Year: 1878

bic book, '.Beinga Boy" just published


says: There are SO many bright spots in


the life of farm boy that l sometimes


think should like to live life over again


should almost be willing to be girl II il


were not for the chores. There is great


comfort to a boy in the amount of work


he can get rid Of doing. 1t is sometimes


astonishing how slow lie can 20 on an er


rand-he who leads the school in race
The world is new and interesting to him


and there is so much to take his attention


of when he is sent to do anything. Per


haps he couldn't explain, himself, why


when he is sent to the neighbors after


yeast, he stops to stone the frogs; he is


not exactly cruel, but he wants to sec if he


can hit 'em. No other living thing can GO


so slow as boy sent on an errand. His


legs seem to be lead, unless he happens to


espy a woOdchuck in an adjoining lot.


when he gives cl use like deer; and it is Il


curious fact about boys. that two will be a


great deal slower in doing anything than


one, and that the more you have to help


on Il piece of work the less is accomplish
ell. Boys have a great power of helping
each other to do nothing; and they are so


innocent about it, so unconscious. IL


went rs quick as ever l could.' says the


boy; his father asks him why he didn't
stay all night, when he had been absent
three hours on a ten-minute errand. The
sarcasm has no effect on the boy. Going
after the cows was a serious thing in my
day. had to climb hill that was cover
ed with wild strawberries in the season.
Could any boy pass by those ripe berries
And then, in the fragrant hill pasture there
were beds of wintergreen with red berries,
turfs of columbine. roots of sassafras to be
dug. and dozens of things good to eat or
smell, that l could not resist. 1t some
times even lay in my way to climb a tree
to look for crows nest, or to swing in
the top, or to try if could see the steeple
of the village church. 1t became very inn
pOrtant sometimes for me to see that
steeple. and in the midst of my own invest
igations the tin horn would blow a great
blast from the farmhouse. which would
send cold chill down my back in the hot
test days. l knew what it meant 1t had
Il fiightful impatient quaver in it, not at
all like the sweet note that called lis to din
ner from the field. 1t said. '.Why on earth
doesn't that boy come home; 1t is almost
dark, and the cows amt milked? And
that was the time the COWS. had to start in
to Il brisk pace and make up for lost time.
wonder If any boy ever drove the cows
home late who did not say that the cows
were at the farther end of the pasture, and
that ''Old Brindle" was hidden in the
woods and that lie couldn't find her for
ever so long! The brindle COW is the boys
many time.


No other boy knows how to appreciate
|. holiday as the farm boy does, and his
best ones are of peculiar kind. Going
fishing is, of course, one sort. The ex-
element ofrigging up the tackle, digging
the bait and the anticipation Of good luck
these are pure pleasures. enjoyed because
they are rare. Boys who can go fishing
my time care little for it. Tramping all
day through bush and brier, fighting flies
and mosquitoes and the branches that tan
gle the lines and snags that break the hook
and returning home late and hungry with
wet feet, and string of specified trout on
\ willow twig, having the family crowd
out ut the kitchen door to look at 'em and
say ''Prctty well done for you. buh; did
You catch that big one yourself?'- this is
also pure happiness, the like of which the
boy will never have again, not II he comes
70 be selectnlan and deacon and to keep
,tore.''