172 How Much Work for the Country Boy 



SEE THAT THE WORK IS FOB THE BOY'S SAKE 



One of the means whereby rural parents may assist 

 their boy to develop into that fullness of life which 

 the latter's native abilities and excellent environ- 

 ment guarantee him, is to provide a scientific relation 

 of the young life to the work which he may be re- 

 quired to perform. First of all, what is the proper 

 way in which to regard the boy's work ? Ordinarily, 

 the farmer is inclined to think of the work rather 

 than the worker, and to ask himself what he can 

 put the boy at in order to make his services most 

 profitable to the business. Now, no evil intention is 

 charged here, but this erroneous point of view is 

 almost certain to lead gradually to an abuse of the 

 boy. Why not put the question in this way : How 

 much work and what sort of work will be most 

 conducive to the boy's present development and to 

 his future welfare ? The radical difference between 

 the two positions may be readily seen. And while 

 the latter may be less profitable in form of material 

 and monetary gain, it will prove to be far more 

 serviceable in the production of sterling manhood. 



It is not an easy matter to determine offhand as 

 to the amount of work a boy of any given age should 

 perform. Conditions vary greatly. The safest mode 

 of procedure is to study the individual boy carefully. 

 Let the parent first acquaint himself with the gen- 

 eral principles of human development through the 



