The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1913-04-18

state, State normal school, and col
lege in succession on his own earn
ed capital He completed a technical
course in the last named institution
and at present fills a responsible pos
ition. One day asked him to what
he attributed his success chiefly, and
where he received most of his inspir-
alton. He readily answered, Some
one throughout my boyhood days
kept me interested in one thing at
least. 1 had one teacher who inter
ested me intensely in Physiology,
one who appealed to me through the
medium Of Literature and another
one who made me realize that
could surmount all difficulties in
Arithmetic. A big-hearted relative
had confidence in me and made me
believe that l could unravel all rea-
sonable difficulties if l only kept the
faith" Do you not attribute your
success to hard work mainly?
"Yes," he answered, "but inspiration
preceded hard work and was the
handspring of my efforts"
How much better it would be if
father and growing son were COM
panions on the farm, in the town,
and the father make an effort to
help interpret life for the boy in
terms of the formers profitable ex-
perience, instead of this abominabIe
pessimism that his lot is the worst on
earth!
Every kind of work is drudgery
just so long as the individual finds
no joy in it, whether it be preaching
the Gospel, teaching school or rails
ing corn.
When the preacher delights in
reading the light of salvation into the
souls of his hearers; when the teach
er finds joy in helping the child to
unfold his mind, to know himself
and to get larger vision of life;
when the farm boy sees the growing
corn, his own thought and effort
transformed into fourishing crops,
himself as a part and parcel of life
in general, and his share of contribu-
tion to the welfare of humanity
then and not until then will each one
in turn find poetry and harmony and
music in his work.
Contests among the boys are good
stimuli; contests among the boys
with a cooperation of wise parents
and thoughtful teachers are better.
The former must be enlisted to help
remove adverse conditions and fur
nish the wherewith-al; the latter, to
select information on the subject and
help the boy interpret the printed
page. Allow me to quote at this
point from DR.. VIM. A. McKeever of
Kansas, We must get agriculture
into the schools. But we must ap-
proach it from the standpoint of love
and labor. Love and labor will solve
all the problems before us. We are
beginning to teach that culture and
industry are one and the same.
Away yonder on Mount Olympus is
not the place where we must look for
inspiration. We must put poetry in
to the farm, the home, the mind. We
must put beauty and music into these
things. There is just as much poe
tic inspiration in the rustling corn,
in the well-kept, happy little home,
as in those things away off yonder
in history and in the clouds. The
great proposition before us is that
of interpreting the dirt and toll of
life into terms of divinity. If each
day brings joy, and a man dreams
of his task at night, his life is truly
great"
Young people are constantly drift
ing to town from various districts
of our country. In some sub-school
districts you can scarcely find any