756 



Rural School Leaflet 



LETTER TO BOYS AND GIRLS 



Dear Boys and Girls: 



OW many of you, as the days are growing longer 

 and longer, are beginning to watch for those signs 

 of spring that tell us Nature is waking from 

 the long winter's sleep? A warm day now and 

 then, a gentle spring rain, pussy willows, 

 the snowdrops, grass turning green, the first 

 robin, that sweei, clean smell of new- turned 

 earth. In yourselves, too, something is swelling 

 and growing, a happiness to be alive and a 

 desire to be up and doing. It is the time of 

 preparation, the planning time. Everything 

 depends on a right start and so it is good to 

 make plans. 



I wonder what each one is planning. Won't 

 you write and tell me? Many boys and girls have already written. 

 The postman has been bringing big mails lately. He asked me the 

 other day how I came to have so many letters. 



" They come from boys and girls all over New York State," I said, 

 " I wish you might read some of them. They tell of interesting things." 

 " What things? " he asked. 



Then I told him how some of you had celebrated Corn Day in your 

 schools, with exercises and a com show; and how the best corn was coming 

 here for our Farmer's Week exhibition, February 19-24, where he might 

 see it if he had time to stop. 



" Did the children raise the com they brought to school? " said the 

 postman. 



" Not very many of them this year," I answered, " but I know that 

 next year much of the com will be raised by the children themseh'cs. A 

 large number have already selected their seed and are planning to test 

 it to see whether it sprouts well. Then they will get a small piece of 

 ground and prepare it carefully, so that the soil will be smooth, mellow, 

 and free from stones, weeds, or rubbish. They will next plant the com 

 and will take care of it faithfully all summer long. When harvest time 

 comes they will cut and husk the corn and, selecting the finest ears, will 

 keep them in a safe place until Corn Day next January." 



" But not every child will like to grow corn," remarked the postman, 

 as he prepared to leave. 



" Of course not," said I, " there are lots of other things for them to do. 

 For instance, a great many boys and girls are interested in poultry. I 



