Education of FAR^fEIVs Children. 
495 
daily bread depends upon it. Yet it seems to me I can see some¬ 
thing beyond and higher than this, that should come particularly 
into our minds in this discussion. We pride ourselv’es as being 
above the brutes, in that we are capable of higher intellectual at¬ 
tainments. If we bury these talents in the earth, how much better 
are we than they? 
Farming is hardly a money making business, and if we cannot in 
some way make it pleasant, we can have but little hope of persuad¬ 
ing our sons to follow it. The farmer’s work is hard, but if, while 
planting the seed, or tending the growing crops, we can, with an 
appreciative eye, watch the seed start into new life and beauty, 
can we not the better bear the hard work? If we can see the 
wonderful growth going on all around us, and while doing so, can 
catch but a glimpse of the working of the great laws by which it is 
governed, are we not the better paid for our labor? If, with an ed¬ 
ucated eye, we can see the great beauty all around us in landscape 
or flower garden, or can feel God’s majesty in the thunder cloud, if 
we are educated to do all this, then is there not something for the 
farmer worth having and working for, besides the dollar that feeds 
and clothes him? 
How shall we educate our children? First, I would have the 
farmers’ sons, in common with all other sons, have enough of math¬ 
ematics to meet all the requirements of business, grammar enough 
to talk and write correctly, and geography enough to understand 
what is going on in the world around him. I would have a great 
deal of attention paid to reading and spelling, much more than is 
now devoted to it. As it is the first thing when entering school, I 
would have it the last when leaving. Beyond these studies, com¬ 
mon and necessary to all, I would have the young farmer prepare 
to study and understand nature. In school, only the beginning of 
this can be attained, but a start can be given and a love acquired — 
a seed planted that will grow and bear fruit in mature life. I 
would have enough of chemistry mastered to enable the man, when 
placed in active life, to read and understand any article he may 
meet on this science. Entomology enough to enable him to tell hi& 
enemies from his friends in the insect world. Physiology enough 
to know what is best for his own physical well being, as well as for 
the animals placed under his care. Botany enough to—well, I 
would have him know all there is to know in it. Who, more than 
