The Athens post. [volume] (Athens, Tenn.) 1848-1917, 1859-10-14
'professfonai Gentlemen,

= The following from the Albany Knick-
abocker is worthy of second reading:
"What asses most parents are +; from
some unaccountable cause, thew all wish
TO have boys to become either Patrick
Henry's or Blackstones, orators or lawyers
and yet, of all drugs, eloquence and law
IRE probably the most Improbable. Out
of the thousand attorneys ground out
annually, scarcely dozen reach any emf
hence whatever-while the remaining
988 scarcely make even their board bills.
In this city, for instance, out of the five
or six hundred lawyers that hang out
their shingles, only some eight or ten are
ever heard of outside of their own Off
ces. And yet, the profession is $50
genteel' that foolish old fathers and pride
stuffed mammas would actually prefer
having their sons starvc and mould in
this business than become useful and
wealthy in any other.
The idea that these Sucking Ciceros"
should ever descend, or rather ascend, to
"toil and hard hands," is so perfectly
preposterous that one would run some
risk of tasting leather if he should ever
think of limiting it. Labor is consider
ed vulgar-to work is ungenteel; the
jack plane is considered less genteel than
the lawyers green bag-the handle of the
plough less dignfied than the yard-stick.
Unfortunate infatuation! Not digniied?
There is no calling under heaven half
so ennobling as that of the farmer. The
patriarch of the field, as he sits beside
the cottage door when his daily toll is
over, feels an inward calm never known
in the halls of pride or the Court of APP
peals. Where else can we look but to the
productions of the soil for safety of in
vestment and for an ample return? In
commercial speculations all is chance and
uncertainty, change and huctuation. rise
and fall. In mercantile life scarcely one
in ten can avoid even bankruptcy. But
with the tiller of the soil how different.
As long as God is good and nature pune
tual, so long is he insured life Of plenty,
happiness and health.
rs the Great Eastern FailureP
The special correspondent of the Lon
don Telegraph who was on board the
Great Eastern at the time of the ex-
plosion, closes his report with the follow
ing remarks:
Let me conclude by expressing my
conscientious belief that the Great East
-rn is the finest ship in the world and
that she is the most magnificent example
OF marine architecture possessed by this
or any Other country. At the same time,
believed that her immense size has rend-
cred her, and will render her administra-
lively and mechanically, but not nauti-
cally uDmanageuble. think that the
admirable Captain Harrison can manage
this ship and work her-as a ship--as
casiiy as one can manage trained steed
but ! am afraid there will always be some
"hitch" about the Great Eastern. To day
1t is forward tomorrow it may be aft
There are too many furnace-fed and ex-
piosion-breeding machines undermining
her. The best machinery will get out OF
gear; neglect and '.inadvertence" are
human foibles; but there is at least, help
there are, at least remedies against
their effects on dry land. A ship may
neither rock nor pitch, and may 60 at
a very speedy rate indeed but she also
may blow up some day, bodily, with all
hands on board.