Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1868-05-08

at the foundation of all personal and na-
tlonal prosperity. Just in proportion as a
nation honors labor-agricultural and me-
chanlcal-just in the same ratio will it rise
IN power, wealth and independence. But
when people become too proud and lux
urlous, or too indolent and POLITICAL to
honor industry, then we will have over and
over again the history of Egypt, Rome,
| Spain and other countries that have fallen
a prey to their vices.
But see how this system of degrading
labor has worked among u.s. The promising
soIs Of farmers have gone into the learned
professions, and have left the soil to be
titled by the less favored. And the idea
has obtained generally that it is a waste of
money, time and talents to educate a
farmer, and consequently upon man who
has received liberal education he turns
his attention to the study of law, medicine,
politics, or some other TRADE rather than
| become dignified and useful farmer. Yea,
rather than put his hand to the plow and
bless the country with an enlightened ex-
ample of agriculture, he will lie about for
years, waiting for something to turn up"
literally doing nothing, burying his talents
and requirements, all because he regards
labor as undignifed and ungenteeL
| ''Genteel it is to have soft hands,
| But not genteel to work on lands
| Genteel it is to lie abed,
| But not genteel to earn your bread
Genteal it is to cringe and bow,
But not genteel to SOW and plow;
Genteel 1t is to play the fool,
But not genteel to keep C. school,"
I noticed in q late Northern paper an ac-
count from Texas, stating that 1.-THE young
men of that State manifest no disposition
to labor on the farm. There is but little
demand for clerks. The professions of law
|
ducements. AS result the whole State is
full of idle men" Whether this statement
be true or false cannot say, but one thing
is very certain, the young men of the South
must hereafter be educated to honor labor
and to dignity mechanical and agricultural
pursuits Our present necessities and the
future prosperity of our country, both
alike, demand this change in our educa.
tional system.
I'd. Another reason why farm labor has
been regarded as dishonorable is owing to
IacE of brains, or sad want of good sense
on the part of those who laugh at the laborer.
He who laughs at the honest sons of toll
because they are laborers, because they are
covered with dust and sweat-badges of
their diligence-would laugh at his own
misfortune. He who does not honor the
tiller of the soil and does not encourage
the agricultural art, is an enemy to his own
and his cOuntry's welfare. Like the sense
less Nero, he would fiddle while Rome was
burning; or, like more illustrious one of
late, he would "tell little anecdote :"
while his country was dying. Because
farme ers are not experts and adopts, or ex-
| quisites, if you please, in all the fashionable
| fooleries of those who are too honorable to
| work because they are clad in raiment
suitable to their vocation, and not in kid
IrrlC nd oil %h1x,
are looked down upon with an inward feel
ing of disdain and contempt.
Whatever may have been the foolish and
wicked fashion of other days whatever
disease may have preyed upon the |body
polite in times past, to hinder the health
full development of agricultural science, we
ought now to be cured of it. For the great
revolution through which we have passed,
has quite reversed the old order of things.
NOD labor is honorable, and we should feel
it so. For the high and the low, the learned
and the ignorant, alike, go side by side to
the various fields of labor to supply the
necessities of life. Necessity has done for
our country what education has failed to do.
Our matchless soldiery, that won the adj
miration and applause of christendom, for
courage, daring and military prowess, staked
their earthly all upon the game of battle,
and lost. They then, like brave men, laid
down their weapons of war, and with the
same admirable courage and energy, have
gone to work to repair their shattered for
tunes. Never has the axe flashed with such
light never has the plow moved with
such dignity before. Professions in Col
leges, Ministers of the Gospel, and the
great men that led our armies over hun
| dred victorious fields of battle, when at last
defeated, they alike turned together to
El,o, 11 of
| war shall have withered, when empires,
carved with the sword, shall have passed
away, the honors of the plow will abide as
fresh and as fair as the flowers of May
| There once was Count-so I've heard it said
| Who felt that his end drew near:
And he called his sous before his bed
| To part them his goods and gear.
He called for his plough-he called for his sword,
! That gallant good and brave:
| They brought him. both, at their fathers word,
And thus. he, his blessing gave:
| My first-bOrn sonny pride and might,
| Do thou my sword retain;
| My castle on the lOrdly height
| And all my broad domain;
On thee, my well-lOved, younger boy,
| My ploW here bestoW;
| A peaceful life shalt thou enjoy
| In the quiet vale below.
| Contented sank the sire to rest,
Now all was given away,
The SONS held true his last behest
Fen to his dying day.
NOW Tell us what came OF the steel OF name,
Of the castle and its knight,
And tell us what came of the vale so tame,
And the humble peasant might.
O ask not of me what the end may be,
| Ask of the country round;
The castle is dust, the sword is rust
The height is but desert ground.
But the vale spreads wide in the golden pride
In the autumn sunlight now,
It teens and it ripens far and wide
And the honor abides with the ploW.
In conclusion, let the ladies remember
that they, too, have a great work to perform
in dignifying this profession. An encour
aging look, and an approving smile can dc
more to make labor honorable in the eyes
of men, than all the Agricultural Societies
in christendom. Let mothers train ul
their daughters to work, and also to regard
work as praiseworthy and honorable, and
soon they will imbibe that other correlative
idea, that idleness is not only not dignifed
but absolutely disgraceful. And when this
opinion fully obtains, fops, loafers and
idlers will be spurned from society, and
) driven out of the land. But on the con.