Kenosha tribune & telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1856-1859, 1857-10-29
Let Them Learn Trades.

There is a very general disposition, especiall,
; among the weaker minded men and the softes
) class Of women, to have their boys come ~
without mechanical trades or knowledge of othe
manual labor, as reliance for future years
The other day an advertisement was inserted il
our columns by a party wanting lad fifteen OIL
sixteen years old with direction TO apply at the
HeTutd office. For several days boys were cali
| ing upon us TO know what store tcantcd clerk
4 and several women wished to be informed if it
| was dry goods store that advertised. When
they were told that boy was wanted for an ap
prentice 10 mechanical trade, most of them turn
ed away and asked no further questions, though
the business was such as pays to jonrneyman
| as much as the average income of lawyers, ply
| sicians, clergymen, editors or teachers, in the
| State of Massachusetts,. 1t really began to les
| sen our estimate of the common sense
of community TO see how many par
eilts wanted their boys to measure nusiins and
sell tape. rather than.to have substantial bus
mess that would, make them independent i'll any
part of the world /; and we had less hope for the
future, when we saw how many boys were i'm
\ bued with the false notion that labor was less
respectable, and it was more worthy of their am
| bltion to be clerks. ai'a .'f 4
Usually IT happens that these views are held
either by persons who are now poor, or who have
sprung from poverty recently. How often do
we hear such sayings, Il do not mean that my
boys shall work as have;' or IL will give my
boys learning, and that is the best can do tor
them and they will be able TO take care of them
selves" 1t is very natural that parents should
desire to smooth the way of life for their children
but Is it not plain before the eyes OF all that more
young persons suffer-fail TO deyelope themselves
tor good, or incline TO mischief and ylce-len
times over-from too little than too much to dot
Ii there is nothing in the child born to-day, that
shall tit him tor gre at acts such as should distin-
guish public or professional life, is 1t not welt
that he should be educated and trained that he
should be useful in some other calling, and indie
pendent from the labor of his hands, which are
his patfimony and his fortune land. if natural
ly he has talent and genius, will he not lind 1t out
as quickly, and rise soon, from behind work
bench a counterl-with u hammer IN his hand,
as yard-stick! Nothing is more unre liable for
the future than clerkship 1t may at first be
more agreeable to wear finer clothes and have
cleaner hands, than the poor boy who has the
smell Of the honest cattle upon him; but coming
time will show the advantage TO be on the other
side; and most sorrowiuily will three quarters OF
the boys eager to lind places Ill the stores re-
member the day when they refused, and perhaps
despised, the place of mechanic apprentice,
or tue farm lad that drove oxen and loaded ma
nuTe. 5G 2. ~
Equally also is the idea of the unintormed up
on education, learning OF schools, for success IN
lite. If our education was true, and thorough,
readily say, give the lad learning, 1t is his
portion. But when we have to take our sons
lrOIu even the high schools, and SEND them ~ The
commercial schools to tit them tor the counting
room; and when they find they have no quahh-
cations III graduating from the university over
the q amman school scholars, Tor ordinary busi-
ness, we must confess that as q means Ut liyeIi-
mood, learning is of little avail. The man who
sends his school is bound further 10 direct
him III inc way where his knowledge Will be
practical, or OF all persons that son may DO the
most unfortunate and the most unhappy. Hun.
dreds and thousands of persons there are, CT ed
ucation as we term it, who are absolutely super
nunlerarles i'll the world, without the ability to
ser themselves to work, without the means OF iiv-
ing, without employment, and without friends
~ assist them. Some are simply useless while
they live, aud die to be forgotten at once; others
are burdens to their friends, unhappy that life is
failure to them and rendering others unhappy
around them; and more still, disadccted and
soHred, first complain that they are not appreci-
ated and then affirm that the world owes them
a living, sink into bad habits and finally ruin
There are any number OF them III our prisons to-
day, who are there for want of employment
They did not know what TO do with themselves,
till they committed crime, and were harmed to
The cell.
|, Ii there is anything, in addition to the cop-
mon advantages the schools, that are open to
ali, that can give health and happiness, indepen
dence, pecunary and mental activity OF mind
and nobleness of thought, and hence pave the
way Tor future Advancement, II there be mental
and moral foundation for preterment. it is in
struction in some trade or calling to which any
man may turn at any time Of lite, and be sure,
by the honest labor of his own hands, by his
own skill aud industry, to obtain competence
for himself and family. If III after years other
paths Of usefulness open to him, and he has no
seed to use his quadrant to navigate his hoe in
farming, or his hammer and saw in building he
can dispense with them and be none the more
the less man therefore; but if on the contrary
he relies upon wealth, it may take TO itself
wings and fly away upon salary, it may fail /;
upon trade, 1t may turn against him or upon
genius, it may never be recognized till he is dead
and his children paupers. In this world there
is much that would be of advantage TO know
that can be dispensed wth-much that it would
be pleasant TO have for enjoyment: but since
men rise or fall by themselves. and not by names
or families that knowledge, always reliable Tor
bre ad, can in no wise be dispensed with, and
the possession Of an independent and manly spir--
it, that never leans upon others, 1t is most un
fortunate to be acknowledgements Head.