The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1865-08-15
C'OLUM.B[=3',IA.. |. B,
Tuesday Morning, August Is, 1865.
Lessons to be Taught.

generations, yho yet refuse to learn!
; How the ancient laws of God re-assert
their utility and necessity, after ~
thousand years of false and frivolous
convention! ''Thou shalt earn thy
bread in the sweat of thy brow, % is the
decree. The Decree. delivered as u
penalty, duly obeyed, becomes the
secret of innnmerable and permanent
blessings. Neglected, denied, repudi-
ated, the law finally asserts itself, and
compels respect from the offender.
But a day ago, Il worthy. citizen said
to us: @What a cruel thing it is that I
was not trained to some good halidi-
craft; that [ was not educated or
taught as q carpenter, bricElaycr or
blacksmith. I should not now be les-
titute. I should have my secret of
employment and existence at my fin
gers ends, and should not NOW be
looking around ME, in vain, seeking
what to do" Exactly! The great
effort of mankind, in its blindness, is
to escape labor-to escape the law!
Men rush into the professions, OF be-
become accountants, book-kcepers,
clerks, collectors, agents, tlctors, until
the country is covered, at this mo-
ment, with swarms Seeking easy work,
asthey fancy, or work which shall not
soil the fingers-all of whom are in
each others ws-. 1t was a sufficiently
evil feature in this practice that, in
the case of the professions, two out of
every three were out OF their proper
places, and intruders into the places
Of better men. The professions are
properly the fountains of authority
and sacred opinion. They are the
guardians of society. Let them be
inferior and incompetent, and they
degrade the professions and deprive
society of its best securities. The
evil consequences follow inevitably i'll
general misrule and lslin. We owe NJ
small portion of the evils which NOW
find us prostrate to the Incompetence
and worthlc cssncss of professional men;
to the wretchedncss of legislation III
wretched hands; to the terrible dis
proportion of these classes to the
physical laborers in the community
And the just Judgment of God
avenges upon society this usurpation
of position by the worthless, and this
overcrowding Of certain occupations
to the neglect of others. which, in the
exigencies of society, as at present,
become th4only useful. AT this mo,
ment, the vast numbers of persons
bred up as book-keepers, accountants,
clerks. &C., to say nothing of profcs-
sional men, seeking employment i'll
the citieAs seeking agencies of business
where there can be no busincss-Sit-
ting upon hungry benches, looking
right and left for the means of food
presents the spectacle of a very army,
famishinG in the country which they
have plundered of all its food. Happy
he, of these classes, who has an occu-
patton at his fingers ends-who c;nl
build a house of brick or.wood, make
coat, pair of boots, box, a cask,
a horse shoe, or do any work for
which the necessities of society COM
pei a continual demand Let parents
take warning from this condition of
things. Let them put their sons to
honest trades, which involve labor
and the acquisition of some usefal
craft. Let them abandon the foolish
vanities which made them strive to