Southport telegraph. [volume] (Southport, W.T. [i.e. Kenosha, Wis.]) 1840-1850, 1840-06-30
THE MECHANIC IN STRAITS.

Historians have been busy for several
thousands of years, but they have not de-
scribed any one class OF men which is ex
empt from trouble. The most sturdy beg
gars, in the great para lise Of mendicity are
sometimes brought to non-plus. Belisa-
RUS, the champion of the wealthiest empire
yet recorded, was reduced 10 beg his far
thing And European King, in the last
century, died penniess in England.
After this becoming preface, we may so
fairly to work on our subject. heartily
sympathize with the man who is reduced
to want without his own fault; especially if
he is man who earns his bread with the
sweat Of his brow; and most of ALL if he
has to share his sorrow and loss with q con-
fiding wife and helpless children. There
are many such, for we meet them in almost
every walk, downcast and unemployed;
There are more than we at first suppose,
for the greatest sufferers shun the glare Of
observation.
American mechanics are said to love mo-
ney, and Mrs. Trollopc writes, that one
cannot hear two Americans talking togeth-
cr for five minutes, without the repetition
of the word dollar. Jeremy Bentham makes
the same remark Of the lower English, eX-
cept that for dollar he reads beer. Euro
ropeans seem resolved to fix or us the
charge of loving gold. If this be true in
any dlscreditable sense, it is so in sense
different from that Of the oldcn time. The
money-lover of our day is bad enough, but
he is not the miser Of old stories lie
grasps but does not hoard The excitement
which drives him on TO rapid gains is only
one branch Of q wider excitement having
many branches, characteristic Of our time
and country, and susceptible ola direction
to good as well as evil. The oid-tme mo-
ney-maker was tortoise, land when a storm
came he closed his shell. The modern
money-makcris bird of the air; the tenn
pest trenches and peradvcnture SUNS him,
but at the first laughing sunshine he is again
on the wing. Let the mechanic in straits
hope strongly for deiverancc. Many are
now reduced to great difficulties by chan
ges in the commercial world, which they
had no hand in producing. In such cir
cumstances, when the father Of a family
sees the dearest object Of his affections
brought into want and distress, there is
Il great temptation to dsconten: and repi-
ming. This tendency mest be resisted; it
never did any good, and it never can. No
r,an ever gained by grumbling. Complaint,
determinations, and even curses, serve nei-
Their to make the hunger smaller nor the
loaf larger. Stick pin there and consi-
der Here is a startling point
Not many hours ago heard Uncle Ben
iamin discoursing this matter to his son,
who was complaining Of the pressure.
'Rcly upon it Sammy said the old man,
as he leaned on his staff, with his gray
locks flowing in the breeze Of May NOR
ming, 'murmuring pays no bills. have
been an observer any time these fifty years,
and never saw man helped out of hole
by cursing his horses. Be as quiet as you
can, for nothing will grow under q moving
harrow, and discomfort harrows the mind.
Matters are bad, i acknowledge, but no ul-
Ger is any the better for lingering. The
more you groan the poorer you grow.
'Replning at losses is only putting pep
per into sore eye. Crops will fail in all
soils, and we may be thankful that we have
not q famine. Besides. always took no.
tice that whenever felt the rcd pretty
smartly, it was as much as to say, 'Here
is something which you have got to learn
Sammy, don't forget that your schooling is
not over yet though you have wife and
Two children
AVE. cried Sammy, 'you may say that,
and motherinlaw, and two apprentices
into the bargain. And | should like to
know what poor man can learn here,
when the greatest scholars and lawyers are
at Ioggerheads, and can't for their lives
Softly, Sammy! | am older than you.
have not got these gray hairs and this
crooked back without some burdens. |
could tell you stories of the days Of CONT
mental money, when my grandfather used
to stuff sulky box with bills in order to
pay for yearling of a heat fan; and
when Jersey women used thorns for pins,
and laid their teapots away in the garrett.
You wish TO know what you may learn!
You may learn these seven things:
First, That you have saved too little and
spent too much. | never taught you TO be
a miser, but have seen you giving your
dollar for 4 notion when you might have
laid one half aside for charity, and another
half for rainy day.
Second, That you have gone too much
upon credit. | always told you that credit
was shadow; it shows that there is SUBJ
stance behind, which casts the shadow; but
small body may cast great shadow; and
no wise man will follow the shadow any
further than he can see substance; you
may now learn that you have followed the
Il ~ 4 Al