Evening Republican, Volume 59, Number 70, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 March 1917 — Why Boys Leave the Farm [ARTICLE]

Why Boys Leave the Farm

“,Why did you leave the farm, my lad ? Why did you bolt and quit your dad? Why did you beat it off to town, and turn your poor old father down? Thinkers of platform, pulpit, press, are wallowing in deep distress, they seek to know the hidden cause why farmer boys desert their pas. Som say they long to get a taste of faster life and social waste; some say the silly little chumps mistake the suit-cards for the trumps, in wagering fresh and germless air hgainst the smoky thoroughfare. We’re all agreed the farm’s the place; so free your mind and state your case!” “Well, stranger, since you’ve been so frank, I’ll roll aside the hazy bank, the misty cloud of theories, and show you where the trouble lies. I left my dad, his farm, his plow, because my calf became his cow. I left my dad — ’twait wrong of course—'because my colt became his horse. I left my dad to sow and reap, because my lamb became his shfeep. I dropped my hoe and stuck my fork because my pig became his pork. The garden-truck-that I made grow—*twas his to sell, but mine to hoe. It’s not the smoke in the atmosphere, nor the taste for ‘life’ that brought me here. Please tell the platform, pulpit, press, no fear of toil er love of dress is driving off the farmer lads, but just the methods of their dads!” _ -