864 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



THE AVERAGE BOY. 



MRS. W. J. BOURNE, BEFORE KOSSUTH COUNTY FARMERS INSTITUTE. 



"A mother once owned just a common place boy, 



A shock-headed boy, 



A freckle-faced boy, 

 But she thought he was handsome and said so with joy; 



For mothers are funny you know, 



Quite so — 

 About their sons' beauty, you know." 



From the amount of time, thought and talk, that parents, teachers, and 

 even preachers give to the bad boy. the unruly boy, and to the influence 

 of said boy, I sometimes wonder if he is the great element on which the 

 future of our country depends. And of "bad boy" when all is said, we 

 not only mean vicious, but uneasy and troublesome. Our bad boy is no 

 brighter than the rest of the family, or of the school, but we are so bent 

 on propitiating him that every performance leaning towards good is 

 amply rewarded. 



Friends, do you remember the story of the "Prodigal Son;" how he 

 was wept over and rewarded? Did you ever hear a preacher preach 

 on the "Prodigal Son"? Of course you have, a score of times. Did you 

 ever hear one preach on the "Average Boy" who stayed at home, fed 

 the hogs, and put up with the cranfo-ness of his father day in and day out 

 until the prodigal arrived home? In my mind I have no doubt he killed 

 and dressed the fatted calf, and maybe the old man borrowed money 05 

 him to buy the ring that was placed on the finger of the prodigal son. 

 No, I never heard but one sermon on the "Average Boy" who stayed at 

 home with pa. 



Now the kind of boy that this paper is supposed to be written for 

 is just an ordinary, good natured, whole souled boy. Noisy I hope a litte, 

 inclined to domineer, not as neat as auntie would like to see him, but 

 generous; kind to animals and little children, loves a dog, considers the 

 4th of July a much greater day than Christmas, excepting the toys. Looks 

 upon girls as a necessary evil, in the same category as teachers and stiff 

 collars. The biggest man in the country ne.xt to Pa is the engineer he 

 saw on the engine the day he went to see grandma. And if it wasn't for 

 Ma and old Towser and the baby and Sis, for when it comes to girls of 

 his own home, that spark of chivalry horn in all boys will peep out 

 just a little, he would run off and be an engineer. The home strings 

 around a boys heart are stronger than we think jometimes. 



Now, what are we to teach the average boy, that we cm fit him for the 

 great arena called Life? First, obedience, and filways obiedience. The 

 sum and substance of all education is obedience. \s the human race rises 

 in intelligence the ways of claiming obedience are changing. For the 



