Bloomington herald. [volume] (Bloomington, I. T. [Iowa]) 1840-1849, 1842-04-08

OccupArioNs.-There is not a more io0ilsn
notion aloat ia the world than the one Thai II
is the occupation that gives character 70 the
man. One occupation, as the means OF GET
| ting a living, as the phrase goes, IS precisely
as high and creditable as another, provided
| that il be honorable and ia accordance win
| the laws Of God and man. The man VINO
| holds the pillow, hammers his iron, or drives
his peg to support his family with the neces-
| saries and comforts Of life, is not a whit pc
low the one who measures tape behind a'e
! counter, mystifes the law at the bar. or pre-
| sides at the ~counsils Of the nation. There IS
4 vulgar and most pernicious feeling ABROAD
10 the community on this subject. Fatners
mnst educate their sons for one OF what are
| called the . learned professions" Daughters
must marry, a lawyer, a doctor. a clergyman
or a merchant. Horror! the good lady would
as soon think of marrying her daughter 10 q
! Winnebago as to a homely, industrious and
honorable mechanic. Why. the family would
be disgraced, the name dishonored. No, no
the business of a carpenter, a blacksmith
or a farmer, is not so respectable as that OF
shaving notes, drawing solidity from the desk,
peddling rotten wood or pills, or selling snuff
or tobacco. And yet, the duty, Of all the
learned professions, as well as those Of a mer-
camille character, are performed for The same
reason that a shoemaker wakes his thread, and
the farmer plants his potatoes, viz to obtain
a living. Still, a set Of miserable upstart
fools, who are almost universally low bred
people themselves, people who have begun
life in the ditch. endeayor TO establish in soci-
ETY. artificial distinctions which they hope will
elevate them above the common mass from
which they were taken, and give to them an
importance when innate worth and honesty
could not commend them. Labor is labor
Honest labor is honest labor. Honest and
honorable labor are the same, whether per-
formed by the king or the beggar. and is just
as honorable in the one as in the other. 1t IS
true that all men, by habit and by taste, are
cot fitted TO pursue the same vocatlons, and
there are natural divisions, as the word is COM
monty used, created by harmony and TASTE
| This is as it should be, and fits US for the dis.
! charge of all peculiar duties that devolve upon
us as members of society. But to say that
because a man performs any given duty, how
ever humble, through necessity, degrades him
or renders him less meritorius than his neigh
Dor, who performs another duty yet more faith
| fully, is to say that we still adhere to the mo-
uarchical principles of the old world.
Let the father educate the son to some hou-
orable calling, and if he has predictions for
any particular business, as is often the case,
let him follow it if it be possible. 1t is the
man that ennobles the business, not the BUSH
ness that ennobles the man; and not spend a
thought upon the distinctions in occupations
honorable and honest, that fools have attempt
ed to build up. Let children be taught to be
honorable, honest, and upright, to set a proper
value upon the riches Of a world which is only
| at best but a bubble blown into existence to-
day TO burst to morrow; aud to understand
that the only true and enduring riches are an
intellect duly cultivated, affections schooled,
and a heart that knows no guile.-Spirit Of the
| Ace.