New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1857-02-02
who is Really Iindep,endel,t ? :

In oreof the statutes passed in the reign Of Henry
the Eighth, ideness is characterized in good saxon
English, as being the mother of all SIM TWAS the
philosophy Of those medieval times in fact to regard
as mans duty first to serve and honor his Creator
and next to he skilled in craft or business so as
to avoid coming in contact on the Commonwealth Tor
support. Theacqustion even ofearning was regarded
as but Of secondary importance. citizen, it was
held, might be good citizen, even though he could
not read Homer in the original, but not il he wanted
the ability to maintain himself The last was abso
lutey essential the first as general rule, was not
IT. through thrift, energy and industry the ordinary
citizen acquired competence, then the study OF the
liberal arts nigh be properly undertaken. But till
then the first duty Of every one who was not heir to
large estate, was to learn some business. u was IN
this way to quote again the words OF the Old STATUTE
that our forefathers took that their children
when grown up, should not be driven, from want or
incapacity, /" to dishonest courses"
We have made great advances in many things since
that time, but we doubt il in this particular, we have
not gone back Not that our generation attaches too
much Importance to schools and schoomasters. 1t Is
impossible to have books readers or teachers in eX
cess But those old times certainly surpassed our own
in the dignity they impaired to labor and IN the pub
lie opinion which expected every man to have some
craft or profession by which to earn his bread Edu
cation was then considered to include something more
than book-learnng, and was regarded, in its true
sense, as the forming of the entire character. The
first requisite for the respectable citizen was, that he
should be able to maintain himself because, without
this ability, he could not really be independent and
was liable through illness, to fall into evil courses.
Hence the child from earliest infancy, was taught
to look forward to life Of active work as the highest
dignity of manhood. Hence every citizen, whatever
his rank, "pulled at the laboring oar" each in his
own sphere it is true, but not the less ndustrously
for that. From the king his throne to the peasant
in his hut all worked and all worked hard There were
no drones in those days. The class of men with
which modern society abounds, the class that lives
only for show, luxury or pleasure, was utterly I'M
known. The rich did not consider that their wealth
entitled them to spend their lives in selfish idleness
The poor were not tempted to look on labor as dis
graceful and to prefer comparative Starvation to com
fort and independence. .-z.... .., w..
At present it is different. Atpresent false notion
extensively prevails that if labor is not absolutely
disgraceful it is at least mark of genty to have
nothing to DO Under the Influence Of this absurd idea
hundreds of parents who have acquired but moderate
fortunes are bringing up their children in elegant
idleness forgetting that the estate which supports
one household will not sustain those OF dozen de-
scendents and that even if it would wealth may take
wings and fly away. Then great cities, in conse
quence are crowded with men educated to great ex
pectations, but now literally penness and who live
in consequence, from hand to mouth the honest Of
them starving for more than half their time, the dis
honest practlcing all the arts of swndling and finally
of crime Even parents who have no fortunes at all
often bring up their sons in idleness ut is vulgar,
they say, to put them to trade" And thus
plentiful crop of shiftess, purposeess, vagrant goot
for-nothng young men are annually turned loose OF
society, to infict other young men by their example
to live parasiticaliy the community and to die il
the almshouse or jail if not under the gallows.
He only is truly independent who is master of hi
own fortunes. No man is master of his own fortune
unless he has learned handicraft, studied pro
tession, or acquired habits OF business. Such man
even if he should be rich and afterwards becom,
poor, can never be otherwise than independent fo
he is secure of his daily bread, keep out of debt
and need fear to look fellow being therefore in thu
face. 1t would be better for modern society if i
if it insisted that every Child should be brought VI
to do something for living if it honored the WORKER
more than the drone, and rated the honest laborel
above the rich and idle Baltimore Sum-