1868. 



NEW ENGLAND FAEMER. 



113 



the results of observation and experience. 

 The natural sciences, with which they should 

 be familiar, are all illustrated in the fields and 

 in their daily work. The soil, the atmosphere, 

 the vegetable and animal life which surround 

 them are teeming with topics of inexhaustible 

 study, and many a knotty question can be 

 raised over the simplest things they do. The 

 minds of children are naturally inquisitive, 

 and if this propensity is only properly encour- 

 aged, they readily acquire the real spirit of 

 investigation and will gather knowledge while 

 about their daily work. In no place can ob- 

 ject-teaching be carried out better than in the 

 cor.ntry school-house. 



It should be ever impressed upon the minds 

 of children that an essential part of their edu- 

 cation is learning how to work ; to woi'k cheer- 

 fully, patiently, faithfully and for a definite and 

 high end, and that something is to be learned 

 in the mere mechanical and manual labor of 

 farniing. While thus engaged, they are ac- 

 (juirlng a trade as certainly as if serving an 

 apnrenticei-hip to a machinist or carpenter. 

 When a joung man can perform all parts well 

 and understandingly, he is entitled to as much 

 ret-pect and has as nmch to rely upon, as if 

 he were a journeyman in any of the common 

 trades. 



To adopt a plan of daily study and to reach 

 this standard, boys need some assistance. The 

 idea presupposes some change in the school 

 system of the agricultural districts. The 

 school should be kept nearly through the whole 

 ) ear, with vacations at perhaps seed time and 

 harvest. There should be one session a day, 

 not exceeding four hours, and that held in the 

 morning. This will keep up an interest in the 

 studies and furnish the mind with work and 

 prevent that sluggish and indifferent state 

 which those boys too often manifest who have 

 only one term of schooling during the year, 

 and come to that after a long period of ex- 

 hausting labor. The younger as well as the 

 older children would find advantages in such a 

 system. Work for the day could be easily 

 planned, so as not to interfere with school 

 bours. Parents and employers who will assist 

 those under their charge in their studies, by 

 encouraging their inquiring spirit ; help solve 

 th<-ir questions ; follow them in their daily 

 lessons, and by reviews, illustrations and am- 

 piilications of the text, perfect them in their 

 recitations, will see their efforts abundantly 

 rewarded. The present and ultimate advan- 

 tages of such home influence can hardly be 

 estimated. 



The plan of daily study allows only short 

 days for manual labor. Where steady em- 

 ployment is attempted for boys, the great dan- 

 ger lies in carrying work to an extreme. It is 

 a notorious fact that the sons of many farmers 

 do not receive the educational and social ad- 

 vantages that the circumstances of their pa- 

 rents warrant. They are, in fact, overwork- 

 ed ; more being required of them than of men, 



according to their power of endurance. We 

 wonder why so many boys leave the farm. 

 Three-fourths will give as the cause, hard work. 

 An unreasonable amount is put upon them at 

 a tender age ; they are obliged to make long 

 days in the field, before they can well endure 

 them, and farming is made to appear to them 

 an unceasing round of drudgery which preju- 

 dices them against it, and they resolve to leave 

 before they understand what it can or ought to 

 be made. Six or eight hours are sufficient for 

 a day's work. Boys will accomplish more and 

 better work in these short periods of labor 

 than when dragging wearily along from early 

 morn till sunset. Boys, being more active 

 than men, do their work quicker, and of course 

 are sooner fatigued ; and when they have com- 

 pleted a reasonable amount of labor should be 

 allowed a change. To continue them on duty, 

 partly at work, partly at play, and partly in 

 idleness, after they have already done enough, 

 is a sure way to establish slow movements, 

 indolent habits, and to make careless, ineffi- 

 cient workmen. Great injustice is frequently 

 done to boys when they are matched with men. 

 If they strive to keep up, they acquire the 

 habit of slighting their work or over exert 

 themselves. Many an ambitious and promis- 

 ing lad has brought upon himself serious and 

 permanent injury in this unequal contest. 

 Dull, heavy, rusty and half worn-out tools 

 tend to irritate and discourage boys. One 

 secret of success in their management lies in 

 giving them frequent changes. Their active 

 and restless dispositions, and immature con- 

 t^titutions cannot long endure either mental or 

 physical effort in one direction. A change 

 from study to work, or work to study is not 

 sufficient ; they require a variation in these 

 pursuits. Entire change of motion is often 

 equal to positive rest. They also like to see 

 the end of their work at the beginning, and it 

 is really a great help to divide any long or 

 difficult job into easy tasks. They should be 

 provided with good tools adapted to their 

 strength, and be required to keep them clean 

 and bright. When thus well equipped, and 

 working with a will, they will in the course of 

 a season, or a year, accomplish a large amount 

 of work. 



There is another condition of childhood, the 

 concession of which ensures better work and 

 more earnest study. A child at real work or real 

 study is under partial restraint. Play is more 

 his natural element, and unless he can have 

 stated times to act out his youthful impulses, 

 he is very much inclined to make play of his 

 work or of his study. We who have grown 

 sober with labor, and silent with care, are apt 

 to judge harshly in this respect. We forget 

 our own young days. Hearty, downright play 

 infuses new life and new energy to a wonder- 

 ful degree. Thus a full and vigorous devel- 

 opment of mind and body depends upon a 

 judicious and happy combination of work, 

 study and play. Either, carried to an ex- 



