The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1853-11-05
From the Home Journal.
TIL. PROFESSIONS.


zion. There are only a few. for acciirnt no
| choice, determines the career Of nost Of u. Bu,
here and there, thure IS youth who, winy 4
he circumstances oi hls parents or the strength
ui hl- own determination, Is able 10 make up hi
mind what he will do III lfc, and does Il
J H. former times, young men O' this Fortunate
las embraced, 49, matter Gi trute, tie Iru
le,son lnrnls aud some of the less progre-
sIve countries uf Continental Europe, he mpjor
ny Of well born youth do so to this day. The
girls of Copenhagen sti prefer that the arms o
a sulner should encIrcle them, when they waltz
and the highest uur- of tie court and cab're
are still w,rn with the cpaulstte. 10 those coun
the, not to be soldier, l.. not to bclung to tht
eide of .ocIcty. Happily. our own army is st
small HAT arms a, n profession for educateC
gentlemen, can scarcely be said TO exist among
Us Millions Of Our citizens live and die without
ever seeing n man entitled to paint OF his trunk
the letters L. ). A.
In his republic the Law has been, till within
a few years, the iavore profession Of the iortun
ate few, The Law was the beaten path to the
, highest honors Every President but two has
been chosen from the legal profession, and would
not have chosen /! he had not been of that pro.
frssion Every Vice rrcsdetit hose names We
can now cali to mind, was a lawyer Every
man IN our time who has been prominent but
unsuccessful cardIdat. for offices, was lawyer
Every Secretary of State We believe, has been
a LAWYER. Almos, every Governor ot state
has been e lawyer Neatly every man that has
been distinguished in Cougr-s was a lawyer
The leading poIsons IN counties, towns aud villa
gcs have generally been lawyers, and down
even to the present time, the profession retains
something OF IT. former preSig. 1t Il only in the
last few years, that great merchants. great man
railroad men grea, agrIculturists, great architects
have begun to oyertop and overshadow he
wealth aud consequence Of great lawyers Law.
serE know better than We do, that the best days
of the legal profession are over and over forever
Sln plitiud codes reduce fees. Improved man
ne,s and increasing enlightenment diminish llt
ga,o,, The more men know, the better friends
:hcy are asd the better hiends men are The
more likely hey are to be able 90 settle then
d-putea without the assistance Of a cour, More
over. the grsa, hpnors Of the State, once so much
coyetcd--oncc so august aud overwhelmlng-are
now OF far les. account; because the whole coun
,ry understands that ti.ose high honors cannot
eXccp, by accident. fall upon the deserving but
are merely the stock IN trade OF small, disrepu
table class OF met, who have made q business o
politics and whose jirgon IN th. newspapers Is
even uniutelliglblc to he public. Emphaucaliy
the palmv davs of the law are over.
We believe there Is no dmnutiou ~ the mum
Der Of candidates fr such legal honors ds Grelef
there Is palpabe depreciation We cannot
speak for other places but in New York, The
el,.e oi the Young men do not as general thing
become s'u lents Of law. When they do, it is
because an uncle, or father or an intimate
friend is the possessor Of business in which there
is an opening and prospect. In fact. to create
legal business IN New York, il understood TO
lie Just one degree within an imposslblIlty. Ia
the country, it's less difficult; bu! 'o an hinora
be nan, sometimes quite impossible. For exam
ple. there is u Town about hundred miles from
New York. IN which reside four young lawyers
whose united practice "a ear ago. would have
kept a COW in toleraGie pasture. They were not
the men TO sit at their desks and patiently s'arve
On the contrary, they had no sooner got license
TO practice, and their tin plates pa'n''d' 'har
they set about making STIR in the cGunry, t'
get, us one Of them happily termed 1t, 'ihti
names up A embraced the Temperance cause
and spoke at meetings b plunged into Odd
Fe e'lowshp, and passed hs leisure moments in
is ting lodges and advocating the interest. Of the
o ID Fellows generally. went into extrenrtie-
OF prIltis and got hl- name IL the papers. ID de
voted himself To tie church, and advanced 80 far
on the road to preiermeni to he allowed IL hand
round the plat" These ,Xpedients we are IN.
form, have not been employed IN VAN aud this
! fact aloue--thc fact that such expedents conid
he successful; is almost enough OF it-eli t. PIT a
stamp ui nfmv on the profession. We do not
,hluk 1t is gons too fr 20 say, that the law is
among the last pu f.s-lont hat one would now
recommend to young man Of honor spirit and
/ talent Among IN" elder members If he legal
profess on there mcn of the first respectibili
ty, ufemin-n talent aud great worth. but il is
MT the profession FOR Young nun to choose in
the year cf ONT Lord 1858.
II is a talking profession, and is wanted in
these ds,s is action and the power Of directing
action. We want architects who To use the
language OF Mr. Grconpugh, can apply Greek
| prucl?Ie, without indicating Greek forms. This
nation, in the course Of the next fifty years. is to
be torn down and built up better, OF the two
hundred and fifty churches standing this day III
New York, not twenty will exist in the wear
| 1900 but will have tbecn replaced by better
ones, II architects can lie found 10 build them
When we consider on the one hand the rnridlty
with which property Is accumulated here. and
on The other hand, the taste universally di,fused
for masnfrencc, we cannot resist the cnnclus ion
that the Unltcd States ia abou, to furnish the
largest and h'sr field for the practice OF the
arChltecGr profession, that has ever been nj
forded at any period, in any country. But those
who practice that profession must have ideas
| Copyists we have already, and copies we have
| already. We want men who vii thoroughly
master their art, not be erslaved by it men who
will seize the great idea, that, 8cGuty is mi,ty
perfected, and make live in structures that shall
answer the purpose to admiration, yet gladden.
| the eye aud exali the taste OF those who beh.ll
them. There is grra; deal Of glory in reserve
for the men who shall adapt the art Of arehi.
lecture to the wants, the climate, the genius OF
Amerca-and not glory nlone.
We want engineers, too. Within the mex,
| fifty years thousand tunnels will have to b,
excavaled, ten thousand bridges will be built, a
million miles Of railroad mus, DO laid out, the
whole Rocky Mountain region is to be made ac
cessible and things ate to done which wc can no
mere anticipate now, than the people of the year
1900 could have anticipated railroads, teegraphs
and steamships. What "A field for men Of sci
ence and talent The American mind 10 sng,i
larly adapted to enterprise If this kind and 1t
is with the utmost confidence. that we urge
young men who can choose what they will do.
and who have no fancy for an ordinary, hum
drum career, to give the profession Of engineer,
ing serious consideration II ia profession for
q MAN II takes him out of doors, up noun.
tains, along torrents acicss pra,res, through for
ests. lie becomes intimate with nature, while
| he unes the forces vt nature to suhdu. nature
and there IL something 30 honestly. a'p,bly
and greatly beneficial IN what h. does, tha' the
nuf west Of ut,litarians cannot refuse HIM hls
respect. Look nj Colonel Scrrell who brdgrd
the Niagara before he was twenty two years old
and did the same service fr the st JOep's, IN