CORN CLUBS AND IDLE BOYS
A woman of keen observation writes of her hill town that what is needed there is not more amusements, games, socials, but something to encourage boys to become thorough and honest workmen; that the best workmen in the village are foreign born; that the native-born boys and girls are seekers after pleasure and ease, shunning work and giving scant heed to the serious interests of life.
This has a familiar ring to it; but that there are appeals to arouse and enlist the energy of country boys, witness the annual visit to Washington of the champion corn growers recently. Thirty-five boys, winners among 75,000 boys who raised corn on a single acre of land last summer, and one little girl, leader among the girls’ canning clubs of the country, were the guests of the government for a week, and bore witness to the industry of the army of sturdy children who stayed at home. The best record of the boy visitors was 207 bushels of corn to the acre, or about eight times the average yield for the country. The girl had raised a succession of tomatoes, beans, and turnips on her tenth of an acre, sold some of it fresh and canned the rest, realizing $53.