TENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART X 631 



A gentleman was passing along the road and found a young man 

 about 14 years old hoeing potatoes in a field beside the road. The gentle- 

 man stopped, and, passing the time of day with the boy, said : "My young 

 man, that is a pretty good job you are doing there. How much do you 

 get for doing that work?" The boy looked up and answered: "Nothing 

 if I do, and the devil if I don't.' 



If I should pass your farm and find your boy hoeing potatoes and 

 would ask him the same question, would he have to answer me in the 

 same way? Fathers, get the confidence of your boys, give them a share 

 in your business, no matter how small; you are responsible for their 

 coming into the world, now play fair; give them an incentive to make 

 men of themselves that you will be proud of. No greater joy can come 

 to a father and mother after they have passed the age of activity than 

 to be able to point the finger of pride to their boy, whom the people 

 revere and honor as a successful and upright man. 



Mothers, you also have a duty to perform in this great drama of life; 

 it places on your shoulders the responsibility of your girls. They, too, 

 should have a share in the business of the household, and feel that there 

 is something farther ahead and higher up than the first young man that 

 comes along and wants to marry them. Marriage* is a noble thing and a 

 sacred contract, and the ultimate result of natural events, but not until 

 she attaines that age when she will make a good wife and mother. 



Mothers, make companions of your girls; then if they get a letter 

 from a young man they will not want to go and hide it before you see 

 it. I have a baby at home, she is only 18 years old, but you will find 

 letters lying all over our house addressed to her in the handwriting 

 of some young man, some of the letters a week old and some a year old. 

 She is not afraid to have her mother read those letters, nor her father 

 either, and when she answers them she takes the answer to her mother 

 to read. To have confidence in your girls give the girls confidence in, 

 you, and this is the mother's reward for days of toil and nights of 

 anxiety and worry. 



Fathers and mothers, make your children co-partners with you on the 

 farm. If it is a part of your system it will give them an incentive to 

 make an effort to be honorable men and women, and in this you will find 

 the pleasure and satisfaction of your declining years, and place upon your 

 rounded shoulders that golden wreath of joy which brings repose, happi- 

 ness and peace. 



Before closing I want to give you an extract from an address made by 

 J. Adam Beede, congressman from Minnesota. The subject is "The New 

 Woman." 



This poem w^as given while Mr. Beede was giving a lecture at a 

 convention in the western part of the state. A little girl, about three 

 years old, came running down the aisle and found her way onto the 

 platform, and as she reached the top of the steps Mr. Beede stopped, lifted 

 the little tot in his arms, and gave this poem: 



"the new woman." 

 She is only a little tot; three or four summers have touched her 

 lips with wisdom and left the sunshine in her clustering hair. Her spirits 



