FOURTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART VIII. 613 



not resolution enough to oppose the views of those who undertake to 

 aissuade him from his choice, 



A little later the boy goes to college, and there he hears over and 

 over again the same arguments against adopting the calling of the 

 farmer, and too often, instead of becoming as he might an excedingly 

 good farmer, he is turned aside to become what I call a tired merchant 

 or perhaps a starving lawyer. How miserable must be the life of a man 

 who is imprisoned practically all day in his store, with longings again 

 and again, stronger and more frequent as the man grows in years, for 

 tlie old home. Such a man, if he ever gets rich enough, will go and buy 

 the old homestead and live there. But such men seldom succeed, be- 

 cause they are out of their proper places, I say shame on the man who 

 misrepresents the facts and turns aside from his proper pursuit the boy 

 vho has a natural inclination for becoming a successful farmer. 



EARLY PREPARATION FOR FARMING AS A CALLING. 



Now, how are you to treat a lad who has naturally an inclination for 

 the work on the farm? In the first place, I would advise you not to pro- 

 vide him with a single cent of spending money unless he earns it. I want 

 you to take in that idea, because it seems to me the prime thing neces- 

 sary is to give the boy a personal interest in what is going on upon the 

 farm. Train him for the life of the farmer when he is young; do not 

 w^ait until he is twenty-one years old, for then you will not be able to do 

 anything with him. Take him when he is quite young and let him under- 

 stand that there is opportunity on the farm for him to earn something. 

 This opportunity may come in various ways. For instance, on every 

 farm there ought to be a few well-bred chickens. Somebody has got to 

 pick up the eggs. Let the boy have that job, and let him have a per- 

 centage of the eggs as his own. In ways like this he can earn iponey for 

 himself, to be put aside as his own and make with it his own little pur- 

 chases. Or perhaps the cows are to be brought up regularly from the 

 neighboring field. Make a bargain with him that he will get so much 

 per day or week or month for attending to this. He will soon under- 

 stand that this is his duty and he will never miss it, whatever the 

 weather. Or it may be that somebody is required to go to the village 

 for the daily mail. Let the boy understand that that is his job. So there 

 are a hundred things you can think of that he can do. 



Or, what is still better than occupying his time with these odd jobs, 

 give him a plot of land as his own land (and most farmers have plenty 

 of land to spare). Let him understand that anything he may grow upon 

 this land shall belong to him, but do not give him this plot and say, 

 ^'There, take that; do as you like with it." The little fellow will wonder 

 probably what he ought to do with it. He will need somebody to 

 come along and help him by teaching him what he is to do. The first 

 time I ever went out with a team to run a plow I was given the worst 

 plow on the place. I was not used to working horses. I did riot know 

 how to go about the work. I could do nothing with that team. I w^as 

 almost broken-hearted. I sat down and cried like a baby. Afterwards 



