312 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



of vrar that, with voices of thunder aud blades of keenest edge, decide the des- 

 tiuies of uatious. 



Yes ; tliese young boys arc rough, ungainly looking little animals to take in 

 hand for the purpot-e of making gentlemen of them. They are, in this early 

 etage, chiefly remarkable fur dirty faces, chapped hands, enormous appetites, 

 and a wonderful propensity of knees and toes to go through thick and thin ; for, 

 however thoughtless and improvident the boys may be, these members arc 

 pretty sure to be " looking out" for themselves. What a trouble to mothers, 

 and what sources of vexation and mortification to ambitious sisters ! Yet, in 

 these very boys, looking through their eager eyes, speaking out in their ill- 

 timed inquisitivencss, and manifesting itself in most extraordinary experiments, 

 is the germ of the future perfect man, the fire, the dawning consciousness of 

 power that needs but proper guidance to enable it to control the social and po- 

 litical world. Little baicfooted, ragged-kneed, freckled-faced, bright-eyed boys! 

 hardly more need be done Avith them at this stage than to feed them well and 

 let them grow ; only watching for, and tenderly encouraging the growth of all 

 that is good in their natures, and sowing with judicious care such seed of good 

 a3 nature may have been at fixult in supplying. 



A little further on in life, when the boy -man has outgrown the child, he wants 

 something more than air and sunshine and food ; yet wants these not the less, 

 especially the food ; the air and sunshine he will have by virtue of his sex and 

 his occupation ; the food must come by favor of others, and should be in quan- 

 tity and in nourishing qualities all that the vigorous growth of bone, muscle, 

 aud sinew requires. But now little evidences of pride in personal appearance 

 are manifest — toes, knees, and elbows less so. The hair, once seldom attended 

 to voluntarily, is now an object of care; the looking-glass is slily consulted, 

 and face and hands are scrubbed to smarting in the secret hojje of getting at the 

 bottom of freckles and tan. It is at this age that boys most want sympathy 

 and help from mothers and sisters, and, unfortunately, it is at this very time 

 that they are least likely to get either. It is just here that they are beginning 

 to be valuable as workers, and every moment out of the fields aud barnyards is 

 looked upon as so much lost time ; while the little attentions to personal ap- 

 pearance, if not broadly ridiculed, are made light of or discouraged till the 

 objects settle down in the sullen conviction that it is no matter how they look 

 or what they try to make of themselves. Mothers and sisters are too much 

 occupied in household afiairs, and, the latter especially, in little toilet artifices 

 for their own adornment, to think or care much about the tastes or wishes of 

 those overgrown, uncouth-looking boys, who never seem fit to be seen anywhere 

 but in the kitchen and back yard. 



It is not strange that boys thus shut away from the world, deprived of 

 womraily 6ymj)athy, and kept in kitchens aud back yai-ds, should grow discon- 

 tented with farm life, possess neither respect nor veneration for woman, and 

 tui'n out at length to be slovens and tyrants in houses of their own. 



A word or two now to fathers. Boys have a right to be considered as not 

 only members of the family in all its social relations, but as proprietors in part 

 of the farm they help to till, and the stock they help to raise. It would greatly 

 encourage habits of industry and foster a manly ambition in them if fathers 

 would treat them more as partners than as servants or mere underlings working 

 for their board. They should have a sheep, a calf, a lamb, a colt, or a pig, 

 which they might call their own, and the increase of which should in reality bo 

 theirs to be reared or disposed of for their benefit. Give the bny something to 

 begin with, anything of substance enough to establish a proprietorship in ; and 

 add to this a patch of ground with time and means for its cultivation, the pro- 

 duce and proceeds of which shall be the boy's own. These little attentions 

 aud concessions of right will work wonders towards developing a lad's manli- 

 ness, and attaching him to the occupation aud the homestead of his father. 



