Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1854-03-22
FOR THE SPIRIT OF TIE AGE.

FOR THE SPIRIT OF THE AGE.
Mr.. EDITOR: l read in the last number of
your truly valuable and interesting paper, a
most commendable Editorial article, vindica-
ting the dignity and responsibility of the Me-
chanical Professions. But while l heartily
subscribe to the wholesome truths set forth, /
can but remark" this is allvery fine theory
excellent home-moralizing-but yet how
few there are even among Mechanics them
selves, who do not renounce all these correct
teachings, in the intercourse and c~ivilities of
real life" And to this cause, is chiefly to be
ascribed the inferior estimation in which Me-
chanics and mechanical pursuits are held
A young gentleman of intelligence, virtue
and integrity is of course invested with a
laudable ambition to take respectable posi-
ton in community, where he can command
the amenities and courtesies Of polite socie-
ty, and he seeks an a~vocation that will raise,
or to say the least, not lower him in the es-
timation Of his fellow-citizens. He looks a.
round him, and finds a young gentleman of
fine mental ~endowmonts, urbane and courte-
Gus demeanor and of unexceptionable moral
integrity. He is a Mechanic, perhaps a black
smith or shoemaker-his hands are hard and
bronzed by honest toll and industry. He is
respected, it is true, in q limited sense of that
term, but his occupation is a perpetual bar
to his admission at the gay soiree, or at the
festive gatherings of his neighbors and &C
auaintances-in him it would be considered
the extreme of presumption to offer as an es-
cort to q lady Of wealth and crank" and
the scof and sneer would follow him" Why,
he's nothing but a journeyman mechanic i
What imprudent effrontery ~ And he is
secuted and the nose of derision turned up
at him. Now let US look at the other side of
the picture:
He sees a young man of coarse manners
his face is bloated by intoxication, his mouth
filed with the most shocking profanity, the
obscene Jest and ribald song are his favorite
ve~rnacular, and not unfrequently he raves
the streets an Infatuated mailman or fool, or
lays with the hog in the gutter. But he is
one of the " learned professions" or belongs
to the aristocracy, and these constitute the
great Leathean pool that washes out the foul.
; est stains of human character. He is receiv.
4. ed into polite society, is the welcome gallant
of the refined and virtuous fair, while his
gross immoralities and brutal intemperance
are made q Jest of and regarded as wild and
humorous peccadilloes. Here is the secret
Mr.. Editor, why young gentlemen of educa
ton and refinement feel a repugnance at en-
, gaging in Mechanical pursuits. 1t is not tina
heU object to or would underrate them, but
: because a miserable corrupt public opinion
brands them with disgrace-a disgrace tina
ostracises them from the circle of polite an
refined society.
But l said in the outset, that Mechanic
themselves were greatly to blame for this un
lust insult to and depreciation of honest IN
dustry and manual labor. There is a NAL
who has risen from the lowest obscurity-
\ from an humble origin he became the artif
n -. L.. o--o for4,na ho had taInnts on
ID industry and nobly battled with the advers
re circumstances that would keep him in tn
vale of obscurity. He was the advocate an
defender of the working mantle Mechani
and they rallied around him and gladl
' owned and honored their champion. 500
IL favor. wealth and renown were his -thos
ut who had once rejected and scorned the hun
IT, bic Mechanic, were now the fawning sycC
plants and fatterers of the prosperous pop'
,s lar mantle giddy height to which he is pr
NOTED is too much for his inflated pride, an
: he looks down with cold neglect and cOnteml
: upon his former fast friends, forgets the p
- from which he has been digged, and puts @
the airs of the veriest aristocrat in the LAM
or Peer into his richly furnished halls, the ga
ly festive throng are there assembled-but WI
m are they ? Are they those " natures nobl
- men," of whom he once so vauntlngly spoke
~ Are thew the Mechanics, Jne udru-nSGeu yO
q, manry,6 whom he has beslayered with b
hit fulsome praise when he needed their aid 2
to No, indeed-ah, yes, there are one, or tw
r-' or three, who like himself have ridden upo
as tho top wave of prosperity to the goal of su
To- To- cess-but is "Young America" there-t
d, Young Mechanics, of intelligence and respe
IN, liability, who need and can be benefited nc
as by such notices at his hands? Not one
cd they are forgotten and fOrsaken. But ofwho
is that gay and festive throng composedY
~ OF LAWYERS, and doctors, and merchants,
IN lordly aristocrats, who never before we
seen in that circle! So it is, Mechanics {
Oh Grade themselves and their fellows IN I'll
way. and it cannot be wondered a. that you
ity men should wish to avoid an avocatlon til
Q. proscribes them, of itself, from the circle
aar polite and refined society.
in Ihave said more, by ten-fold, than | exp
ted. MI. Editor but as long as a green o
list Is considered more respectable than a leatf
apron-a box of pills than the fulcrum a
lor lever-a counter-hopper thar the genius
~ y Franklin, so long will men eschew those
to o~cations that brand them with neglect G
red tempt and disgrace.
-af- "Custom doth often reason overrule,
And only serves for reason to the fool.
rd- - y y
ug. I" Harshly falls
the The doom upon the ear" He's not genteel !