762 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
OCT. 24 
JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER. 
J. W. NEWTON. 
Few people realize how much la lost by 
desultory reading. To take up and read 
any book that comes along without ever 
thinking whether It Is a good book or not, 
Is to expose one’s self to grave peril. There 
are so maDy evil books, so many books 
which, while they can hardly be called evil, 
waste the reader’s time and weaken his 
mind, that care and judgment and wisdom 
are needed to read what will be of real 
profit. But many young people on the 
farms have no knowledge of literature ; 
they have never been trained to choose 
the good and to refuse the evil, and so they 
go on reading whatever comes in their way, 
thus losing a great part of the benefit that 
comes from good books. 
Now I believe it is of little use to lay 
down in a short article a course of reading, 
or to give lists of books. My study of the 
subject has convinced me that the best way 
for the young people in farm homes to ob¬ 
tain the benefits of reading is to take up a 
few great authors, learn something about 
their lives, study selections from their 
writings, and thus form a taste for good 
literature. It is not very difficult to learn 
to like good literature so that one will en¬ 
joy the best books. I would begin with 
Whittier because he was a farmer’s boy, 
lived on a farm until he was 20, and after 
being away a few years, returned to the old 
farm home. This home was in East Hav¬ 
erhill, Mass., and here he remained for 
some years after his return, settling at 
length in Amesbury, Mass. Most of his 
time has of late years been spent with rela¬ 
tives at Danvers. 
How did this Quaker farmer’s boy be¬ 
come a poet ? He was of course a born 
poet, but he had to overcome many ob¬ 
stacles before he attained his present emi¬ 
nence. The district school was open only 
three months in a year, and he had to earn 
money by his own labor in order to take 
two terms at the academy. But he made 
the most of the few opportunities he had. 
If you would get a glimpse of farm life at 
that time, and of the early life of the poet, 
read Snow-Bound. I will quote a few 
lines: 
Meanwhile we did our nightly chores, 
Brought In the wood from out of-doors. 
Littered the stalls, and from the mows 
Baked down the Herd’s Grass for the cows: 
Heard the horse whinnying for his corn ; 
And, sharply clashing horn on horn, 
Impatient down the stanchion rows 
The cattle shake their walnut bows; 
While peering from his early perch 
Upon the scaffold’s pole of birch, 
The cock his cresied helmet bent 
And down his querulous challenge sent. 
It stormed all night, and in the morning 
the boys shoveled a path to the barn. 
We reached the barn with merry din, 
And roused the prisoned brutes within. 
The old horse thrust his long head out, 
And grave with wonder gazed about; 
The cock his lusty greeting said, 
And forth his speckled harem led ; 
The oxen lashed their tails and hooked, 
And vain reproach of hunger looked ; 
The horned patriarch of the sheep, 
Like Egypt’s Amun roused from sleep. 
Shook his sage head with gesture mute, 
And emphasized with stamp of foot. 
Then he tells of the fireplace and how they 
sat around it; all the evening occupations 
of the old-fashioned farm home are pic¬ 
tured in simple and beautiful language. 
Another poem, “ Among the Hills,” gives 
charming descriptions of rural life and 
beauty. The next time you are tempted to 
buy one of the cheap, trashy stories that 
are found in almost every village in some 
store, go and get No. 4 of the Riverside 
Literature series, which contains these 
poems, and read it, or get a copy of Whit¬ 
tier’s poems. To learn to like such reading 
is a great gain to young persons, especially 
if they have been reading rubbish. There 
is a class of books called classics, books 
which time and the opinion of men have 
sifted out as the best of the wheat. Now, no 
one thinks of eating chaff, but many people 
feed their intellects on what is worse than 
chaff, while there is plenty of the finest 
wheat ready to be used. If one has acquired 
the evil habit of reading mind-weakening 
or mind-destroying books he may find it 
difficult at first to let them alone, but let 
him get a friend or two to read some stand¬ 
ard work with him and let him take it up 
when he has an opportunity to read. A good 
work on literature is a great help, and 
ought to be in the hands of every young 
person. There are many of the best writers 
who can be studied in books containing se¬ 
lections from their writings, but it is well 
to obtain the poems of Whittier and Long¬ 
fellow in their complete form, the house¬ 
hold edition, as it is called, being the best 
for general use. There are books of selec¬ 
tions from these writers, which are very 
convenient for study, in the Riverside Lit¬ 
erature and in the Modern Classic series. 
These can be put in the pocket and taken 
out when one is resting or has a few spare 
moments. No one knows how much can 
be learned in the spare moments which 
come to almost every one. Think of Whit¬ 
tier laying the foundation of his success as 
a poet while working on the farm. Not 
many can become poets, but there are few 
young people on the farms who cannot find 
time to become acquainted with classic 
literature and learn to eDjoy it. It is not 
so much having great opportunities which 
gives success as it is using aright of the 
opportunities we have. 
ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS. 
Vice President James of the Section of 
Economic Science and Statistics of the 
American Association for the Advancement 
of Science, in a recent address, before that 
section on the subject of The Farmer and 
Taxation, says : “ I think that every one 
must say that our farming communities 
are not at present able to pay the expenses 
of really good elementary schools. It is In 
a large proportion of the rural districts im¬ 
possible to find anything more than ele¬ 
mentary schools; yet there is no reason why 
the advantage of good high schools should 
not be open to farmers’ children as well as 
to the children of city people. If there 
were good schools in the country we should 
find that many people would stay there 
who now go to town as soon as they can 
rake and scrape the money together. The 
only way in which such school facilities can 
be offered is for the State to come to their 
aid in an efficient manner.” 
It is an error to say that country schools 
are poor and that teachers are not well 
paid, and to seek to substitute “ high 
schools” for common schools. For the most 
part country teachers are as well paid as 
any other class of teachers, and their work 
is often well done. But there are needed 
in the common schools an alteration and 
enlargement of the list of studies and an 
Introduction of elementary text books of 
natural science. Studious pupils in the 
country are often kept hammering away 
for years on studies in which they have at¬ 
tained great proficiency without hope of 
advancing or taking up anything else. 
Many of these country scholar* are ambi¬ 
tious and learn easily whatever they study ; 
but are compelled to quit school or go back 
over the same books again and again with¬ 
out change or variety. Here the authority 
of the legislature might be well used in the 
passage of laws requiring the introduction 
of good elementary text books of the nat¬ 
ural sciences, and in providing normal 
schools for teachers, as well as in appro¬ 
priating money for the purchase of books 
for the school library, to be reimbursed 
to the State by a county tax. The school 
library Is now a valuable feature in the 
system and should be constantly improved. 
A knowledge of the elements of botany, 
mineralogy, natural history and of mechan¬ 
ism, anatomy and physiology, with free¬ 
hand and mathematical drawing could be 
easily acquired by many country pupils, 
and after a few years these studies would 
become very popular with the pupils. 
A proper division of school study would 
assign grammar and geography to the old¬ 
est scholars of a common school, and ele¬ 
mentary botany and mineralogy to the 
youngest pupils as a beginning. Object 
lessons in elementary science could be 
easily given by most teachers who had any 
knowledge of science, with the aid of a 
good plain text book which dealt with such 
facts as can be shown to the eye. Free-hand 
drawing should precede writing and be con¬ 
tinued through the entire course of the 
school, drawing lessons of proficient pupils 
being from natural objects. Mechanics 
should be taught with the aid of proper ap¬ 
paratus, and older pupils should be taught 
to make arithmetical calculations in me¬ 
chanics and drawings of some simple ma 
chines. 
The aim of the common school teacher 
should be to ingraft in the mind of the 
pupil a practical knowledge of the material 
world in which he lives and a working 
knowledge of the nature and form of many 
natural objects, thus preparing him for 
higher steps in science. The common school 
should also teach writing, arithmetic, gram¬ 
mar and geography as It does at present, 
but these studies should be the finishing 
branches. High schools would, of course, 
continue natural science, with philology 
and the higher mathematics, the abstract 
studies being deferred to the last, and re¬ 
garded as the highest. w. c. 
Springfield, Ohio. 
Poultry Yard. 
ARE BONE CUTTERS ECONOMICAL 7 
The R. N.-Y., has frequently referred to 
the use of bone cutters for preparing green 
bones for poultry food. Such bones cannot 
be ground—they must be cut or crushed 
into pieces small enough for the poultry to 
eat. We sent the following questions to a 
number of parties who are using these cut¬ 
ters. Their replies will be likely to give 
the Information called for by those who 
have sent us inquiries: 
Is the bone cutter a practical machine 7 
Is the cut bone a suitable poultry food 7 
Does it save money ? Where do you buy 
bones, and how much do you pay for them 7 
How do you feed the cut bone—with soft 
food or with whole grain, and what grain 
is best to feed with it 7 
A Gain in Eggs. 
I use a bone cutter and would not be 
without It for three times its cost. I think 
it is one of the best Inventions for cutting 
bone that has been placed in the hands of 
poultrymen. It is extremely valuable in 
many ways; it saves labor, grain feed and, 
more than ail, money. I consider cut bone 
one of the best of egg producers, but it 
must be fed in moderation and with judg¬ 
ment, as it is very fattening if fed too free¬ 
ly. I buy the green bones of the butchers 
for one cent per pound and cut and feed 
them twice a week, sometimes thrice, ac¬ 
cording to season. I always feed them at 
noon without any other feed. I find them 
a grand feed every other day for growing 
chickens. The day it arrived 161 hens laid 
62 eggs. Twelve days afterwards the same 
hens had increased the yield to 102. That 
speaks for itself. I know of several poultry- 
men who are using the bone-cutters and 
they all pronounce It a grand invention. 
Orange Co., N. Y. f. w. fullerton. 
A Great Grain Saver. 
I have used Mann’s bone-cutter for some 
time and deem it a decidedly practical 
machine. After the bone Is broken small 
enough to admit of its reception by the 
hopper of the cutter, no difficulty will be 
encountered in the reduction of the hardest 
shin bone to pieces sufficiently small to be 
greedily devoured by all kinds of poultry. 
The ducks and geese as well as the hens are 
very fond of it. Of course turning the 
wheel is very laborious work, especially if 
it is long continued, or the bone is very 
hard, but then we must expect to toil if we 
would accomplish anything. It does the 
work required In an efficient manner, and 
Is all that could be desired for ordinary es¬ 
tablishments keeping from 100 to 200 fowls, 
or less. Cut bone I consider a very excel¬ 
lent poultry food. It contains much fatty 
animal matter as well as mineral constit¬ 
uents, such as the phosphates and carbon¬ 
ates of lime, which latter must materially 
assist in building up a healthy framework 
in the case of young growing chicks, as well 
as in supplying egg shell material for fowls 
of maturer age. Grain for the past year 
has been phenomenally high, and, judging 
by the present outlook, prices are not likely 
to drop much during the ensuing season; 
therefore I advocate feeding two or three 
times a week all the fowls desire to eat of 
this food, considering it cheaper at half a 
cent per pound than grain, and a much bet¬ 
ter stimulant to egg production. Renderers 
in this locality pay 40 cents per 100 pounds 
for bones. There is no trouble in getting a 
sufficient supply for this purpose. Every 
butchers’ cart, provision store or slaughter¬ 
ing house has an abundance for sale. The 
cut bone may be mixed with soft food or be 
given separately by itself. It Is really im¬ 
material in what way it Is fed, provided it 
is given in a liberal supply. 
MYRON SUMNER PERKINS. 
Free Bones at Garfield’s Home. 
My bone cutter will cut the bones with 
the meat on them such as butchers call 
“ waste ” when cutting up their meat; also 
the "shanks and hocks” by breaking them 
up a little. It will cut (not grind) any 
bones one can put into it. The cut bone is 
a grand feed for poultry. I do not have 
to buy the bones. The butchers here give 
them to one for taking them away. I feed 
them with small grain, and never feed a 
single kind of grain, but give a mixture oi 
wheat and oats and a little corn, and give 
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THE RURAL PUBLISHING CO., Times Building, New York. 
