New-York tribune., 1867-01-01
TYPE-SETTTNG IN GEORGL1.

IIIE-DEJ
In a paragraph which is making its pilgrim
age through the newspapers, we are informed,
10 our exceeding qualification, If the intelll-
gence be true, that sundry young women III
Georgia, members of families formerly Opulent,
but now, through the dire influences OF Seces-
sion, paupcrized, are engaged in setting type III
the printing offices Of the State. We do not, OF
course, ungallantly rejoice that these damses
can no longer pass their lives in dressing and
undressing, which seems to be the main bust
ness of those girls whose fathers have not yet
lost their money by that odd and disagreeable
combination of circumstances which ls COM
pactly styled ga revulsiOn;" but we do re-
ioice to find the Georgia lasses, after Their edu-
alton in a quite opposite theory, so speedliy
convinced that in this bustling land, now that
"tke institution has become destituuon,
"nothing can come of nothing" and that the
best signifcation of a verb is not "to suffer-
nor even "tO be- but "to do" TO sleep Is
pleasant; to eat is agreeable; to daintily array
a comey person is a tasteful amusement; but
the sleep which has been earned, the food
which has been honestly won, the garments
which represent intelligent exertion are the
best the most palatable the brayest. Type
setting is an extremely respectable ayocatlon
when the copy is respectable and the
"proofsn turn out tolerably Gean; and the
maidens and matrons of Georgia formerly III
afllucnt circumstances might have done
worse they might have betaken them
selves to the bad habit of reading crocus-
covered romances they might have sub
mittcd with the stoidity Of despair to
their fate, or shrewishly worried through the
remainder of an uncomfortable existence, tor
ment to themselves and comfort to nobody.
They will now be not only in paying position
Gf they are not cheated out OF their wages,
but they will have the opportunity of improy-
ing their minds, if they are not compelled to
put in type too many fierce and flabby editorials
The extracts from THE TRIBUNE alone, which
will be given out to them, will at least lay the
foundation of al liberal education. These Georgia
girls are "ministering angels in more senses
than one. for they will be setting not only type,
but q lauGable example to their fathers, broth
ers and lovers, who will, we trust be too
proudly chivalrous to live upon the scanty
wages of the fair eompositors. There is nothing
for the white men of the South 20 do but go
10 work-the only alternative is a miserable,
dawdling -hand-to mouth existence, If existence
il can bc called--a chronically oomatose con-
dition agitatcd, if at all, by the excitements of
shooting, drinking, smoking, and playing cards.
IL is easy for whole classes, especially where
manual labor has long been disreputable,
to lapse into these habits, and it is hard,
when they are once established, TO get the
better of them. The young men of the South
formerly in affluent circumstances nave had
an excellent opportunity of knowing what a
"Poor White" is; and they may rest assured
that it is into precisely the squalid and bestial
condition of the "Poor White" that they VIII
sink if through pride or constitutional indo-
lence, or from any other reason, they now f0ld
their hands and content themselves with sigh
ING for the social status which they have occu-
pied in the past, and which has now become
a thing of the past altogether. We trust
that there is manliness enough In them to save
them from such a contemplate and ignOminlous
fate, especially when the ladies are so brayely
contcnding against adversely, and are proving
themselves so worthy of cheerful and energetic
co0peration There is plenty of land to be cul-
tivated, and hoes, spades, shoyels, and plows
can be obtained mt the North by all those VINO
can give reasonable security that they Will use
them. God and the capitalists of the country
will help those who help themselves; but no.
body can help those who give themselves up to
n loose life and unruly passions. We wish the
Georgia women all possible success, not only in
their own immediate enterprise, but In proving
to their friends in pantaloons the necessity and
the beauty of labor.