Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1916-11-08
THE RACE OF LIFE.
A Talk With the Bows,
Progressive Farmer }

| tOne OF Americas s most eminent
| educators is DR.. G. w. Dabney, pres
ident OF the University Of Cincinnati,
Cincinnati. Ohio. The "Talk with the
Boys this week is by this eminent
cducator.)
Work and EncthuSiaSm.
TO the Boys on Southern Farms:
thank the editor of The Progress
sive Farmer for the opportunity he
gives me to say word to his ESQ.,
600 southern boys.
Having started life on a Door 300
acre farm in Southside, Virginia, and
experienced all the trials Of the ter
riDle period following the Civil War,
] am in hearty sympathy with the
boy on the Southern farm. In the
first place, | congratulate him upon
the vastly improved opportunities for
education in agriculture and for sue
ccSS on the Southern farm to-day as
compared with what they were in my
boNhOOd. or even in the eighties,
wien from the agricultural expert
mcnt station in Raleigh | tried to
help Southern farmers and their sons
to understand their work Il little bet
ter
My first word to the boys. then.
would be. study to understand what
you AFRO doing. Learn the meaning OF
alt the processes OF the farm, and
then master some particular phase
or agriculture, horticulture. or the
animal industry. When President
Cleveland asked Edward Atkinson.
the great economist Of Boston, to
recommend to him an official to take
charge OF one Of the scientific bu-
rcauS OF the Department Of Agricul-
turc. Mr.. Atkinson named Il man and
added as his single recommendation,
lie kncwS cowpGas." Mr.. Cleveland
laughed and asked Mr.. Atkinson
what he meant, which gave him the
opportunity to explain to the Presi-
dent that that the Improvement Of
Southern sells. and to a certain eX-
tent The food supply and crop pro-
duction, depended upon tho culture
and uses OF the cowpea. ."The Cow
pea Man. was appointed. Make some
one subject in agriculture your spe-
cialty and master it. BE a "cowpea
farmer.' or have some definite plan
OF work.
In the second place. having learn
eel in this way to study your work
and to take an intellectual interest in
1T, do not dawdle over any task, but
drive II with enthusiasm. 1t will take
Il lot or hard work to put what YOU
have learned into effect. If you sue
cccd. YOU must not shrlt the tedious,
detailed work. 1t is the blowing and
the hard manual work that test the
man. When ! was boy on the farm,
We did not know much about the
composition Of things, and it was the
custom to grow turnips as food for
stock. My father gave me a paper
on tnrnips to read, and ! became
much interested in them. The turnip
seemed wonderful plant for produc-
ing rapidly great mass of food, and
we did not learn until later how lit
tie nourishment there is in It, So my
father and planted a big patch Of
turnips, and the 13-year-old boy was
sent to hoe them out. Wedding tur-
nips, however, was not quite so fine
as reading about them. One hot day,
growing very weary singing the hoe,
| lay down under the shade of an in
viting tree and went to sleep. The
result was that got the last whip
ping 1T was ever necessary to give me.
Study your work in order to make
1t interesting. and then labor at it
diligently in order to make 1t success
full. Yours for education and success,
Charles VIM. Dabney.