Farm Boys and Girls

by William A. McKeever

In order to break the monotony of the style of expression, much of this chapter will be addressed somewhat directly to the father of the country boy.

What is in your boy?

If a man should come suddenly into possession of a piece of land having a productive soil, one of his first questions in regard to the soil would be, What will it best grow? Farmers blundered and starved along for generations in an attempt to make a first-class farm produce the wrong crops, or to produce the right crop through the wrong manner of treatment; and this simply because they used methods of tradition and guess rather than those of science.

Now apply the foregoing situation to the boy problem, if you will. So long as we attempt to secure from him the wrong results and deal with him by wrong methods, we are likely to conclude that there is “nothing in him.” Therefore, in order to act intelligently and helpfully in the matter of giving the young son a business relation to farm life, it is first necessary to determine, as far as may be possible, the bent of his mind, remembering that the great artist, the great writer, or the great captain of industry is just as likely to be born in the country home as elsewhere. In fact, we shall learn in time, much to our advantage, that there must be a careful sifting process which will result in sending some of the country-bred young men directly to their important places in the city, and some of the city-bred youths to the rural industries.

Much experimentation necessary

The one who undertakes to develop a boy’s interest in business affairs has really before him a problem in experimental psychology. Many of the youth’s best aptitudes are necessarily still slumbering and unknown to either himself or others. The fundamental steps preparatory for a successful commercial venture on the part of a young man are comparatively few but none of them can safely be omitted. They are as follows:—

1. Willingness to work.—In this connection, perhaps something will be recalled from [Chapter IX]. We may at least be reminded of the difference in the attitude of mind of the boy who regards labor as a painful necessity and the one who enjoys a willingness to work. So long as the youth feels as if he were driven to his tasks there is little hope of arousing his interest in the business side of it. His mind will continue too much on the problem of avoiding work and on ways and means by which to get something for nothing.

There is probably a period of dishonesty in the life of every normal youth. Following the dawn of adolescence there is a great wave of new interest and new meaning coming to him out of the business and social world. The world is so full of interesting enticements. Everything looks to be good and within easy reach. He is especially prone to accept material things at their advertised value. He spends his dimes for prize boxes thought to contain gold rings and other such finery. His quarters and half dollars frequently go in payment for the “valuable” things offered “free for the price of the transportation,” the purpose of this tempting gift being “simply for the sake of introducing the goods.”

But it is well to see the boy safe through this period of allurement. So long as the world seems to hold out so many highly valued things which may be had for a trifle the youth will see little need of his working to obtain them. So, attend him in his efforts to get something for nothing. Permit him to be stung a few times and thus teach him how and where to look for the sting. Finally, impress him with the thought that every material thing worth while represents the price of somebody’s honest labor. At length he will see the reasonableness of industry and settle down with a purpose of making his way through life by means of honest endeavor. You now have the youth so far on his way to successful business undertaking.

2. Ability to save.—All healthy boys are naturally inclined to be spendthrifts. Saving a part of one’s means is a fine art acquired only through judicious practice. It is assumed that the young son is being reasonably paid for certain required tasks. So the next duty is to see that he saves a part of his earnings. For the purpose of this training in saving, a toy bank may be procured; or he may be directed in depositing a small weekly sum in a penny savings bank. Still another way is to teach him to keep a book account of his earnings, giving him due-bills for the amounts withheld from his wages.