46 The Farmstead 



weary hours on backless benches, and blistered 

 hands in punishment for my unrestrained in- 

 terest in things in general, and in my school- 

 mates in particular. 



But what has all this to do with the oppor- 

 tunities which a farm life gives for education? 

 It is to emphasize the need of more home train- 

 ing, more personal attention by the parents, and 

 a more natural and rational education of those 

 whom it has been our responsibility to bring 

 into existence, and upon whose shoulders will 

 rest the weal or woe of our country. In these 

 rural homes, children should be reared and edu- 

 cated until they have reached the point beyond 

 which their parents or the older children cannot 

 carry them. The child, when only two or three 

 years old, begins to learn handicraft, performs 

 some little helpful act for another ; it is being 

 taught to work. As it becomes more mature it is 

 to do useful things ; but who thinks of keep- 

 ing the child of eight to ten years of age at con- 

 tinuous work for five or six hours daily! Why 

 not carry on the child's mental education along 

 these natural lines in the same manner as it 

 receives its primary technical education ? 



I am almost persuaded that the farmers' 

 children would be better off if the old red 

 school -house on the dusty, treeless four corners 

 was abandoned, and the responsibility for the 



