The Farm as a Place of Business. o51 



Don't carry the idea that the world is looking for the farmer- 

 boy to shower on him positions of trust and honor. You must 

 first prove yourself of the proper material before the world will 

 appreciate your efforts, and I know of no better place on earth 

 to prove the same than on the farm. Reverses and discourage- 

 ments are met with in all pursuits, and there is no place on 

 earth that offers more opportunity for overcoming the same than 

 does the farm. Interest yourself in the business of farming and 

 its drudgery becomes a pleasure. Compare your privileges, com- 

 forts and enjoyments with those of the clerk or mechanic. _ You 

 will find the balance in your favor. 



The same principles of manhood that enable a boy to resist the 

 temptations and allurements of city life will make him successful 

 as well on the farm as in the city. 



The day is not distant when the farms of New York State 

 will be managed by the business farmer, who will manage the 

 farm for its comforts, its privileges, its independence and what 

 there is in it. It lays altogether with you boys to choose whether 

 you will become one of those who make the farm a place of busi- 

 ness, thus earning an independence, or swell the crowd of dis- 

 contented workers of a city. 



Some few months ago I met a young man on the train, on his 

 way to Princeton, to finish his education. He had already taken 

 a two years' course when he met with financial reverses which 

 compelled him to go back for two years to his former vocation 

 of chopper in the Canadian forest to obtain the money to com- 

 plete his course. He did not feel degraded to acknowledge that 

 he was a woodchopper. I parted with him, after wishing him 

 success, with a feeling of admiration and feeling satisfied that 

 any man with his grit and perseverance is bound to succeed. 



If more of us farmers had the grit and pluck so manifested in 

 that young man, we would hear less complaints that " farming 

 don't pay." We would find few abandoned farms, the farm 

 mortgage would be a safe investment, and the farm would be- 

 come a profitable place of business. 



