The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1867-05-14
What /" @ont,eman May De with His

What = Gentleman aIay D0 With His
do. 7"t .s-linHands. H"'.j -- s
There is a vast deal Of idleness in the
South. a large number of our people
are trying to live by their wits; large
number are only nominally engaged In
business, loungtng and dawdling
through each week; largenumber are
roaming loose, waiting for something
to turn up. We donbt If one half OF
our population are engaged in real hard
work. The absolute necessaries of life
cost so little in a temperate climate,
where land is abundant and rich, and
the population sparse, that it is not diff
ticult to live on half work. The pro-
'duction of the South, we doubt not, If
all the muscle and brain in the South
were fully taxed and the labor properly
directed, could be just about doubled.
There are young men pretending to
practice law or physic; young men in
structing a half-doZen pupils; young
men selling few yards of ribbon per
day; Young men who have no business
there at college; young men farming"
all of fwhom ought to be differently occtl-
pied. There are young men clerlIing it
in hotels and banking companies where
there is not full employment for them,
There are young ladies by scores en-
gagged In reading novels, or entertain
LuB DSuuAs 4ueEe dEe iii SOELS Oh aK6Q-
Cies, ten thousand shifts to live, no mat
ter how, SO that 1t is not by manual la
Dor. In a word, the market or head
work is glntted in the South, while the
hammer, the plane, the trowel, the hoe,
grasp them. y M i''z- -.iii' - ~
The Ideals that a trade is not just
the thing for a young man who con-
siders himself as good as anybody. 1t
Is thought q better thing to be jack
leg lawyer, or to murder people with
Doctors diploma, or to weigh butter,
than to build a house, or make a sew
Ing machine, or construct q steam en-
CINE. The agent of somebody's Veget-
able pills Is thought more eligible
match for your daughter, than the man
who prints q newspaper or book. So
1t Is foolish and often fatal pride
which makes thousands shrink from
the mechanic arts; and those very men
who, by a life of honest industry, have
secured \ high position in the commu-
nifty, and respectable competence for
their families, turn their backs upon
their occupations, and trim their sons
out for something that Will not soil
their white hands. ll s-iI ls8s-l,. "a
"Farmingn in the South is the most
prolific source of idleness, for we have
few towns. iIn-all directions you meet
not very handsomely dressed young
gentlemen on horseback, who inform
you that they are ''farming." 1t Is a
vague, floating term that means, per-
haps, strictly that they live in the coun-
TRY, aud be overlooking aihand apiece.
They have a atraditional idea that the
farmer must confine himself to head
work. They sit on the fence until an
early dinner, watching one-horse
rT1lnuOHN ra a.
read the market reports in Ithe
Saturdays CgtrOnicle-and artlessly
think that they belong to the great ag-
ricultural fraternityLand rail at the
freedmen for being so lazy The first
thing you know one of these Young
fellows gets married, and has to bor-
row cleanshiTtto to 60 to his wedding,
We shall not prosper In the South
until all these folks 2go TO work, nol
unuplabor with the hands Is properly
estimated. - Charlottesville tVG.l C1irOH-
icLe.. ulfo< 10 Ha-a . i1uH1rn