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Show PETS FOR THE GROWING BOY Rabbits, Pigeons and Especially Bantam Ban-tam Chickens Are Dear to Heart of Developing Lad. (By PROF. JOHN WILLABD BOLTE.) Farming might be defined as the art of producing valuable crops from the soil and disposing of these soil ptoducts in a profitable manner. This definition is lame, academically, but It carries our 'nica The backyard farmer must include a great many other factors In his operations, op-erations, as the pecuniary profits he derives are of much less importance than the beautifying of his surroundings surround-ings and of the lives of his entire family. fam-ily. No intelligent person can live amid beautiful ennobling scenes without with-out being influenced for the better, even though it be unconsciously. In the same mafmer, bare, sterile, uninteresting unin-teresting homes tend to have an ad- veres effect upon their inhabitants, which will affect them throughout , their entire lives. Thoughtful people are realizing more and more that unless the mind j Is In sympathy - with nature, unless j the garden of each person's inner self I is fertile and responsive to cultivation, cultiva-tion, there is small hope of betterment better-ment frcm outside influence. The adult mind which has been denied helpful influences may become impervious imper-vious to them In time, but the hope of the racejies In his children. The child's mind is a fertile garden, gar-den, which cannot produce Its own flowers and fruit, but which responds readily to the treatment it receives, and bears fruit or evil weeds according accord-ing to what we plant therein and how It is cultivated. One of the mosUbeautiful and hope-j hope-j ful things about the whole scheme of I creation is. to our mind, the fact that j every normal child is born square with the world. He inherits neither j his parents bodily or mental diseases. I But from the instant he first cries, his future depends almost absolutely I upon the care he receives. Parents of children have wonderful opportunity to better themselves and the entire world by making their own children better- than their parents, physically and mentally. This is the only way we have of repaying to our parents their sufferings and deprivations depriva-tions In bringing us to manhood and womanhood. There comes a time In every boy's life when the childish amusements no longer suffice, and he seeks interests out of doors. This is the time when the mother ceases to have an eye on his every movement and he begins to associate with other boys of his own age, but of totally different bringing up, in many cases. As far as possible, your boy should be kept under observation at this time, as he is at the crucial stage. Make his home more Interesting and have his playmates there, so that you can see that he Is associating with helpful children, rather than harmful ones. Nothing serves to make home interesting inter-esting to boys at this age so much as pets of their own. It is a calamity to have a boy grow up without having owned a dog of his own. , Rabbits, pigeons and especially bantam ban-tam chickens, are dear to the heart of the developing lad, and he is just as much entitled to the helpful companionship com-panionship of pets as he is to a school education. Let him have full responsibility respon-sibility for them, and the results will take care of themselves. |