CHAPTER XI 

 HOW MUCH WORK FOR THE COUNTRY BOY 



OVER-WORK, poor pay, and little recreation are the 

 agencies which annually drive thousands of good, 

 promising youths from the rural districts into the 

 cities, where their splendid native abilities for serving 

 the world and society are most likely to become 

 subordinated. All too often it is a case of a young 

 man leaving the home place, surrounded by op- 

 portunities which he has not been allowed to avail 

 himself of, and going into a place where he will take 

 up the monotonous round of merely "holding a job." 

 In the former position, under intelligent care and 

 direction, he might have grown into a strong, self- 

 reliant man, full of resources, endued with good 

 purposes ; and at last have taken rank among those 

 who are lifting the race to higher things. In the 

 position obtained in the city he is almost certain to 

 find his surroundings badly cramped, his spontaneity 

 largely restricted, and his power of initiative without 

 a motive for its indulgence. In short, his city 

 position will press him continually and insistently to 

 the end that he reduce himself to a mere machine, 

 or a mere cog in a great machine. 



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