The Orangeburg news. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1867-1875, 1867-07-06
What Gentleman May Do With His
Hand.

There is Il vast deal of idlencss in the South.
~ large number Of our people arc trying to
live by their wits large number are only
nominally engaged in business, lounsing aud
dawdling through each week large number
arc roaming loose, waiting for something to
turn up. We doubt if one half of our popu-
|ilstion arc engaged in real hard work. The
absolute ncccssarics of life cost SO little in n
temperate climate, where lands arc abundant
and rich, and the population sparse, that it is
not difficult to live on half work The pro-
duction of the South, we doubt Motif MI the
muscles and brain in. the South were fully
taxed and the labor properly directed, could
be just about doubled S
There arc young men pretending to practice
law OF physic; young men instructinga half
dozen pupils, young men selling a few yards
of ribbon per day; young men who have no
business there, ut college; young men sfarm-
ing," all ought to be differently occupied
There arc young men cerking it in hotels and
bank companies where there is not full employ
mcnt for them. There are young ladies by
scores engaged in reading novels or entertain
ing bcaux. There are all sorts of agoncics,
ten thousand shifts to live, no matter how, so
that it is not by manual labor. In a word, the
market OF hcad-work is gluttcd in the South
while the hammer, the plane, the trowc, the
hoc the axe, arc crying for stalwart arms to
grasp them. ifls
The idea is that trade is not just the thing
| tor o young man who considers himself as good
as anybody. It is thought a better thing to
be jack leg lawyer, or to murder people with
a'doctor's diploma, or to weigh butter, than to
| build..a house, or make sewing machine, Oh con-
struct steam engine. The agent of some
body's vegetable pills is thought Il more eligible
match for your daughter than the man who
prints a newspaper Or beck. SO it is fool
ish and often fatal pride which makes thou
sands shrink from the mechanic arts and
those very 1,cn who, by life of honest indus
try, have secured a high position in the com
munity, and respectable competence for their
families, turn their backs upon their occupa-
tlons and trim their sons out for something
| that will not soil their white hands
IaIHlllS, III ClC OOutn Is the most prolific
source of idleness, for we have few towns. In
all directions you meet not very handsomely
dressed young gentlemen on horse back, who
inform you that they arc '.farming." 1t is Il
vague, floating term that means, perhaps, strict
ly that they live in tho country, and may be
overlooking hand apiece. They have a ira
ditional idea that the farmer must confinc him
self to hcad-work. They sit on the fence until
an early dinner, watching n ono horse plow
and como to court, and read the market reports
in the Saturdays papcr-and artlessly think
that they belong to the great agricultural fra
tcrnity, and rail at the freedmen for being SO
lazy. The first thing you know one of these
young fellows gets married and has to borrow
clean shirt to go to his wedding.
We shall not prosper in the South until all
these people 60 to work, nor till labor with the
hands is properly estimated charlottesville
(TaD Chronicle.