Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1866-11-23
From the New York Sun. November l3.
Learn q Trade.


Why is.it that the proportion of young men
in this country who turn out badly is so much
larger than it used to be? Every moralst,
and, in fact, every close observer, knows that
the proportion Of shiftiess, good for nothing
young men has largely increased within the
last few years particularly in this aud other
large cities, but those who discuss the subject
seem to be at loss for the true explanation.
In our Judgment the question is one of very
easy solution. We attribute it to tie spirit
of false pride which induces parents to put
their boys in stores and Offices rather than to
apprentice them to good trades In this city,
at the present time, merchants, bankers, in
surance men and others of this class are over
run with applications from parents who want
situations for their boys; but manufacturers
find it almost impossible to get apprentices
It was not SO in former times Fifty years
ago-n1eh later, in fact parents generally
regarded trade as something essential in
the preparation of their boys for the battle of
life. Even men whose circumstances did not
require them to do manual work made it a
point to have their boys learn trades, in order
to give them practical ideas about business, to
make them industrious, and also to furnish
them something to fall back upon in case of
adversely. How is it now? Mechanics and
laboring men, even, have too generally i'm
bibed the idea that they ought to place their
boys peg above the drudgery of manual la
bor They seem to think that they are Dot
doing justice to them unless they place them
IN positions where they can wear nobby !"
clothes and keep their hands white. There
never was greater mistake Look at the
leading men in our country, from the Presi-
dent down, and you will see that as a rule it
is men who learned trades in their youth who
have become the foremost in every branch Of
progress and enterprise. The boy who is
placed in store or Office usually gets his
head full of vanity and self-conceit before he
has been long in his position. He acquires
an inordinate love Of dress, and soon becomes
SO pulled up in his own estimation that prac-
teal common sense can find no Judgment in
his brain. His aim is to dress as well and
live as high as those with whom he comes in
contact, and he is quite likely to 60 from hab-
it's of extravaganza to habits of dissipation
We do not wish to be understood as saving
that this is the road which all boys travel who
do not learn trades. We simply say that
such is the tendency, and it requires a boy of
good mind, fortified by good early training
to resist the temptation. The boy who is
put to a trade, on the other hand, gives vani-
ty but little chance to get hold Of him. He
acquires practical ideas about business his
habits are moulded by frugality and econo-
my, and he lays the foundation of a good,
useful and industrious citizen The idea that
manual labor is not respectable, is one of
the absurdest things in this age Of absurdities
No person with thimblefull of brains will
say anything Of the kind, and those silly
creatures who do say SO arc generally the de-
generate scions Of hard working mechanics.
Every boy, whether rich Or poor, high or
low, ought to learn trade, not that he should
always work at it, but that he may have it
as reserve capital, together with its influence
in forming his character.