Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1910-03-30
WHY BOYs RUIZ AWAY.

mOnOtOny and drUdgerY or farm WORK.
lit is true that the farm does offer a
lot Of monotony and hard work, as
rule but so does any other honest and
legitimate occupation We are not
at all inclined to agree with the fol-
lowing ideas. set forth by a writer
in Detroit, (Mieh.) paper. although
it gives some fellows remembrance Of
a farm ne didn't cling to or his idea
of a sort of farm life he fed from
"Why do boys run away from the
farm Secretary of Agriculture Will
son has ideas about it. Nearly every
body has ideas about it. We haYe
heard, too, nearly everybodY's ideas
about II, save the ideas or the boys
who have run or who plan running
away from the farm. Gentle reader,
have you ever lived on the farm or
visited the farm long enough to get
into the swing of the riotous. reck-
less life of it2 Have you ever arisen
long before daylight on a crisp winter
morning to the polar cold to partake
OF a breakfast of last supper's remnants
and apple pie, to milk % cows and be
biffed in the face by as many tails of
adamantine firmness. to sUrt disin
tegraing apples, get the milk off to
town, clean harness, thaw out the
pump, have the horses shod, white
wash the hen house and perform few
other perfunctory, health bringing
tasks before dawn Then. when the
afternoon has duplicated the morning
whirl you may take off your boots,
assemble about the stove in the even
ing. enjoy an intellectual debauch of
"Comical Quips''-two months old
and trudge off to bed at o'clock in
order to be strengthened and hearten
ed for another day of precisely similar
delights Have you ever done that
gentle reader, to the development of
your biceps and your consuming
curiosity to know what it is all about,
anyway To one familiar with the
luxuries and relaxations of the farm,
the answer is absudly simple: Boys
run away from the farm, in all
probability, because they can't fly. F"
There are farms where boys have all
needed advantages and inducements
to stay and make farming their
calling one Of the most independent,
care-free and of late years among the
most profitable of occUpat;ons-and
there are other farms where the OPP
posite is the case. The kind. wise
and thoughtful farmer sees to it that
his boys are given encouragement and
proper training TO place them above
the hum-drum and monotony that
others have to stand for One wise
old farmer says: My oldest boy had
a good horae before he was ten years
old, and when he was sixteen he had
a pair Of mares and the finest pair of
colts in the vicinity. besides owning
a town lot with building on it. He
had also learned to be such a good
judge of stock that he later became
foreman, buyer and seller of blooded
cattle horses and hogs and started a
ranch Of his own. My second son had
$3.50 when he was 81 years old and
has since put another years savings
with it and is now looking over the
northwest for a profitable investment.
My youngest boy is now Is yeras old
he is better Judge of horses, cattle
and hogs than many men, and l would
trust him with handling my mares
and young colts. and, COWS and young
calves than would some veterinarians.
He made pork year ago for So. 80 per
hundred pounds and this winter his
pigs gained during the stormiest
weather in January and February
over a pound apiece per day.
''This boy knows he has a good
farm home and good stock from now
on and that he will have the farm or
a larger one when his father and
mother are through with it, if he runs
it right and does right by us while
we live. ="
Such a farmers sons are not going
to run away to the city. Thousands
of men in the city today, who were
reared upon a farm. can testify that
they have worked as hard in the city
as they ever did upon the farm, and
instead of the independence and
serenity and open-hearted kindness
and good fellowship they left behind
them in the country, their progress in
the city had to be stubbornly fought
for against jealous fellow workmen
who begrudged their every advance
ment. and that while the city has
some advantages to offer in the way
of pleasures and excitement, and at
times good opportunities for advance
ment in business sense, it also has
many disadvantages in the way Of
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