The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1868-06-18
CLERKS AND APPRENTICES,
BY JAMES PARTON.

Sixteen years of agei What shall 1
be? what shall I do? how shall l make
the most of this one life which L have
to live in the world?
Here we are, with the huge continent
of America to subdue, people, civiltZe
and render accessible. What a piece OF
work lies before the next two genera
tiOns or American citizens! Three or
four railroads across the Continental
system of ship canals between the Far
West and the Atlantic Ocean-the 18th
mus of Darien to be Pierced-the ma
tional debt discharged-the Govern
ment purified and simplihed-Canada,
Cuba and Mexico not conquered. not
absorbed, not even annexed. perhaps,
yet united to us by the unrestricted ln-
terchange of products and services
our cities reorganiZed and rebuilt, and
the blessings of civilization far more
equally ditfused than has ever yet
been Contemplated! These are but a
few items in the great task of preparing
the Continent OF America to play the
leading and controlling part in the at-
fairs of mankind for which nature has
fitted it.
Sixteen years of age! How shall 1
prepare myself to do II mans part in
This great work; and, by so doing, pro-
cure for myself fair share of safe and
rational happiness?
the leading men in Chicago, CINCINNATI,
st. Louis, Omaha, San Francisco, and
ask them what kind OF men they want
In the western country, they Will make
you the same answer:
ave want men ont here" they say,
"who know how to do something or
make something. OF buyers and sell
ers we have supertluityi and of pro-
fesslonal men, such as they are, there
Is no lack. We want men who can
start factory and work in one. We
want men who really know hew TO Gull
tiyate the land. Send us doors and
makers, as many as you please; IT they
are really competent, we stand ready 10
give them start"
such Language as this l have my
self repeatedly heard ih the western
country, and any one who goes there
can see for himself what field there Is
for men who know how to take hold of
work and do it. You can also see for
Yourself that the strong, rooted men of
the West, as Ofthe East, are men who
in their youth learned that subtle, in
communicable wisdom which comes of
doing homely work with their own
hands and mind, patiently aud WeH.
One OF the most thriving establish
ments in Chicago is wagon factory,
founded twenty years ago by poor
mechanic, whose entire capital at start
ing just sufficed to enable him to com
plete one rough farmers wagon; but 1t
was a good strong wagon; 1t gave great
satisfaction to the man who bought 1T
it brought in plenty of new orders to
the maker, and the factory is now
turning out from i've to seven hundred
wagons q week.
remember visiting, in Cincinnati, a
large mandatory of bolts and nuts, in
which two hundred men were en-
ployed. This establishment was one
of five in different cities, owned
by the same company, and man
aged by its chief. Great indeed was
my establishment, on being introduced
TO this captaiu of industry, to find him
brisk and smiling young gentleman
OF thirty-two. L thought IL must be a
mistake. / suppose he was the son OF
"the old manu- But no; he was the
yeritable founder, chief owner and
manager OF five extensive iron works,
and during the war he had worked a
contract for supplying anarmy with
biscuit. This youngster OF thirty-two
had done these thingsi and with the
generosity natural 10 youth. he was in
the habit of giving away $4,000 year
to the benevolent operations of the city.
This young fellow had been Injured to
work and to responsibility from his
boyhood, and he carried on these large
enterprises with an ease and gayety
wonderful to witness.
Few persons have looked into the
lives of SO many remarkable men as j
have, yet cannot call to mind one OF
the acknowledged kings of business
who did not early in life serve long,
| rigorous apprenticeship to some occu-
patton akin to that which he afterwards
exercised, and in which his great sue
cess was made. .TfeF
Vanderbilt, for example, was boat
man, sloop captain, and steamboat
captain, for nineteen years before he
set up for himself in the business oil
which he gained more money than was
ever before gained in single lifetime,
except by plumber. There is not to-
day in the whole world man who
knows as much about steamboats, and
steamships as this same Cornelius Van
derbilt.
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-nacks, and go round among the
sloops and markets, driving hard bar
| ket-men for such skins as they had
brought to town. By.and-by heshoul-
! 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 every
person connected with the fur trade in
North America. Then he went to
Europe, and learned all about the mar
| ket for furs and their prices in every
part of the world. Few men have ever
understood a thing SO we'll as Mr.. AS
tor understood the business of collect
ing, curing and selling furs. He knew
1t, not as a clerk might have known IT.
he knew 1t as man knows the trade tC
which he has served a long apprentice
ship under a watchful and e1acttne
master. DtL, /
Another case in point was the firs
Rothschild, who, from his twelfth e
his twenty.seventh year, laboriouslS
acquired knowledge of money, hrs
as errand-boy and money-counter C
his father; and afterwards as bankers
clerk. v1-7-1- -.
Girard, too, was a thorough sailol
before he ever owned a ship, and wa
personally familiar with most OF thu
Commercial ports long before he eve
A..