32 



COUNTRY CHILD HEN 



It is true that nearly every day of the year, and es- 

 pecially during the summer, children of fit age can help in 

 the lighter farm work. In some kinds of work a boy of 

 ten years can do as much as a man. Undoubtedly farm 

 children have more chance to do useful work, and to learn 

 how to work, than city children have. And no doubt there 

 is some temptation to a selfish, short-sighted farmer to 



LIGHT WORK FOR CHILDREN. 

 Watching the cows. 



overwork a child, just as there is temptation to overwork 

 a colt. 



But it is not with regard to the work they do on the 

 farm that children are called the "most profitable crop." 

 Any child that is properly reared, in city or country, must 

 cost many times more in money than he can possibly repay 

 in labor while a child. To understand this, it is needful 

 only to consider the care that a child must have; the over- 

 sight essential for his play, his schooling, his work; the 

 large part of his childhood spent in school; the cost of his 

 living; the taxes for his school, the money spent for books 



