430 ANNtJAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



needle, and the boy's advantages will be improved and the girl's 

 salary will be more nearly commensurate with her work. Such en- 

 couragement would infuse new life into the public school system, 

 st.'curing better results than before, by making primary school teach- 

 ing a more self supporting profession. 



In the education of the boy, put yourself in his place occasionally. 

 See whether or not j'ou like the change. There may be a vast differ- 

 ence between being a real boy and being a boy from a man's stand- 

 point. This difference may also be in favor of the natural boy. 

 Dr. Brumbaugh tells us to "teach the boy along the lines of least re- 

 sistance." This is the only waj' to teach him successfully. 'Tis not ad- 

 visable to strike the boy at right angles. Nothing pleasant nor bene- 

 ficial results from such teaching. Better educate him along parallels 

 and thereby travel the way together. Gain the confidence of the 

 boy and he is at your service, lose it and in too many instances the 

 boy is lost. 



It is a lamentable fact, also, that many boys do not become better 

 prepared for profitable living, because of the unclassified school 

 affording no incentive for promotion. Striving to excel in the 

 class-room is highly commendable. The school should prepare a boy 

 to do more out of school than in it. 'Tis here that he meets life with 

 its grave exactions. The home should teach a boy the value of a 

 dollar, the school should help him increase the earning power. Not 

 that monev be made the standard of measurement, but that labor 

 is honorable, and the laborer worthy of his hire. 



The school should teach a boy to think, by giving him something to 

 think about. That line of thought should relate in part to his future 

 business. If destined to be a "son of the soil," assist him in the study 

 of nature. Help him in the cultivation of the observation. Teach 

 him to see the things in nature so closely allied with his chosen 

 labors. Help him acquire a better know^ledge of the science of agri- 

 culture, the higher and highest calling know to the catagory of 

 man's usefulness, because the basis of all other industries, and the 

 one receiving the approval of an All-Wise Creator, and on the "wav- 

 ing uplands of the future" will be seen the farmer standing four- 

 square to the world, like a block of marble, the acknowledged nobility 

 of the land. 



The boy of faith, hoi)e and charity, will then be the intelligent 

 farmer with abiding faith in his business, faith in the old farm, with 

 fertility available, humus abundant, and barns bursting with plenty; 

 faith in the development of an idea — the feeding of the world; with 

 the radiant sunshine of hope inspiring him with a love for agricul- 

 tural pursuits; charitable enough to leave the old farm home with 

 its hallowed recollections of the past, to mingle with that busy 

 throng of commercial activity, whose best blood and brain comes 

 from the rural home. 



