Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1849-06-30
[CoNMUNicArEp.1 /
THE LEARNED pRorEssIoNs.

at the numerous failures of those, who
have embarked in professional life. The
very men, whose mental powers have
never been sufficiently energized to at
tain to eminence in either of the depart
men;s of Law, Physic. or Divinity, will,
With the uta,ost arrogance, take upon
themselves the task of warning the rising
generation against the fate of the disap-
pointed and broken-hearted aspirant.-
tits, indeed a matter of deep regret, that
such a tribe should exercise one particle
of influence in keeping young men of
genius and energy deep ritired in the low
vale of obscurity, where the sullsn gloom
can never be broken by a single ray Of
fame. II is still more lamentablc that
the merest drones of society should cast
an extinguishing damp upon the fires of
thatn noble and cumulative ambition, which
is always characteristic of the generous
and the gifted, when first they appear
npon the arena of public life. Its often
aquestion of grave import with parents
and guardians, whether youth of talents
and industry should choose one of the
learned professions, or engage in one of
the three great branches of human in
dustry--Commeree, Mechanics, or Ag-
f;culture. The last being the most ir,-
portant, | propose to discuss the subject
with reference to that alone; though the
clam of the others to eminent utility is
not disputed. When to the question
proposed the test of truth comes to be
rightly app'' \, l amfully persuaded that
neither the sdiscontcnted murmurings, nor
the discouraging example of that class
of men, to which have before alluded,
can weigh a single feather in the scale of
argument. Truth is mighty, and it will
prevail" Yes! Trnth is like the Rock
of Ages" it can never be shaken from
its everlasting foundations. And when
the magic of its enlightment is applied to
the apparent difficulties, which meet us
On the very threshold of discussion, we
find that professional life, instead of being
sort Of "maelstrom" which engulphs
every thing that could render existence
desirable, is in very deed garden---an
Eden. where bloom the flowers of i'm
mortality! In confirmation of this, it is
only necessary to cite the intelligent
reader to Blackstone in the law, to Galen
in physic, to Chalmers in divinity, to
Newton in science, to West in art, TO
Shakespeare in literature, to Bounaparte
in arms. and to Calhoun in political phil
oSophy. But this is only summary
catalogue of that ipnumerable host of
worthless, whose memories through the
medium of the different professions win
be handed down green and living to the
latest posterity. Let us for a moment
contrast the two ayocations. The pro,
duce of the farmer is no less ephemeral
than the foiiage of the forests, by which
his fields are bounded. but the produc-
tions of the professional man are mote
durable than monuments of brass" or
the pyramids Of Egypt. The farmer
produces nutriment for the pcfishable
body, but the professor creates the am.
brosial food of the soul. The poor man
pays out his money grdgipgly for the
bread which he buys Of the farmer but
the mobiles of the earth, and "Beaaty's
rosc-ip band" conspire in doing honor to
the professional man, If then a brilliant
career Of usefulness, and an eternal and
worldwide fame is more in corsonance
with the aspirations of the undying spirit
Of man, than o opposition below medioen-
ty in the land of the living. and dark OBJ
liyion after death, 50 is q profession pre-.
tcrable to agriculture.
~ do not wish 10 be understood as
speaking in tlerogation OF agriculture.