The River Falls journal. (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1857-1861, 1857-12-16

4 y
sons are accustomed to regard manhood,
not as a state in itself desirable and noble,
but rather as furnishing opportunities for
in those ayocations that apper-
tain to the condition of manhood. The
ambition is to be successful merchant,
distinguished lawyer, an eloquent preach
er, as the case may be, leaving other mat
tiers to take care of themselves.
This, we apprehend, is all wrong. 1t
makes the servant virtually the master.
A mans profession is no part of the man,
and should not be given the higher estIma-
ton. 1t ought to be kept in such abey-
ance that, in common acquaintance, it
would puzzle you to discover whether the
man were blacksmith or q schoolmaster.
1t is really as out Of place to display ones
business on every occasion, as for shoe
maker to bring his bench into the parlor
for the edifcation of the ladies.
A true man has no need to bring his
profession into notice because he is skilled
in its lore, and can converse more fuently
thereupon than upon other subjects. He
considers it nobody's business what his
da;iv avocation is. He is as truly man
when he meDds the city pavement at SIX
shillings per day, as when he pockets
eight dollars as Congressman. In the
former case, his range Of topics is not
confined to cobble-stones; nor, in the lat
ter, is he the mere politician. His mem
DRY is stored, his tastes cultivated, his
faculties trained in expression, his heart
expanded, his judgment matured, and
habits Of genial and digniied intercourse
with his fellows established. He stands
in bis own right, and dignifies his profes-
sion, whatever it may be, rather than Dor
rows lustre from it. He meets other men
as a man, and not as o machine. He
wears no badge Of his calling. IF q cler-
gyman, he does not proclaim the fact by
a white neck-cloth; if merchant, his
thought is not forever Of
Dimes and dollars-dollars and dimes )"
if farmer, he never wears hayseed in
his hair to prove himself such. His creed
is that the man honors the labor.
True manhood, also, allows a man to
Judge of great practical questions without
prejudice from his calling. He is able to
look at subject from all sides. He con-
siders how a project will affect men as
such, not how it will affect trade or spec
ulation. The man whose business is his
life, stands not thus. He can see no, OBJ
ject except through the medium Of his
business interests. Thus merchants, as q
body, are tinid and afraid of change. In
great moral movement they are gene
rally the last to yield to the claims Of
manhood Their eyes are bandaged by
a box of merchandise, and their ears
closed by a bale of cotton.
clustered book-worms with thoughts
on the past, and cautious clergymen with
close-cropped sylnpathies, occupy nearly
the same position. They sit in proud and
polite isolation, while the world and its
great concerns, its struggles after truth
and the better way" is toilinc around
them. They take no hold of the world
with earnest minds, strong wills, and
warm, true, and sympathetic hearts.
Their manhood is buried beneath a thick
crust of self-complacency; and if they can
keep themselves and their own interests
untouched, these def and dainty souls
would not by word or sign participate in
those movements of the people which
grow out Of considerations of right and
justice. Perhaps it was from desire
that such selfish encrustations might be
broken up, that TEEEEYsoN thus cries
out for war
dis it peace or war? better war loud war by
land and sea
War with thousand battles and shaking a
hundred thrones
For | trust, If an enemys feet came yonder
round the hill,
And the rushing battle-bolt sang from the
three-decker out of the foam,
That the smooth-faced, snub-nosed rogue
would leap from his counter and till,
And strike, if he could, were it but with his
cheating yard-wand home /"
The same thoughts hold good to some
extent in regard to all other professions
and callings. Yet, it is mainly upon the
more polished and ambitious that time
serving exerts its greatest power. Men
of humble life, whose business sits easily
upon them, whose position III the commu-
munity is determined BY love and duty,
whose hearts are kept warm at home by
woman's conscience and wonan's filth in
goodness, these are the men of noblest
manhood and manliness, who may be re-
lied on for devotion to good cause or a
noble principle. They are men of indi-
viduahty, itself style of manhood. With
them, desks and ledgers profit and loss,
dusty tones and worm-eaten dogmas, are
reckoned but dust in the balance when
humanity needs a champion, when free