VALLEY ITORTirn/rrRAL SOCIETY. 807 



Discussion of tlu' (|uesti()n 



now SHALL WE KKEP OUR BOYS OX THE FARM? 



was opened bv H. A. Lane: 



The question: "How shall we prevent our l)oys from leaving 

 the farm?" is rather indetinitely stated, and \ do not kiu)w whether 

 it refers alone to the l)i<;; l)oys cu' whether the little fellows should be 

 iniluded; if the latter, the question n]i<i:ht l)e safely left to the 

 mothers. If information is desire 1 in irnanl to " Young America," 

 those who are neither children or yoiiiii^- men, large doses of patience 

 should l)e ])rescribed to be taken daily by the ])arents while they give 

 the boys allopathic doses of kindness, and. when necessary, whole- 

 some correction. If the inquiry be made concerning our sons who 

 l)y law are the owners of their own tinu\ and the arbiters of their 

 own destiny. 1 a])])rehend that as true ])arents we do not wish to 

 keep them at home unless we are contident we could do better for 

 them than they could do for themselves, jind while the departure of 

 our sons and daughters from the old farm and home, and the l)reaking 

 thereby of the ties which have bound the family, will cause many 

 an hour of sadness, many a tear to dim the eye, and perchance 1u-ing 

 to us a feeling of loneliness, and a sense of sorrow akin to those we 

 ex])erience when loved ones pay the great debt of nature, yet while 

 our hearts are ever lilled with atl'ection for our children, and while, 

 if possible, we would have them ever with us, yet as they go out 

 into the broad world to contend for their rights, to build u]) their 

 fortum^s. we should let them go - yes. snid fliciii forth with cheerful 

 words and choicest Ijlessings. Study and }>lan as w»^ may to keej) our 

 boys at home and to make farmers of them, we shall often fail, and 

 it is l)ut right that we should, as long as there are avocations and 

 callings in life nu)re congenial to their mitures and in more perfect 

 hai'iuouy with their ambitious aspirations. Hut fathers and mothers. 

 if you cannot keep your sons and daughters on the farm or at home 

 always, and if you would kee|) them there as long as ]»ossible. this is 

 my advice: make home homk - make it to your family the fairest, 

 hapjuest jdace oil earth. Make your children feel that for them and 

 their good there is no anxiety so great as yours, no a Jfection no strong 

 and enduring, no lore, that in its breadth ami in its depth or its 

 j)uritv. can excel a parents aifection and love of his otTs))ring. and 

 when separation does couw. they will carry out with them the mem- 

 ories and rer(dlections of the old honu^ that will i)e ever pi'eseut 

 jovs. rising up to (dieer them even in the darkest. loU(diest hours; nor 

 will they be forgotten even though the full fruition of youn^- am- 

 l)ition"s highest ho])es be more than realized, for they will Id- aide to 

 adopt the langmige of the ])oet even then, and sing '" home, sweet 

 home, there is no place like home."" And the ])leasant recollections 

 of a happy home will nut st(»p here, but like good [)recepts and good 



