The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1910-08-09
FARMER BOYS CULTURE
The Farmer Boy Should Study
Latin-A Timely Protest Against
the Crusade Upni~ Latin

10 the Editor: 1t seems to be the
fashion IN our State just now to ber-
ate Latin Is the corn crop a partial
failure? Latin is the cause Of it. Is
tha acreage Of cowpeas too small? 1t
is because Latin is taught in the High
Schools Are our horses too small and
too lean? It is due to Latin, which
should be displaced in the High
Schools by a course in agriculture
This is what we hear from the edu-
catiOnai reformers everywhere, IN the
Oress. III the meetings of the educa-
tjoDaI associations, in the teachers in
stitutes The pedagogical Philistines
gravely inform us that the farmer boy
should leave Latin for something prac-
tical; for they say, he Is Tot likely to
attenG college; hence, Cultural
studies are not for the likes of him.
Let the cobbIer keep to his last. 1t is
sufficient for the farmer boy If he
learns how to Increase the yield Of
corn. So importunate have these
''educationalst' become that they
have deceived Dve even of the elect
In the Educational Edition of The
News and Observer Professor Hob
good, also appears among the Philis-
tines. Yes, Prof Hobgood, who knows
his Horace by heart and
can clap VfrgiPs nexametres with
the best of them, and who Is one of
he first Latin scholars and teachers
HobgOod, f1e on you, What company
you are in! Come back 20 the help
Of the Lord against the mighty, and
tell us what practical value to the
farmer girl arc the music and art,
which are taught SO We'll in your
sch0Ol-for ] am convinced that like
Latin, they have q practical value,
though it may be difficult to reduce it
TO terms Of dollars and cents. or to
show its relation to the cook stove
and Wash-tub. In the meantime, /
am minded to break q lance with those
detractOrs Of Latin who would deny
it 10 the boy with the hoe.
l claim a right to speak for the
farmer boy. l am still q practical
farmer. And was I not born amid
the red hills of western Chatham ?
We're not the first sounds I heard the
cacking of hens and geese, the -whis-
lie Of the bob-white, the squeels Of
the pigs the bleatings of lambs, the
meoIng Of cows, the W'hickerings Of
horSeS and mules and the yelp OF
0ogs running the Chatham rabbit? AS
child was I not chased by Kissing
ganders and mad hens, whose bitties
mad bothered? Have not been
stung by bees, wasps. yellow
oumble-bees and hornets? Have I not
hoed and plowed, swung the scythe
ana cradle, bound wheat and oats,
picked cotton, pulled flax, picked peas,
pulled corn, gathered apples, raked
nay with a rake like Maud Mullers,
cut tops, pulled fodder, turned the
srlndstone, set potato slips? Don't
1no| all about corn shuckings? Have
! not worked the gizzard almost out
ol me trying to keep wheat to the
threshing machine? Have I not taken
up arms against a sea Of sassafras
sprouts, and by digging, ended them ?
nave l not worked with a hoe in the
sassy loW-ground corn on Saturday
1l'ernoon till the bones in my shoul-
oeF ached and my sleeves were wet
rom Wlplng the sweat off my face,
.Wnhe the neighbor boys were making
S'1e woods resound with the bang,
9ans' or their guns? Yea. I have
,e o1he all these things and a thousand
uIHeFS, L have also done my share OF
eiI1i other sort Of farming which
soIhes from reading agricultural pa
perS Following the plans contained
-. mem L have lain in the shade and
Pioouced the most luxuriant fields OF
.+S'' wheat. oats and corn, and
roCheo sr,.So barn-yard and pasture with
s%hs EARNS Of fowls, droves Of fat pigs
ep, cattle, and horses, and at the
~ ~ Oh my reverie, I have seen myself
- wher OF a farm as big as a coun
ohu as rich as a river bottom, for
osrlcuitural paper beats Aladdin
np all hollow and enables the aver
Ta. Iarmer boy to build air castles
o ,laI lar excel those built and kicked
by the BARRIERS Fifth Brother
nave mentioned all these matters