Lewistown gazette. [volume] (Lewistown, Pa.) 1843-1944, 1857-06-18
1lSGGA D A u ROUS.
EXTRAVAGANCE AND WANT.

ne Reading journal truly remarks
that too many people aCW not Work 1hey
possibly can aUOid 1t. In their hurry TO
grow rich, the cultivation of the soil is
neglected. The young men of the day,
who constitute by far the largest class in
the new States and Territories, cannot con-
tent themselves with the slow, but at the
same time sure plan of securing a compe-
tence, by steady, perseverng labor and
frugal living. They must have their fine
clothes, their fast horses. and a thousand
et ceteras of which their fathers never
dreamed. They regard labor as degrading
and turn for 'specuIation" as The true
philosophers stone discovered by Yankee
enterprise. They tire of the isolation
and monotony Of agricultural life, and pant
for something more stirring and exciting,
something, too, that will promise quicker
and more splendid returns. They forsake
the pIoughed field for the crowded mart,
become consumers instead of producers
and the country, so far from being bene-
flied by their exertions is actually impov-
ershed. 1t is on this account that we
hear such gloomy accounts from the west
the fertile west, that scarcely needs a
ploughshare to bring forth the most abun-
dant returns.
Nor is the prospect in the east much
better. Let any of our readers, here al
home, look around him, and he will not
fail 10 observe that the same spirit Of spec
uiatIon and extravaganza is abroad in our
midst. How often is The property accu-
muIa!ed by long years of industry and
frugaity, wasted by habits of ideness and
dissipation, induced by those who for the
sake of gain, and to live without toll, use
the very staff Of life to spread abroad the
seeds of moral and physical degradation
! How eager the desire to enter upon any
pursuit, no matter how disreputabIe, if
labor forms no part OF lis requirements
/
/ place that affords an easy competence at
/ the expense of the masses! How careful,
in the selection Of u calling, 10 choose one
| in which manual eXertion forms no part
How deep-seated the prejudice against la
Dor, and Iaboring men! How decided the
disincliuatiOn to follow the pIew, to ply
! the shuttle, to WELD the hammer, or TO en-
gage actively in any mechanical or agri-
/ cultural employment that involves com
| Pllance with the penalty to sweat and toll,
| provided less onerous means exist TO get
! Iiyelihood and how immediate the transi-
! ton from labor to ease as soon as the
means will warrant its indulgence! Even
| the very boys, scarce out of leading strings,
/ exhibit a precocious sense of easy indie
| pendence and aversion 10 every sort Of toll;
and as for parental government, one
would suPPose-to Judge by the samples
of Young America iniesting our streets
and crowding our 'corners'-lhat it never
existed. Restraint is no longer brooked
by these young rapscallions. They claim
it as an "inalienable right TO do as they
| please, and so thoroughly is this feeling
engralted in their natures, and submitted
to by their elders, that it may well be said
| there is "none to modest or make them
afraid" The good old apprentice system
under which cur fathers acquired their
! habits of industry and means of thrift, has
long since died out. In a word, we speak
of course i'll general sense, whether as
boy or man, nothing but the cireSt lcceS-
Sity will insure compliance with the de-
sign of Providence, that bread is to be
made, or earned, by the sweat of the brow
by steady, persevering, we'll directed,
| and actual 1OOrk.
And how is it with the other sex! Let
their hoops, and their furbelows and gew-
gaws answer, for they are more eloquent
than any words of ours. The race of 1cO-
men is fast becoming extinct-and with 1t
those glorious, good old mothers, that made
it an especial pride and care to bring up
their children in the way they should 60.
The daughters of the year of grace '57 are
all 'tadies,' who think it disgrace to soil
their pretty hands with SO oId-fashioned
and pie5ian an occupation as work. They
emulate tie lilies of the field, and toll not,
neither do they spin, yet Solomon in all
his glory, was not arrayed like one OF
these No wonder negro Slavery is