652 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



experienced the loving devotion of a noble dog or other animals 

 capable of devotion and without having learned to (real them with 

 lovingkindness and intelligent care. Closely akin to these activities 

 for character building are (he planting and care of vegetables, 

 Bowers, bushes and I ices. Gardening is a most, if not the most, 

 ancient of occupations. II is also one of (he most vital. The ever 

 new and wonderful miracle of bursting seed and up-springing plu- 

 mage, is something which educators whether at home or at school 

 can by no means get along without. 



Another phase of home enrichment depends upon the atmosphere 

 and the ruling interest of the home. Where parents have the read- 

 ing habit; where the best books are read; where the talk of the table 

 is less about trivialities, and more about that which is permanently 

 worth while; where the right parts of the light kind of a daily paper 

 are discussed; where the children's interests of school and play- 

 ground are given due attention at the proper times; where these, 

 subjects and many more like them form the staples of home inter- 

 courses, there results a type of home culture and education which 

 nothing can replace. The heart and core of home life is mutual 

 respect and reverence and love and the basis of these is companion- 

 ship and service. 



The final aim of education is, as Raskin says: "Not to make a boy 

 know what he did not know before, but to make him behave as he 

 did not behave; and, again, education does not consist in making him 

 good but in making him good for something and to prepare him for 

 dealing with the problems of the future." 



THE EDUCATION OF FARMER BOYS. 



By DELROY MATTIIBWS, Drake's Mills. 



One of the most practical questions which is being discussed by 

 our greatest men at the present time, is the education of our 

 farmer boys. This idea of education seems to have originated of 

 late, as a few generations ago it was deemed unnecessary for 

 farmers to have an education, but experience is the best teacher 

 and experience has proven that it is just as necessary for a farmer 

 to have an education as it is for a lawyer. Now why is it? There 

 are several ways of discussing the 1 question. Rut taking it from a 

 normal standpoint, we find that an educated farmer is looked up 

 to as a leader in his community or township in both religious, polit- 

 ical and other affairs pertaining to the welfare of the people. 



How often we hear our people talking about the lack of education 

 of some of our young men, but the only satisfaction is that they 

 make farmers. But it is not only the point to make a farmer but 

 to make a good one better than any other one in his community. 

 Then again we hear that an educated person thinks it is a little too 

 much like work to farm, but let us all remember that getting an 



