THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



a little toward the expense of his keep. 

 If he can't work he is just as welcome. 

 Cleanliness, industry, thrift are taught, 

 not so much by precept as by practice. 

 They are inspired with a love of everything 

 that is good and noble, with the love of 

 God and their fellow beings; their highest 

 aspirations are awakened and ^they are 

 taught to "Be good and do good.'' Mor- 

 ally, mentally and physically the boys 

 are built up until they become noble spec- 

 imens of manhood strong limbed, broad 

 minded, big hearted, intelligent, worthy 

 of themselves and of their Creator. 



A review of the history of Brightside, 

 its objects and its methods, including 

 what it has accomplished and is expected 

 to accomplish will appear in a future 

 number of THE AGE. It is a western in- 

 stitution. 



Postal The establishment of postal 



Banks S savings banks is an idea that 

 appeals to the intelligent farmer and the 

 farmers are the ones who will probably be 

 most greatly benefitted thereby. With a 

 natural suspicion of all city institutions 

 and banks in particular, the farmer hides 

 away the money received from the sale of 

 his crops, thus not only inviting robbery, 

 but needlessly sacrificingtheinterest which 

 his money would earn and also withdraw- 

 ing from circulation a vast amount of mon- 

 ey in the aggregate, which if turned into 

 channels of commerce could not but tend 

 to sustain and probably raise the price of 

 natural and manufactured products and in 

 that case who would benefit so largely 

 thereby as the farmer. There are and can 

 be no valid objections to the establishment 

 of postal savings banks by the national 

 government provided the handling and in- 

 vestment of the funds is surrounded by all 

 possible precautions against loss and de- 

 preciation and misuse. 

 The The almost unprecedented 



BrokS* drought in the middle West- 

 ern states which was broken about the 

 middle of October by slight showers in 

 some places and copious rains in others, 

 is another effective argument in favor of 



irrigation. Only those who have been 

 through the country and witnessed some 

 of the effects of the protracted dry .spell 

 can understand what a great drought this 

 has been and how seriously it has injured 

 agricultural interests. Late crops of corn 

 were burned up in parts of Kansas and 

 Nebraska, but the threatened damage to- 

 fall seeding was a much greater cause of 

 worry. How many annoyances and griev- 

 ances, large and small, can be inflicted 

 upon the hard-working farmer, only the 

 farmer knows. If his pastures are scorched 

 he must find means of feeding his cattle 

 in other ways. If his wells dry up he 

 must get water elsewhere. When the 

 autumn heat has put his houses and barns 

 in an inflammable condition he must take 

 great precaution lest a stray spark set his 

 fields afire and burn him out of house and 

 home. All these dangers and annoyances, 

 irrespective of the financial loss in crops 

 follow in the wake of the drought. How 

 different the condition of the irrigation 

 farmer. Water when he wants it and life- 

 giving sunshine nearly all the time. Will 

 the moral of this lesson be remembered? 



The great and unnatural ex- 

 citement resulting from the 

 discovery of gold in the Klondike region 

 has already been the cause of the loss of 

 thousands of dollars, and the winter which 

 has already set in in that country will see 

 the loss of possibly hundreds of lives nf 

 men who have ventured into a new and 

 almost unknown country unprepared for 

 the rigors of the climate or the vast dis- 

 tances which must be traversed to reach 

 the gold fields, or the dangers and difficul- 

 ties to be contended with after reaching 

 them. Although it is popularly supposed 

 that the craze will reach high water mark 

 next spring the writer is inclined to be- 

 lieve that we have probably seen the worst 

 of it already. "In the days of old, the 

 days of gold, the days of '49" men were 

 willing and anxious to do unheard of things 

 to reach the gold fields and bravo the 

 dangers thereof in their desire to accum- 

 ulate wealth suddenly. In those days. 



The 



Klondike 



Craze 



