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r we thank Thee. Father we thank Thee. For fest and shelter of the hol ir we thank Thee. For health and food, for Jove nd fri shores of Scugog, to" go Be re form of : caller material and inion contintions story. if possible, & Bitio thn ror be true to life un-f and adventure the}: Letters from a Self- Made Farmer to His Son Oakville, Ontario, October 23, 1912 To Mr. James Tompkins, Port Perry, Ontario. Dear Jim-- It's coming Indian Summer time and as we didn't get much of any other kind, I'm making good use of it, and feel too lazy to write letters. but I come acrost a thing in Successful Farming, and when I got through reading of it, I say: "Them's my sentiments too." Here it is: "It is hard to make a contented farmer of a boy whose father is not genuinely interested in his occupation. Interest is contagious,and an enthusiastic and intelligent parent will, or ought to have, little diffi- culty in passing these characteristics down to his sons. ., The great "trouble with many of those boys who grow up witha dislike for the farm is that they see their parents dissatisfied or unsuccessful in the same calling "From the very cradle the boy must be taught to understand and 'love the farm. It must be a real home to him., He must be in al} the 'confidences of the place. from the secrets of the growth of the _'grain, to the no less interesting ones of the deep pools where the fish lie in the shadows. It should be a place in which 'he can look for recreation as well as labor, for pleasure as well as profit. © He must niever be taught to seein it a monster which gives a grudging recom. pense of plain food and skimped clothing for long hours of toil. Not that the plain living Will hurt him any, it will be good for him. But he must not be allowed to get the idea that the sparingness is the in- herent fault of the farm, Once let him get it into his head that the place is to blame for whatever economy circumstances may make ad- visable, and he'is done with farming henceforth and forever. If strict economy must be practised--and a certain amount is always advisable --teach him to look at it from the standpoint of its real purpose and value, and not as a penalty to be laid on the family "becauge the farm doesn't pay." Keep the truth before him that the frm will. pay if rightly handled. Then go to work acd teach him how to, make it pay. * oi 4 Ag soon as the little fellow i is old enough to dig in the dirt with shovel, he is old enough to begin to study farming, The four-year- watching with shining eyes the bean that he*planted 'himself as -they struggle up into the sunshine, has had his first lessan. He has ":learned that there is a beautiful, wonderful life in the dry seed, and more than that he has leaned to 'make it grow. Right then is the time to teach him what the plant needs to make 1t develop properly. Thay done, the first lesson in agriculture is complete, and the first cords are spun that will bind him to the farm. =. "Most men' think they haven't any time to "bother with the kids," But, when it comes to summing the thing all up, it takes more time and trouble to teach a boy to farm intelligently than it does to fill his place with hired help when he leaves home because he lackg that interest and knowledge that his father might have given him, plant. i Tt ma eo in the : lad in those things that he needs to know it. If the little. fellow knows that