farmers' boys. 307 



2. G.Jlavipes, (Gmel.,) Bon., yellowslianks, tattler. Summer resident, fre- 

 quent ; insectivorous ; nearly related to the last. " Feeds on fishes, shrimps, 

 worms, and aquatic insects." (And.) 



113. Genus Rhyacophilus, (Kaup., 1829.) 



1. R. sohtarius, (Wils.,) 13on., solitary sandpiper. Summer resident ; in- 

 sectivorous. Feeds on caterpillars, water insects, spiders, &c., &c.: mostly 

 found about muddy ponds and ditches. 



114. Genus Tringoides, (Bon., 1831.) 



1. T. macularius, (Linn.,) gray-spotted sandpiper. Summer resident, 

 common ; insectivorous. Feeds on insects and worms, which it often seeks by 

 probing the marsh mud. 



115. Genus Actiturus, (Bon., 1831.) 



1. A. Bartramius, (Wils.,) Bon., Bartram's sandpiper. Summer resident, 

 frequent ; insectivorous. Feeds on coleopterous insects, crickets, grasshoppers, 

 and sometimes on the seeds of grasses. 



FARMERS' BOYS, 



BY MRS. L. B. ADAMS, DETROIT, MICHIGAN. 



No FACT is more evident among farming communities than that the boys 

 almost universally grow up with a distaste for farm pursuits. No sooner are 

 they of age than they turn to seek for more varied if not less laborious duties 

 in town and city life. Thus agriculture is yearly robbed of what should be 

 its strength and hope; the places these boys should have been qualified to fill, 

 and should have filled, with the gathered Avisdom of experience aided by the 

 light of progressive science, are left to doubtful experimenters ; while aged 

 parents, deserted at a time when filial care is most needed, can only look upon 

 their loneliness and say, " there must be something wrong somewhere." 



Yes ; in regard to farmers' boys, there has been " something wrong" a great 

 while. In the first place, many of them never should have been farmers' boys 

 at all, at least not farm boys, though they may happen to have been born upon 

 a farm. It is not every nature, even among boys, that is or can be accommo- 

 dated to the requirements of such an occupation, though parents are far too 

 prone to think that being boys a farm is the only proper place for them, and 

 the weapons best suited to them in the warfare of life the shovel and the hoe. 

 Their physical, mental, and intellectual peculiarities are seldom taken into con- 

 sideration. The strong, rough nature, the delicately organized, sensitive one, 

 and the one with a craving hunger for the intellectual or scientific,fare all kept 

 together on the farm that they may grow up and be taught to work, out of 

 temptation's way. The fixther invests them like so much capital, on which he 

 is to receive a per diem interest in the improvements of his farm, and works 

 them to the limit of endurance under sanction of a short-sighted interpretation 

 of that sophism of " securing the greatest good to the greatest number." The 

 necessities of the family, it is thought, justify the sacrifice of individuality. 



The usual expectation is, that when the pecuniary ends of the farmer are 

 accomplished, or the boys grown out of his hands, they will accept a portion 

 of so many acres each, and settle down to plod through the same routine with 

 the next generation. Much seeming wisdom and parental affection are thus 

 manifested ; but the wisdom too often proves unwise, and the affection only a 



