210 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



menced glancing around for information, and in coming from Allegan this 

 evening with my friend, Dr. Way, I thought I could obtain a little light on 

 the subject from him ; but he said his knowledge had cost him both time and 

 money, and he would not impart any of it without proper remuneration. So 

 I failed there. One farmer I talked with said the best way was to put the boy 

 into a cast-iron box and lock him up ; another said chain him up. Now I 

 have never had very much experience in farming. In fact, the only real farm- 

 ing I ever did was done here in Otsego. I kept a garden and planted it to 

 potatoes and other garden truck. I also kept a Chester white pig, for which 

 I bought corn meal. The hair all came off from the pig. My neighbors said 

 I had fed it too much meal. But it finally became fat enough, so I thought I 

 would kill it. So I engaged a professional butcher, and after we had killed 

 and dressed him and cut him up he put the pig, all but his head, into a two- 

 gallon jar. I have had a little more farm experience, however, which I will 

 relate. I worked for an old gentleman once, on a farm, at $14 per month. 

 This old gentleman was a hard-working man, who never talked with his hired 

 help or boys about his work or his business. He sent his boy John and me to 

 a field to mow. That was when people used the ." armstrong" mowing 

 machine, and neither of us knew anything about it. The consequence was 

 that John, the first stroke or two he made, jammed the scythe into the ground 

 and broke it. The old man, instead of coming to the boy and showing him 

 how to use the tool, got very angry over the matter and was about to kick 

 John. Now this kind of treatment to boys I hold to be all wrong. Fathers 

 should take pains to instruct their boys. Every farmer who has boys should 

 have a workshop and a set of mechanic's tools. We boys had more than 

 ordinary liking for such tools. My father was a mechanic and had a 

 set of very fine tools. At one time, I remember, when I was a boy, 

 I got into his tool chest and was making sad havoc with his nice augurs and 

 saws, building windmills; but before I had finished my mill my father 

 came in. Well, he corrected me in the usual manner. A father should 

 accompany his boy as well to his play as at his work. The home and farm 

 should be made attractive and interesting to him. He should never be obliged 

 to go from home to receive the comfort and pleasure he longs for. The home 

 should be a pleasant place. It should be the place of the greatest enjoyment 

 to the boy. The best amusements should be furnished him. I am not much 

 of a dancer, and don't believe in dancing very much ; but if a boy must dance 

 the father should go with him. Boys should be taught that they are a part of 

 the family. I have staid at farmers' houses where the heads of the family, 

 the girls, and myself occupied the sitting-room or parlor, while the boys sat in 

 the kitchen. 



The best thoughts that go with us through life are those implanted by our 

 mothers and picked up around the family fireside. 



