Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1868-08-20

and, perhaps, think the world urchaf-
liable or ungenerous for not at once
elevating them to position, honor and
emolumcnt. To all such we say, be
not idle for single moment go to
work at once, roll up ycur sleeves,
and be determined to succeed. Look
at the following instances, and rouse
yourselves to duty:
Cornelius Vanderbilt, one of the
richest men in America, who controls
the New York Central, Hudson River,
and several other Railroads, in fact,
the half of the City Of New YORK, was
q boatman, sloop captain, and steam
boat captain, for nineteen years be-
fore he set up for himself in the bust
ness of building and running steam
boats, in which he gained more money
than was ever before gained in a sin
gle elife-time, except by plunder- There
Is not to-day, in the whole world, a
man who knows as much about
steamboats, as this same Cornelius
Vanderbilt.
Astor is another illustration. He
learned the fur business from the very
rudiments. He used to beat furs from
morning till night in his masters back
shop, and after doing this awhile, he
used to take basket OF trinkets and
nick-naclxs, and 60 around among the
sloops and markets, driving hard bar
gains with boatmen, Indians and mar
ket men for such skins as they had
brought to town. By-and-by he shoul-
dered his pack and tramped the coun-
try for peltries and, extending his
journey, at length he became familiar
with every place, every tribe, and ev-
cry person connected with the fur
trade in North America. Then he
went to Europe, and learned all about
the market for furs and their prices
in every part of the world. Few men
have ever understood thing so well
as Mr.. Astor understood the business
of collecting, curing and selling furs.
He knew it not as clerk might have
known it; he knew it as a man knows
the trade to which he has served a
long apprenticeship under watchful
and exacting master
Another case in point was the first
Rothschild, who, from his twelfth TO
his twenty-seventh year, laboriously
acquired knowledge of money, first
as errand boy and money counter to
his father, and afterwards as bankers
clerk.
Girard, too, was q thorough sailor
before he ever owned a ship, and was
personally familiar with most of the
commercial ports long before he ever
consigned cargo to one of them.
John Gorham of Providence, the
head of the largest mandatory OF
silver ware in the world, did not 90
into his fathers counting room as a
clerk, but into his fathers shop as an
apprentice; and he learned how to do
with his own hands whatever he has
since had to direct others in doing.
There isno royal road TO knc wledge,
to greatness, or to any other place.
The young man, with a. sound body,
who is too lazy to work, and expects
to be a drone in society, deserves a
dose of cow-hide and a free pass to the
DRY Tortugas. ."-Mutual Friend.
In proof of the foregoing we pro-
duce an article on this subject taken
from the Harrisburg State Guard.
The writer says !:
In recent conversation with DIR.
Gihon, private Secretary to Gov. Gea-
ry, we gained curious fact concern
ing crime and men without trades or
professions. DR.. Gihon has been pay
ing particular attention lately, to the
applications daily and almost hourly
made for Executive clemency ard par
don. Those not acquainted with the
burdensome routine of Executive du-
ty in this respect, cannot possibly
form any idea Of the embarassment,t the
narrowing solicitude and the over.
whelmning responsibility of properly
welding the pardonng power. The
curious part of DR.. GihoI's statement
is, that in nineteen cases out of TWEEN.
ty, young convicts are men without
trades or professions, who have been
left by their parents to reach maturi.
ty without having undergone the dis
cipline and the training acquired while
learning trade or studying pro-
fession. When parents or friends ap.
plying for pardon for such offenders,
have been asked why they were not
taught trades, the reply has been
vouchsafed, "He castoo .ceakly !" "He
uas too sensitive" or "He thouqht il
icas beneath him" Too weakly. too
sensitive, too proud to learn trade,
but not proud enough to keep out of
the penitentiary OF course we do
not pretend to assert that learning
trade or q profession is the sure way
of keeping out of wrong doing, There
are great rascals among mec hanics
and professional men. Bat the man
who has a trade or profession, ia
always the most independent, and has
fairer prospects at hand Of permanent
success in life. And what is also true
in this connection, in practical way,
is the lack of skilled labor in the Uni
ted States. American boys for the
last ten years, have been 10th to learn
trades. Too many of them desire to
WELD yardsticks instead OF hammers.
saws and planes. The consequence
now is, that skilled labor is scarce
and that the best places in our work
shops are filed by foreigners. By
some kind of teaching we must reform
this evil. There must be more en-
couragement for boys to learn trades
and the mechanical vocation must
be digni6ed and elevated, by being
recognized as worthy the study and
the requirement of the most favored