New Iberia enterprise and independent observer. (New Iberia, La.) 1902-1944, 1911-01-21
KEEPING BOYS FROM THE
CITY.

years OF my He l nave spent on
tthe fam and will give my ideas
upon the subject.
Boys are not made with dispo-
sltlons alike; if they were 1t would
not be hard to tell what they need
10 keep Them IN the rural dis
trietS
One boy may be satisfied with
his environment and like his
tasks; another may despise his
surroundings and hate his work ;
SO. before preaching for the boy
to stay on the farm We should find
out what work h1 likes best
If he is not eut ont for far
mer he may be a born builder of
skyscrapers and | think he ought
to go cityward, and go while
young Boys are born for farms
and born for towns.
If you do not know what you
are made for, you can find out by
doing the tasks Your heart tells
you your love, II You like the
least thing about 'ohe farm |
would say stay. But better be a
successful. aontented bootblack
than lazy, uninterested, disap-
pointed tiller of the soil
Many farm boys who are am
bilious for money and fame labor
under delusion that these things
cannot be obtained on the farm.
They need to hear of David
Rankin Of Tarkio, Mo-, who died
only a short time ago. Mr. Ran
kin was the greatest farmer in the
world.
He commenced by buying an OK
team for IS and going in debt for
a plow. During recent years his
$4,000 acre corn field raised more
corn than that produced in nine
States Tie was Il great farmer,
And Burbank! The California
naturalist, who made the thorny
desert cactus fit for man and
beast to eat. and who produced
the well-known Burbank potato,
is a farmer who loved his plants
and improved them for humanity's
sake.
The capable men who own and
edit our farm magazines have
been successful farmers. There
is more room for success ON the
uncrowded farm than anywhere
else.
There are fewer men becoming
farmers who could not be any
thing and more men starting to
farm who would not be anything
else.
Another thing needed to keep
the boy contented is partnership.
Boys who are made to slave for
their board, clothes and a little
spending money until they are
twenty-one are the ones who run
away in the night.
If they do not get a share OF
the proceeds realized from their
own labor at home they are going
to get it somewhere else.
Roy Robinson. our neighbor $
oldest boy. is going to the city.
Too bad, for he is a promising
lad, loves farming. and has not a
lazy bone an his body. It's the
fault of the family, his going
away. His father, a silent, ne
served man. though not intention
ally unkind. has never been a CON-
panion to his boys. He has never
seemed to understand that the
boys must have some change in
the monotony Of farm work and
hunger for a bit Of fun and n
glimpse of people and things in
town. Work, work, work, all the
time. except for a few brief
months during school time in win
ter, No money to be earned by
themselves for themselves, but
every cent given grudingly by the
father. Then the mother, having
no girls, seems to shut herself up
and out from the love of her boys,
and | know that family is any
thing but a happy one. Just be-
cause they do not seem to know
how to be happy. No wonder the
boys get sick and tired of farm
drudgery and pull out for the
city. l know that the main rea-
son why the Robinson boys and
many of our boys are lost to the
farm lies in the heads of the fam
lily. It's an ugly truth, but it is
the truth.
Boys also need liberty. amuse-