Education of the Farmwi. 451 



done to employ profitably the time of these restless minds ? I 

 solved it in this way: I sent for a dozen copies of Nordhoff's 

 Letters to Young Americans and once a day those big boys and I 

 talked over some of the problems relating to political economy 

 and citizenship, crudely to be sure, but without doubt profitably. 



There was in the same school a class of very bright young 

 ladies — objects of special regard on the part of the young col- 

 lege graduate, you cannot doubt. This class gave its chief atten- 

 tion to the .^Eneid, algebra, geometry, and rhetoric, and there was 

 keen enjoyment for both teacher and pupils in the exercise of the 

 intellect which these students demanded. Unless I am misin- 

 formed, no member of this class subsequently pursued a course of 

 study at an academy or college. All the school training these 

 pupils received as a preparation for being wives, home-makers, and 

 mothers was that furnished in this high school, and what was true 

 in this instance is true of hundreds of others. We are all con- 

 vinced, I am sure, that if physiology sensibly taught, plant life, 

 the chemistry and function of foods, domestic bacteriology and 

 hygiene, the ethics of society and similar subjects had engaged 

 the attention of these young women, their intellectual develop- 

 ment and refinement of thought would have suffered no depriva- 

 tions and their understanding of the duties and responsibilities 

 of life would have been much broader. 



There is in the State of New York an academy located in the 

 midst of a rural people which is patronized almost wholly by 

 country boys and girls. Its endowment has been derived largely 

 from contributions made by farmers. Not long since, the prin- 

 cipal of this school called upon me with this question : " Is it 

 practicable to introduce into my school the study of science in its 

 relations to rural affairs ? " It at once occurred to me, here is an 

 opportunity for the State through some medium or other to make 

 an experiment to determine whether the subjects of modern 

 thought and utility may be made the subjects of modern educa- 

 tion. I wish that an object lesson of this kind might be pre- 

 sented not only to the people of New York but to you in New 

 Hampshire and I believe that your State university would find no 

 more profitable opportunity for extension teaching than to under- 

 take the guidance and to some extent the equipment of such an 

 educational effort in some one of the more promising high schools 

 or academies. Somewhere and somehow a beginning must be 

 made and one illustration of successful and popular instruction 

 along the lines which have been indicated would arouse sentiment 



