How One Boy was Trained 175 



boy to work, but rather that of teaching him to 

 become master of his work in order that personal 

 pleasure may finally come from the performance 

 thereof. So, one must follow the boy most thought- 

 fully in the latter's initial steps toward satisfactory 

 industry. While it is sometimes advisable to take 

 him forcibly back to the place where he failed and 

 even to enforce obedience and effort with the rod, 

 it is most certainly the parent's duty to praise the 

 small lad for his first light tasks well performed, and 

 otherwise to show appreciation thereof. 



"It took me a year to get this boy down to busi- 

 ness,'* said the proud father of a fifteen-year-old 

 who had just won a second prize in a state- wide 

 corn-raising contest. "During the summer of his 

 sixth year I took him with me into the field on 

 occasions when he could do something light and learn 

 from it. But my chief plan was to train him in 

 garden work. I gave him a small plot to tend and 

 helped him lay it out and plant it. At first he showed 

 great interest, but I knew that it was of the playful 

 kind and that it would soon wane. Sure enough, 

 in a short time he was dodging and slighting his 

 garden work. Then, I began a more definite method. 

 At morning I would instruct him very carefully what 

 he must do for the day, and at each evening I required 

 him to compare results and instructions with me. 

 Punishment was necessary more than once, but 

 slowly he began to catch my point of view." 



