104 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



ners and money in plenty, and the contrast makes their own 

 lives seem bare of beauty and full of drudgery and petty econ- 

 omies. 



To hear the city cousin talk of theatres and concerts and par- 

 ties, it seems to the country boy or girl that their lives are 

 narrow and hard and missing the pleasures of life. Most of 

 our girls are teaching school, many of them in other states, for 

 it is a fact that other states are always glad to get Maine 

 teachers. I wish I knew how many of our girls and boys go 

 annually to Massachusetts and New Jersey. 



I asked some one why the Maine teachers were in such 

 deuTand, when our training schools are behind many others, 

 and they said it was because the boys and girls had a good 

 foundation of health and character. In Massachusetts the train- 

 ing is so severe that in a large number of cases the students' 

 nerves are in such a shattered condition when they graduate that 

 they do not make nearly as good a teacher as one with better 

 health and less training. 



I do not wish in any degree to speak against teaching, for it 

 is one of the noblest callings, but from the standpoint of health 

 and earning a living, I believe any one of the callings I have 

 mentioned, flowers, small fruits, poultry and preserves, offer a 

 healthier, more congenial and as good paying a business as 

 many others. 



Most young people as soon as they are out of school wish to 

 enter right into some kind of business already established, with 

 the steady pay of so many dollars per week, and just so many 

 hours per day. They do not have courage or experience to 

 start out for themselves, especially if it requires a little capital. 

 And after they once get to work in some store or mill, it is 

 harder still to go back to the country and try new paths. And 

 so they work on and on, spending every dollar as fast as earned 

 — sometimes faster, and growing older each year, until by and 

 by their nerves or health give way, and then they begin to ask, 

 "What can I do to earn a living and get out into the country?" 

 There are thousands of such cases in every city — people 

 anxious to get back onto the farm, yet with no money saved 

 and health breaking down. Here is an example. A young 

 man from New York City came to us early last spring, with 

 shattered nerves, from too close work in an offtce. He did not 



