Is it any wonder that the country-bred boy is nearly always the leader; that he heads the banks, the great mercantile houses?
It is this peculiar, indescribable something; this superior stamina and mental caliber, that makes the stuff that rises to the top in all vocations.
There is a peculiar quality of superiority which comes from dealing with _realities_ that we do not find in the superficial city conditions.

The life-giving oxygen, breathed in great inspirations through constant muscular effort, develops in the country boy much greater lung power than is developed in the city youth, and his outdoor work tends to build up a robust constitution.

Plowing, hoeing, mowing, everything he does on the farm gives him vigor and strength.

His muscles are harder, his flesh firmer, and his brain-fiber partakes of the same superior quality.

He is constantly bottling up forces, storing up energy in his brain and muscles which later may be powerful factors in shaping the nation's destiny or which may furnish backbone to keep the ship of state from floundering on the rocks.