112 
•Px RURAL NEW-YORKER 
January 2S, 1U22 
Boys and Girls 
By Edward M. Tuttle 
Let’s make a New Year’s resolution to try to help Our 
Page to be bigger and better than it ever was before 
Down the hill! With a will! 
Do not fear the Winter's chill; 
Swiftly go. all aglow. 
O’er the ice and snow. 
Coasting is the best of fun 
After work is fairly done. 
Raise the song, clear and 
Let’s imagine that we have a magic 
fireplace, large enough for us all to 
gather about it. Can you .see the won¬ 
derful picture that makes? There are 
the great logs blazing merrily. We can 
feel their warmth and see their cheerful 
light. In a big half circle before the fire 
we are all sitting, boys and girls from 
everywhere, thousands and thousands, a 
happy family. Look deep into the danc¬ 
ing flames. What do you see there? 
Now turn ami look into the faces of those 
near you. W hat do you see in them t 
How quiet it is! This place is ours, and 
here we will gather now and then to talk 
of important things in our lives. You 
will learn to love Our Magic Fire, and 
will he your truest and best selves when 
you sit before it. Look at the fire again, 
now. and think with me for a few 
moments while I talk to you of what we 
have learned in the discussion we have 
been having on this question of 
Liking the Farm 
There seem to be two parts to the 
question—the work part and the play 
part. First, let us think about the work. 
Mary Heller and some others find noth¬ 
ing but hard work on the farm, and it 
sets them against farm life. It is true 
that there are some farm boys and girls 
who are overworked. They work beyond 
their strength, and it hurts their bodies. 
They work too long hours, with too little 
companionship, and unless they hnxe 
courage it crushes tlieir spirits. It is 
just as true that these same boys and 
girls would probably be overworked if 
they lived in the city. 
The thing to consider is why they 
must work so hard. As one boy pointed 
out in a letter, we cannot all he horn 
into well-to-do families. If our parents 
are struggling hard to get along. t-> make 
both ends meet, and to keep a comfortable 
home, we ought to he glad to work to the 
limit to help. Remember. that we only 
have one family, one boyhood or girlhood, 
home. Rich or poor, it is ours, and can 
be a happy one. if we make it so. The 
great thing to do. isn’t it, is to take 
things as we find them and do our best 
with them? I should be sorry to think, 
and I really do not. believe, that there are 
many parents who overwork their chil¬ 
dren when it is not really necessary. So 
1 gay to you, trust your parents, work 
with them, stand by them. You will 
never regret it. 
On the other hand there are those boys 
and girls who are born into families with 
means enough so that they do not need to 
work. Should stick boys and girls have 
an.v work to do? Absolutely they should. 
Take two young men or young women 
who have reached the age of twenty-one. 
One of them has never done any real 
work. One of them has had to work too 
hard. Which would you feel had the 
better chance to succeed in life if they 
were given an equal start.? There is no 
strong, as we fly along. 
—SONG. 
question about it. is there? The habit of 
work, of working skillfully, of sticking to 
a job till it is finished, is the most preci¬ 
ous of all habits on the road to happiness. 
But the ideal is a mixture of work and 
of play. Boys and girls ought to be glad 
of the i ! ance to do sonic work, some use¬ 
ful tasks that add to the family comfort, 
or lighten the burden of their parents. 
Little chores about the Louse or barn 
regularly done, promptly done, cheerfully 
done, should be a welcome part of life. 
Of course, we must never lose sight of the 
fact that boys and girls have one main 
job. that of going to school. It is a big 
job. too, if it is well done, and other 
tilings, either work or play, should not 
interfere with it. The years fly by. and 
almost before you know it school days 
will be over, and they will not come again. 
And what you are as men and women 
depends very much on the amount mid 
kind of education you have. 
However, "all work and no play makes 
Jack a dull boy," and Jill a dull girl, we 
might add. So we come now to tiie ques¬ 
tion of play and social life in the coun¬ 
try, which you have been discussing in 
vour letters even more than the work side. 
The country is a place of long distances. 
Houses are scattered more or less, and it 
is not always easy to find companions on 
All Alone 
a minute's notice with whom to play. So 
it happens that country boys and girls are 
often left to themselves for amusement. 
And, as has been pointed out in many of 
the letters, no place is so full of opportu¬ 
nity for enjoyment as is the country. If 
you will spend time in the woods and 
fields and farmyard, learning to know the 
names and habits of the plants and ani¬ 
mals all about you, a storehouse of pleas¬ 
ure will open up to you that will never 
grow old or dull. Most of us have hardly 
begun to search this storehouse. 
There are other sources of pleasure for 
oneself. There is reading—a whole world 
to discover between the covers of books. 
There is music -learning to play some in¬ 
strument. to sing the good, old songs that 
every person loves, or listening to great 
artists on the phonograph. There is the 
world of art—drawing or painting or 
modeling or fancy work. There is the 
world of crafts—designing things and 
building them with tools. These and oth¬ 
ers are ways of spending the time with 
pleasure and profit, even when we have no 
playmates. Surely no wideawake country 
hoy or girl need ever be lonesome or lack 
something to enjoy. 
But wo all like to have friends, com¬ 
rades. playmates, and it is right that we 
should have them. Only remember it is 
not numbers that count, hut rather the 
kind of friendship. One true friend is 
better than a hundred half-friends. Friends 
do not come just b,v wishing for them, 
however, either in city or country. As 
one girl said last month, ‘‘I think that 
you have to go half-wax in order to have 
friends.” You d<*, indeed, and more, too. 
Wo must be friends if xve would have 
friends. I very much fear that some of 
those xvho have written complaining of 
the unfriendliness of others need to give 
themselves an examination in the points 
of friendship, and see whether they can 
! ass or not. What are these points or 
qualities of friendship? Who will write 
and tell us? Suppose next month, when 
we gather round Our Magic Fireside, xve 
have some letters on this subject—"The 
Qualities of Friendship.” Shall we? 
There is one other thing to say a word 
about xvbieh has come up in some of the 
letters. It is tho fact that sometimes 
when hoys and girls meet for a good time 
it. is almost impossible to have a good 
time, because they will not get together in 
spirit. They will not co-operate, as the 
older folks xvould say. One girl spoke of 
this last month, when she told how at par¬ 
ties and socials, if one started a game, 
someone would exclaim : “Oh, I don’t want 
to play that." or “Start something else; 
there's nothing in that." Every single 
one of us lias heard the same thing. Per¬ 
haps we have said it ourselves. I remem¬ 
ber one time I went for a hike and picnic 
with l'_* boys. We walked to a lakeside, 
built fires, cooked our bacon and potatoes, 
and had dinner. Then someone suggested 
that xve play games. All agreed, but, do 
you know, every single one of those hoys 
suggested a different game, and not one 
of them xvould agree to play any game 
hut the one he suggested. Yon can guess 
how many games xve played. The result 
xvns that no one had much fun, whereas 
if they all joined together, xve could have 
played all of those games, and more, too. 
When you come right, down to it, the 
only way you can explain such an atti¬ 
tude is that the person is either selfish or 
jealous. Either he wants to do his way 
and no other, or else he doesn’t xvant any¬ 
one else to lead off. even if he won’t. 
This is pretty had. but wc might as xvell 
face it squarely. It goes on all around 
ns every day, not only in play, but in 
everything else, not only with hoys and 
girls, hut with grown-ups. We have prob¬ 
ably been guilty ourselves, nil of us, 
many times. But if xve can realize what, 
xve are doing when xve say. “Oh. I don’t 
xvant to play that”; if xve can sec hoxv 
we are throwing n wet blanker on the 
whole affair, spoiling things for ourselves 
and everybody else, then we xvill learn to 
think before xvo speak. Even suppose 
you aren't very eager about the thing sug¬ 
gested. take lmld and do your best at it. 
One of two things will happen. Either 
you xvill suddenly discover that you are 
having a good time, after all. or pretty 
soon you xvill have a chance to suggest 
something better, and because you took 
part in the games of others, they xvill be 
more ready to take part in yours. Any- 
xvay. the next time you go to a party, say 
to yourself: “T xvon’t he a wet blanket; 
I xvon’t." 
There, now. that is a long talk; too 
long, perhaps; hut you have been very 
good to listen so quietly. Bee! the fire 
is a great bed of glowing coals. It lights 
up all the faces, and they look earnest 
aud honest and friendly and happy. In 
a moment we shall scatter from about 
Our Magic Fireside, but before xve go I 
want to do two things. First, I xvant to 
thank all who have taken part in this dis¬ 
cussion xve have carried on for several 
months. The letters have been fine, all 
of them, on whichever side, and I xvish xve 
could have printed more, especially some 
that have come this last month. And. 
second, I want to give yon a poem that 
has come into my mind as xve have been 
talking. You xvill read it now beside 
Our Fire, and keep it iu your minds. 
It. is worth remembering. The poem ap¬ 
peared some years ago in n Baltimore 
newspaper. I do not know who xvrote it. 
hut it is a great poem, aud uoxv I give it 
to you : 
CHEERING SOMEONE ON 
Don’t you mind about the triumphs, 
Don’t you w orry after fame; 
Don’t you grieve about succeeding. 
Let the future guard your name. 
All tile best in life’s the simplest, 
Love xvill last when wealth is gone; 
Just he glad that, you are living. 
And keep cheering someone on. 
Let your neighbors have the blossoms. 
Let your comrades wear the crown; 
Never mind the little set-backs. 
Nor the blows that, knock you down. 
You’ll he there when they’re forgotten. 
You’ll he glad with youth and dawn, 
If you just forget your troubles 
Aud keep cheering someone on. 
There's a lot of sorrow round you. 
Lots of lonesomeness and tears; 
Lots of heartache and of worry, 
Through the shndoxv of the years. 
And the world needs more than triumphs. 
More than all the swords we’ve drawn; 
It is hungering for the fellow 
Who keeps cheering others on. 
Lot the wind around you xvhistle. 
And the storm around you play; 
You’ll he there with brawn and gristle 
When the conquerors decay. 
You'll he there in memories sweetened 
In the souls you’ve saved from pawn. 
If you’ll put aside the victories 
And keep cheering someone on. 
The Pictures 
You will miss a drawing this month. 
Yes, I had some fine ones, hut the men 
who fix the drawings to print (engravers. 
Rea Ay for a Folk Dance 
Gertrude in Her Gypsy Costume 
xve call them I are on strike and xvill not 
do the work in time to use this month. 
So I will have t<• keep these till next year. 
Really, it is best to send in your draw¬ 
ings for several months ahead. Then 
there will always be plenty of time to get 
them ready for Our Fage each month. 
The names of those who sent drawings 
for this month are: 
New York: Marie Hoag, Louise Ad¬ 
ams, Helen F. Carr. Gladys Baxter, 
Hazel Del.oug. Marian Devon, E. B. H.. 
Sylvia E. Randall. Carlntta Baker. F. B. 
Ahern, Dorothy Middleton. 
New Jersey: Kathryn Link, Margaret 
Van Yliet. J. Theron Overs. 
Connecticut : .Ruth Dudley, 
Virginia : Edward S. Wilson. 
I think the picture of the boy on the 
sled is fine, don’t you? It is clear, It is 
full of life and spirit. It is artistic. 
Paula Rndke, a Michigan reader, sent it. 
The boy is her brother. 
The other two pictures on the first 
page were sent by Gertrude Wrege, a Jer¬ 
sey City reader. The little collie puppy 
is only a month old. Isn’t he cute, out 
there by himself in the big world? Ger¬ 
trude had a lot of fun getting her gypsy 
costume ready and taking part in the 
dance. 
Nora Buckley sent the picture of the 
group of school boys and girls out in the 
snow. They belong in the very north¬ 
east corner of New York State. 
The picture to test bow sharp your 
eyes are was sent by Sarah Bull of New 
York. Of course, you can see her sister 
Elinor standing below the plum tree. But 
can you sec Sarah? 
Helen Milbum. a New York reader. 
