THE NEW AGRICULTURE 
195 
bidding them good-by. No, he follows the different trails as 
far as eye can reach ; and when these blur and disappear 
in the distance, he knows well enough that some day the 
youngsters will be returning to tell him their adventures. 
A master not only welcomes these youthful explorers ; he 
actually depends upon them to bring home to him bits of 
new knowledge. Proud of their confidence, and yet humble 
enough to learn from them, he then enriches his own per- 
sonal experience by the results of their quests. . In this way 
a teacher leads not one but a hundred lives. He needs to ; 
for whatever he may be titled in the catalogue or dubbed on 
the ball field, his real business is getting his pupils ready for 
the work of life. 
Thus the fruits of a garden director’s efforts will not have 
properly matured unless he keeps in view the possibility of a 
country life for at least some of his children. Even for those 
growing up in a city’s midst, provided they are caught young 
enough, tillage of the land is seriously to be recommended. 
The fact that one of the first boys of the Rice School garden, 
one who had never lived out of the so-called slums, is now a 
graduate of the Bussey Institute, and a full-fledged gardener, 
makes us believe that such a record as his may inspire other 
city boys to similar ambitions. 
But what sort of world is this which a bright lad with a 
yearning for outdoors proposes to enter .? What does the 
farming life require of him, and what does it give him in 
return ? It is a teacher’s business to find this out, beyond the 
possibility of a mistake, before he is ready to advise young 
candidates. 
It must be owned that the agricultural situation in these 
last years has puzzled the wisest. Agriculture is at present 
passing through a wonderful period of reconstruction. So seri- 
ous are the changes now being wrought, that a distinguished 
