Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1867-06-19
What Gentleman l'ay do With his
BSov3S

There is q vast deal CT idleness in the
South. A large number Of Cur people arc
trying. to live by their wits; large numbcr
are oniy noni;aa;ly engaged in business,
lounging AID dawdIing through each week;a.
large runber arc roaming loose,r waiting ior
something to tara Up. We doubt if one,hait
/ OF our population are engaged IN real hard
work Tie absolute nccessarics CT liic cost
50 htl!e ip temperate Climate. where lands
are abundant and rich. and the population
sparse, that it is rot difficult to.licc on half
work. The production OF the Sonth. We
doubt not. II all tic muscle ard BRAN III
tie South were fully taxed and the laboc
properly directed, could bc. just about dou-
bled.
There ara young men pretending TO rrec.
,ica law Or ;hys;c;- young men irsIruc;ioga
halGtiozon pupils; young men selling . few
yards of RIBBON per day; young men who
have no,business there, at college; yonng
men farming all Of whom ought TO be diff
ierenty occupied. There are young men
clerking it in hotels sand bank companies where
there is not full employment for taem. T'.ere
are young ladies by scores engaged y read
ing novels or entertaining heauX. There are
all sorts of agencies, ten thousand shifts to
live, no matter how, SO that it is not by man
nal lab5r. In a word. the market OF head.
work is gIuttcd in the South, while the ham
mer, the plane, tie trowcl, the hoe, the
axe. are CRYING for stalwart arms to grasp
lcm. .
The idea is that trade is not just tho
Ing fer q youug map w'.o considers himself
as good as anybody. !. is thought a better
thipg to be 0 jack leg lawyer, or 10 murder
people with doctor'.s diplona, or to weigh
butter, than to build a house, or make. q sew.
ing machine, or construct a steam engine.
Tic agent of somebody's vegetable pills is
thought more eligible mstchfor your daugh,
ter than the rnan who prints a'newspaper or
a book. So it isa foolish and often fatal
pride which make,thousands shrink from the
mechanic arts aud those very men who, by
a life Of honest industry, have secured high
position in tho community, and g 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.
"Farming" in the South is the most prol.
fc source Of idleness, for we have few towns.
In all directions you meet nctvery handsome
ly dressed young gentlemen on horseback.
who inform You that they are .farming."
1t is {. vague, floating term that means, per-
haps, strictly that they live in the country.
and may be overlooking hand apiece. They
have traditional idea that the farmer must
cor6ne himself to head-wolk. They sit on {,
the fence until an early dinner, watching a
one horse plow, and come I'd court, and read ),
the market reports in the Saturdays CArons,
cle-and artlessly think tia, they belong to
the great agricultural, fraternity, and rail a.
the freedmen for being so lazy. The first
thing you know one of these young follows :
gets married and has toiborrowt clean shirt
to go TO his wedding. 10 j !
We shall not prosper in tie South until all
thsse people go to work, no: till labor with
the hands IS properly estima sed.- Charlotte