a certainty the big
problem. yet we do not Believe it is
so serious a one. after all, with the
really earnest boy The first thous-
and dollars which young man ac-
cumulates is, as frequently said
much more of an arduous and
sacriiclal undertaking than the sec
ond thousand But it is how TO get
the first thousand which onfronts
most parplexingly the hoy who looks
into the future from the twenty first
milestone, and advice to this end is
useless Is it conc6als the truth; if it
seeks 10 make rough road seem
shorter than it really is. in order to
make the start easy. It is absolute
| 1y necessary TO know the distance one
has to run in a race in order to do
his best SO it is IN aIFing out to
earn the first thousand; toe young had
better know the road-know that there
is no way under the sun to cover it
except by getting right out and
selling bis mental and muscular power
for SO much per. unless he has some
tboughtless parent to give him that
much outright.
The job of getting a start is not
half as heart breaking proposition
as lot of boys would make out. OF
course it depends a good deal on the
fiber of the functionary which is liable
to break. nevertheless, we think if
the data were called for, there could
be found plenty of boys and men on
farms who accumulated their first
Thousand in three years. We know it
is possible, both from observation and
from experience as a farm boy. The
able bodied boy VINO can not earn
from $25 to $50 month the year
around in various ways on and off the
farm lacks. the spirit of present-day
business push. Enough of this
amount can be saved and invested in
/ three years to approximate pretty
closely the first ! amber of our figures.
To do this naturally requires some
sacrifice and restraint in spending,
but not enough to make life a
drudgery, for the accomplishment of
big purpose ought to be swenter
satisfaction by far than that which
comes from few costly, but trivial
indulgences which hinder so many
boys from advancing their station In
lite.
With the desired sum at hand, by
iudicious buying and borrowing of
both funds and machinery the where
withal to run a rented farm can De
accumulated quite completely. By
good management and proper atten-
tion to live stock it should not be a
difficult matter to produce some
graft flying dividends And by the
time half dozen years have elapsed
our renter should feel himself fairly
independent and at the same time be
getting more health and satisfaction
out of life and enjoying fully as
large an income as the average city
man of equal years. Wisconsin
Farmer.