Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1857-03-18


We put the question in references TO the
great body of American youth, who are to
earn their bread by the sweat of their brows,
and under Providence, to WELD the future
destinies of our country. Two principles
should govern Teach them to provide for
themselves h~onoraply, under any ordinary
contingeney-and qualify them TO become
useful to society. The times, as well as uni
~yersal experience, a~bundantly admonish as,
that however the children of wealth may in
dulge in Incidence and dissipation-while
their means last-the great mass of Ameri.
can youth must, and ought, to depend upon
their labor for their for and their use.
~fulness. Fortune is at best precarious pat
rimonial dependence is uncertain, and reli-
ance upon the friendship or charity Of the
world, or upon Office, is fraiI and often deba-
sing. Self dependence is the only sure stay.
We are ever most willing to help those who
kelp themselves. Productive labor is the
legitimate source of all our wealth, individu-
al and national and this labor is profit
: able to the individual and to the nation, in
| proportion to the measure of intelligence and
3 scientific knowledge which guide and direct
9 its operations. Hence, it is of primary i'm
o portance, that our youth should be e~ficient-
ly taught 10 labor, and that their minds
should be early imbued with that kind Of
g knowledge which will instruct them in the
a. principles of their business, render it hon
S orable, and make them Independent in con.
duet and in fortune.
We have, to be sure, colleges and acade
to mics in abundance. But these are in a meas
o. ure consecratcd to the learned professions
is to the privileged few-for they are p~Fivileg
ng ed, inasmuch as they are the exclusive re
ri cipients of the higher branches of learning
Productive labor derives little or no advar
n, tage from their teachings. Few Of the yout
who enter their halls ever seek for a Iivel
hood in the laboring arts. They learn I
look upon labor, as serYile and d~emeaninI
sed and to see their level in what they considt
ge, the higher classes of society. They do N
an go to these schools to learn to work, or
mas learn to live by work-in the common mea
TOO ing of these terms-but to learn TO live wit
ing out work-above work. They are virtual
be withdrawn from the producing classes.
; These young aspirants flock to the learn
'gln professions, and the geDteel employment
the as the avenues to honors and to Office ; a.
DE Notwithstanding that labor is taxed heavi
ton in one way or another, to supply their n
han or imaginary wants, yet the genteel prof
edu- sions have become so overstocked, and
!, II threshold of power SO thronged with supE
Is cants, that hundreds and thousands
and thrown back, parasites, upon society, exf
nose iting the melancholy spectacle of men, b
able to be useful, hut unable, or unwilling, fl
'peet the bias of a wrong education, to become
Had these men been taught to look u
'ked, work.as it truly is, a health
iFssrv independent and HONORABLE employment,
hence been instructed in its principles and its p
one, tice, while young, they would have cheris
posed its interests, respected its virtues, and oh
e not fully shared in its tolls and its pleasure
their We seek not, by these remarks, to pull d
quite that which is, but to build up that whiC
ng to not. 1t is not that we love a part less,
will the whole more. We would raise the s
.eerful dard of labor, without depressing thu
ng to literature.