The Illinois free trader. (Ottawa, Ill.) 1840-1841, 1841-03-26

entire imports, expended in luxury and
extravaganza.
Occupations.
There is not mors foolish notion ailoat
in the world, than the one that it is the 0c-
cupaiiOn that gives character TO the man.
One occupation, as the means or"gotting a
living" as the phrase goes, is precisely as
high and crcditable as another, provided
that it be honorable, and in accordance
with the laws Of God and man. The man
who holds the plough, hammers his iron,
or drives his peg to support himself and
his family, with the nccessaries anu COM
forts Of life, is not a whit below the one
who measures tape behind the counter,
mysiiies the law at the bar, or prcsides a,
the councils of the nation. There is n vul-
gar and most pernicious feeling abroad
in the community on this subject. Fa-
Tiers must educate their sons for one of
what are called "the learned professions"
Mothers must marry their daughters to a
lawyer, a doctor, clergyman, or a mer-
chant. Horror! the good lady would as
Sum ,hinh of marrying hcr daughter to j
Winnebago, as to a homely, industrious,
and honorable mechanic. Why, the ia
nly would be disgraced, the name disho-
nored. No, no The business of a car
pentcr, blacksmith, or farmer, is no,
so respectable Of that Of shaving notes,
drawing siolidity from the desk, peddling
rotton wood for pills, or selling snuff and
tobacco. And yet the duties Of all the
learned professions, as well as those of 4
mercantile life, arc performed for the same
reason that the shoemaker wakes his
thread, and the farmer plants his potatoes
namely, 10 obtain a iiring. People who
lave begun life in the ditch, endeavour to
establish in society artificial distinctions
distinctions which they yainly hope will
elevate them above the common mass
from which they were taken, and give TO
them an importance which innate worth
and honesty could not command for them.
Labor is labor--lioncsl labor is honest
labor. Honest and honorable labor are
the same, whether performed by the king
or the beggar, and is just as honorable in
the one as the other II is true that all
men, by habif and by taste, are not
fitted to pursue the same vocaliona,
and that there arc natural divisions, not
distinctions, as the word is commonly
used, created by habi, and taste. This is
as i; should be, and fits us for a discharge
of all the peculiar duties that dcvolvc up
on us as members Of society. But to say
that, because a man performs any given
duty, however humble, though necessary
that duty may be, necessarily degradcs
him, or renders him less meritorious than
his neighbor, who performs another duty,
yet not more faithfully, is to say that we
still adhere to the monarchical principles
of the old world.
Let the father educate his son TO some
honorable calling, and if he have predi-
lection for any particular business, as is
often the case, let him follow it, if it be
possible---it is the man that cnnobles the
business, not the business that cnnoblcs
the mainland not spend thought upon
the distinctions in occupations, honorable
and honest, that fools have attempted to
build up. Let children be taught TO be
honorable, honest, and upright; to set a
proper value upon the riches of world
which is only, at best, bubble, blown
into existence to-day to burst tomorrow,
and to understand that the only true and
real distinctions in society are those of
virtue and vice, and that the only true
and enduring riches are an intellect duly
cultivated, affections schooled, and heart
that knows no guile.-SpirH Of the age.