The Maccabaean

THE war has demonstrated that the world is full of ideals, that in the brain of the clerk or farm boy there is, a passion for righteousness, that courage has never been a monopoly of the age of chivalry, that vision, galantry, and unalterable purpose may be found in profuse abundance in the mass which Lincoln called the "common people." It took a great war, a common menace to the peace of the world, to bring out the qualities of a great people that it was feared had died with the founders of the republic or its preservers from slavery.

THE CITY CONCEPTION OF THE FARMER'S CAREER

The National Farm School since its existence has been the soil that has brought forth, though not in so spectacular a way, similar qualities in Jewish young men seeking a career in agriculture. Picture the average Jewish youth who has heard of farming. His environment has been that of the city. Whether wealthy or poor his parents and his friends worship at the altar of the city professions. Failing those, it must be a city business, and failing that, a city store occupation. All manual labor is menial, and the most menial of them is farming, which is associated in the minds of the parent with the Bauer, the mujik or the peasant. Certainly the hard manual toil that they have observed on their cursory excursions to the country does not appeal to them as a fit occupation for their boy.

But within the breast of the boy is the longing of the primitive Jew that maturity stifles. He has not yet learned to worship the fetish of the city and he longs to do things with his hands. His heart sickens at the thought of the drab career in the city, and his youth enables him to truly evaluate the bright lights, and to disdain the false standards that characterize much of the modern urban life. However, the longing at best is vague, undefined, devoid of any definite knowledge on the subject. His examination of contemporary agricultural literature does not help him to get a clearer idea of the nature of the work, its requirements or its possibilities. Sometimes his longing for agriculture is merely the result of a general dissatisfaction with the course in store for him if he remains in the city. All these emotions are to some extent crystallized when for the first time he

stumbles upon the fact that the National Farm School exists.

True, he may have prior to that time heard of the wonderful work that is being done by the American Agricultural Colleges in the various states, but he soon learns that the courses in these colleges are largely theoretical and are particularly designed for students who already have had a practical farm training. Moreover, the requirements for admission and the heavy expense connected with a college career may act as deciding de- terring factors in turning him from his dream. When the Farm School Bulletin reaches him he finds that there is nothing in the way to an agricultural career if he truly desires it. Good physical and mental health, an eighth grade education and a sincere desire to study agriculture paves the way. The fact that

THE QUALITIES DEMANDED

Whatever false notions he may have had about the method pursued at the National Farm School for the instruction of agriculture are dispelled the moment he sets foot on Farm School ground. If he had expected a lot of students being drilled in how to superintend farms by being driven around in a car and being shown how others do the work he is likely to be shocked to find the entire student body attired in the prevailing season's farm fashions, overalls, sleeveless shirts in the summer, and with sleeves in the winter. The next few hours sees the breaking of every traditional horror he may ever have had of cleaning horses, milking cows or pitching manure. In fact he finds that into some of these duties he will not be initiated until he has entered the aristocracy of the Junior class.

The National Farm School requires an unusual type of boy, a youth who has ideals, in whom surges the spirit of the pioneer, who can withstand the pessimism of his friends and above all a boy who has no false notions about the gay life of the city. Staying at the school now demands a new set of qualities. Never could he have dreamt what was