Farm Boys and Girls

by William A. McKeever

It is the opinion of the author that the State Agricultural College, as now situated and organized, is the ideal institution of higher learning for the country-bred youth. It offers him every reasonable incentive and opportunity for continuing in the calling of his father, if he be so inclined, while at the same time it gives instruction in many other departments of learning. Whether the state institution be a separate one or merely a college within the organization of the state university matters little. In either case the young man will be brought within reach of a course in scientific farming, stock raising, horticulture, and the like, either to choose or let alone—and the so-called cultural work will still be there for the taking.

The foundation in work

Many rural parents, weighted down with the over-work of the farm, cherish and express a very earnest desire that their sons may find some easier form of earning a living. So they deliberately plan with the boy the “easy” course to be pursued. Said one such farmer: “Wife and I decided that there would not be much in it for Henry except hard work if he settled down on the home place, so we decided to send him to college and educate him for something that offered less work and more pay.” So they shielded the son from the heavier duties of the farm and encouraged in every way the boy’s thought of an easy way to success.

But one thing these well-meaning parents failed to foresee. That is, when the boy entered college, he began to look for that same sort of royal road to learning. The assigned lessons and tasks soon took the appearance of drudgery and he dodged and avoided them wherever possible. In less than a year the youth had failed at college and was back home. “The confinement of the college did not agree with his health.” More than three years have passed since, and the boy has spent the time drifting from one “job” to another and all the while growing weaker in character and integrity.

Here we have but another instance of the old, old story, with its tragic aspects. Yet, nearly all the faltering, vacillating men now drifting about the country might have been saved through careful training in the performance of work. The boy who would be insured success in his coming vocation must be required to buckle down to solid work of a kind and amount to suit his years and strength. He must learn through the character-building experience of toil, not only what it means to stay by an assigned duty till it is performed, but he must also experience the unfailing joy of work well done. He will thus have the advantage of the spur of successful effort and acquire the beginnings of that splendid self-reliance which is a distinguishing mark of all successful men.

Clean up the place

But there is a sort of drudgery and of ugliness against which the boy’s nature instinctively rebels, and it ought to. By this we mean to refer to the actual conditions of over-work and the accompanying run-down appearance that characterizes so many farm homes to-day. No wonder the boys hasten away to the city to find a “job.”

Why not clean up the place by cutting away the underbrush and weeds, by planting shade trees and repairing fences and out buildings, by painting and renovating the house and barn?—and all this as an investment in behalf of the children and their possible future interest in the farm home as the best place on earth in which to dwell? All this and more might be urged as means of guiding the thoughts of the farm boy towards the possibilities of his taking up the calling of his father. And while all these material advantages may not serve to overcome the natural tendency of the young man to seek a radically different type of occupation, they will at least make it more certain that his natural abilities for an agricultural pursuit were not left unawakened.

Money value of an agricultural education

The College of Agriculture in Cornell University some time ago made an inquiry into the educational status of the farmers in a certain county of New York. It was found that out of 573 farmers, 398 had not advanced farther than the district school, 165 had attended high school one or more years, and 10 had received a college education. The 398 who had attended district school only were receiving yearly for their labor $318; the 165 farmers of high school education were receiving annually $622; and the 10 who had attended college one or more years were receiving an average of $847 income for their services.