Short Talks with the Boys.

Waikato Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2075, 24 October 1885, Page 6 (Supplement)

Short Talks with the Boys.

Bt M. Quad in Detroit Free Prem. " I im i farmer's son and am not satisfied with my surroundings." Thii paragraph or a portion of it is oertaln to be fonnd in four out of every five letters rewired from the country, and it is a matter which should be investigated. Out "statesmen and journalists and philanthropists are continnallj praising agriculture as a vocation, and the idea that the farmer is independent and happy prevail! in svery story of rural life. What hai dissatisfied farmer's sons ? Why it it that so many of them want to leave the farm for any work which will bring them a Irving? In moit ones the trouble will be fonnd with the farmer instead of bis son. It is a carious position in which an old fashioned farmer and bis son are placed. The old man ii content with lome improvements on the ideas of fifty yean ige. Ho can't see why any one ihonld want anything better than bare floon, Windsor chairs and cowhide boots. He would ai soon go to meeting without a collar as with one. He " rayther likes " the mtuio of an organ, but if he buys an organ he won't feel like building that addition to the barn. He can't really see how any one can lit down and get interested in books, and why Henry and William should want " real cloth" collars and cuff* is a deep conundrum. When 8 o'clock comes he g«ta ready for bed, and he can't see how the boys and girls can '• abear" company who keep thorn np till 10. The farm is conducted after the fashion of a quarter of the last century. The home may be painted ones in five years, but the chances are that it ii allowed to go ten. The barm have needed repairs for years past, bat it's cheaper to lose a ton of hay by the leaks than boy now shingles. The fences are rotting down, but next winter will bo a good tim« to split raila. There are half a dozen panel of glass needed about the house, bat if the broken lights were renewed they might be ■maihed again. The democrat wagon has been •• about worn out" for the last five years, and tbat'i the excuse for not having it painted. The harneiset will hardly hold together, but they must answer for another year. The boys are held to " servo their timg," like so many slavss or oonvictx, and the amount of cub finding its way into their pockets yearly wood not kef p a bootblack in stock to do business. Is the picture overdrawn ? I can add twenty per cent, to the etrongth of each assertion and then not exceed the *rntb. And now what's the matter with the farmers' boys ? They live in a new world— the father in an old one. No raattei bow little schooling they have bad, they are better educated than be Is. No matter if the father refuses to do more than ■übscribe to a weekly paper, his boys axe fairly posted on the daily happenings all over the world. He wants to farm after old ideas— they after new ones. He got along without knowing whether England was east or west of the United States— without grammar, orthography or being nble to more than write hia name— without oollars or ouff« or neckties — without books or papers or amusements, and he is quite certain that the boys can do the lame. The number of farmers' sons who are leaving home, either with a half-hearted consent, or running away, is greater than yon dream of. They flock to the towns and cities to learn trades ; to accept of menial positions ; to take any work whioh will pay their way and prevent the necesiity of returning to farm work. The fanner who realises this must ask himself where the blame lies, and then seek a remedy. If there a remedy ? Lot us see. In the first place, farmers' ions aro overworked. There it no doubt that the farmer is, too, but that doein't alter the caie. When you root a boy of 14, 16 or 18 out of bed at 4.30 or 5 o'olook in the morning, and work him till 7 or half-past, you aro making a white ilave of him. You not only peril his health, but yon deform bis body. That's the oatue of io many ions of farmers being lopshouldered, bow-backed or otherwise doformed, and the origin can be traced to overexertion while growing. There isn't a farm in this country on which the hours of labor couldn't be shortened to ten hours without oausing a lof s of C 2o per ynr. If ten hours ia enough for a ditch dipper it ii all that a farmer* son should be called upon to endure. If there are two hours between 6 o'clock and darkness on a summer's evening the boy can take up a book or paper, or put it to good use in some other way. As it is now, be knows he u expected to slave from daylight till dark, and when night somes he is weary in ody and aggravated in spirit. And the remedy is not altogether in short. eoing the hours of work. The boys must have things to interest and amuse them. They. want books, magazines.and newspapers If there's a ohance to fix up a bowliog alley let the boys go ahead and make one. The game of bowls is a healthy exercise, and furnishes plenty of sport. If one of the boys hat a taste for musio help him on with it. Let him have a fiddle, accordion, organ, or whatever instrument he feels he can bring mnaio oat of. Both boys and girls Bhould be tnoouraged to aing. To this end they should be < encouraged to get np singing olasses, whioh might meet aronnd from house to hou3e. A young people's social club, to meet in the •arne manner, would prove interesting. Tho fum can bo made pleM»nter than the work-shop— the farm-house as full of comfort and happiness as any home intbeaity. When this takes plaoe the fanner's non will not be the young man he is. lie will be jovial, content, and enthusiastic. He will be able to appear well in any sooiety, to oonverse with any one on the topics of the day, and he will have ■ome future outside of the day in and day oat toil Whtoh u crooking his spine and thickening op his brains.

A Sweetheart's Suggestion. Pal BeiHy wm taking • rido On »n tlegant ■ammcr morning, And KtthUen tat clow by his side, Bright miles her face adorning. And lh# looked so tidy and neat, » . .?P*.^8 nrt "° Pinmp «od Irim. «O girl hall to pretty and swtet Had erer appeared to him. Said Pat : " Your eyes are so blue . And your Hm to teirfpttody red, Tkttfn tb« purtiest I ever knew And belong to the colleen I'd wed. 11 Ah I dwlin', if it wasn't this baste That'i pullin' my poor armi apart, XMy would tindfurlv stbeal round your waist And yoorwlf be pressed to mj heart. " For my 1ot«'» that powerful indade Widpat you I oannot gnrvive." Then Kathleen blushed and said : Mr. BeiJly, perhapi I could drire ? " , — Texat Sifting*. '