The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1911-10-07
ROAD TO SUCCESS In LIFE
Late Or. S. A. Knapp Tells His Way
Of Bringing Up Boys and Girls
His Ideal of Education.

Extracts from an extempore address
delivered by the late DR.. S. A. Knapp
to the agents of the Farmers Co.
operative Demonstration Work at
Macon, Ga:
believe in making a boy a manly
boy. I believe in his attending the
public schools, because one of the
great things for man is to know how
to struggle with men and stand up for
his own opinions and carry his own
points. In other words, life is battle
and the man who hasn't met his
equals and overcome them when he
was boy is Weakling all his life.
/ have seen namby-pamby boys tied
to their mothers apron strings and
taught Latin and Greek, sent out into
the world. Poor little puny things!
Why, would rather take street boy
that can knock his way through the
crowd; would rather risk him in the
battle of life than that namby PANTY
boy. We don't let our boys and girls
learn how to manage. Let the boy
do, even if he makes mistakes. There
Is great need of farm managers today,
but men have not been trained to
manage the business side of a farm.
There is need Of captains Of industry
In every community. You can't make
them through books. Power of the
brain depends on the hardness of the
muscle. Softening Of the brain is the
result Of softening of the muscles.
Teach the boys how to regulate their
forces, how to meet shocks, and have
supreme courage to face the world
anywhere. Having learned to be
farmer, he should know machinery.
The costltest animal IN the world is a
man OF woman. They cost in treasure,
cost in care, cost in human anxiety.
Yet we shorten human life by neglect.
The average age or span OF life and
a possible one are wide apart. My
ideal of education is that of practical
sense, leadership. Get that sense into
boy and he will take up farming,
and If he knows a few fundamental
principles he will apply the rest,
Teach him the importance Of know
Eng few thingc wen, of system and
thrift. Education really means a lead
ing out; we make it a stuffing in. Try
to teach the child to lay by his knowl-
edge on certain shelf IN the brain
ready for use. Not pne person In a
thousand has put his thought or facts
In a definite brain Eiche, SO that when
he wants that knowledge he can reach
out and take that knowledge and use
1t. Farmers must b. orderly. Farms
are simply an outR ard indication of
what Of brains the farmer has. There
is no such thing as poor land. 1t Is
q poor brain Of a thoughtless man on
top of the supposedly poor soil. No
matter how poor the land appears, it
can be made profitable If the farmer
knows how and has the will power to
carry 1t ont. Try this system of edu-
cation that makes men as well as
farmers.
Reverting to the colony that was
In such poor condition, the first les
son | gave them was to raise corn
and make molasses, because a negro
IL he has corn and molasses he can
live, and you must make him an inde-
pendent liver before you can make
him good citizen. So we taught
them to make molasses and grow corn.
It took with them and stuck. Like the
old lady that thanked the Lord for
everything. She tad . large family