The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1868-09-11
CLERKS AND APPRENTICES.
Ely JAMES PARTON.


Sixteen years of age! What shall /
be ? what shall / do how shall | make
the most OF this one life which have
to live in the world?
Here we are, with the huge continent
of America to subdue, people, civilize,
and render accessible. What piece Of
work lies before the next two genera
tons of 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 implified-Canada,
Cuba and Mexico not conquered, not alb
sorbed, not even annexed, perhaps, yet
united to us by the unrestricted inter
change of products and services-our
cities recognized and rebuilt, and the
blessings of civilization far more equal
ly diffused than has ever yet been con-
templated! These are but few items
in the great task of preparing the CONT
nent OF America to play that leading
and controlling part in the affairs Of
Mankind for which nature has fitted it.
Sixteen years of age! How shall I
! prepare myself to do mans part in the
great work and, by so doing, procure
for myself fair share of safe and IA
uonaI happiness
| If you go to the West, and talk with
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.
I'VE want men out here" they say,
"WhO know how to do something or
make something. OF buyers and sellers
we have a superfluity; and of profess
sional men, such as they are, there is no
| lack. We want men who can start a
| factory and work i'll one. We want men
who really know how to cultivate the
land. Send us doors and makers, as many
| you please if they are really competent,
we stand ready to give them start"
| Such language as this l have myself
repeatedly heard in 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 of
the East, are men who in their youth
| learned that subtitle, incommunicable
wisdom which comes of doing homely
work with their own hands and mind
patiently and sreH. One of the most
thriving establishments in Chicago is
a wagon factory, founded twenty years
ago by poor mechanic, whose entire
capital at starting just sufficcd to enable
him to complete one rough farmers
wagon but it was good strong wagon :;
it gave great satisfaction to the man who
bought it; it brought in plenty of new
orders to the maker, and the factory is
now turning out from five to seven hun
dred wagons week.
/ remember visiting, in Cincinnati, a
large mandatory of bolts and nuts, in
which two hundred men were employ
cd. This establishment was one of five
! in different cities, owned by the same
company, and managed by its chief
Great indeed was my establishment, on
being introduced to this captain of in
dustry, to find him brisk and smiling
| young gentleman of thirty-two. l
thought it must be n mistake. / sup
posed he was the son of ''the old man. -
But no; he was the veritable founder,
chief owner and manager of five extern
sive iron works, and during the war he
had worked contract for supplying an
army with biscuit. This Youngster of
thirty-two had done those things! and
with the generosity natural to youth, he
was in the habit of giving away $25, 900
a year to the benevolent operations of
the city. This young fellow had been
Injured to work and to responsibility
ITOHl his DOyHOOu, anu He CdIT1el Oh
these large enterprises with an ease and
gayety wonderful to witness.
Few persons have looked into the
lives of so many remarkable men as ]
have, yet / cannot call to mind one OF
the acknowledged kings of business who
did not i'll early life serve a long and
rigorous apprenticeship to some occu-
pant akin to that which he afterwards
exercised, and in which his great sue
cess was made.
Vanderbilt, for example, was boat
man, sloop captain. and steamboat cap
tain. for nineteen years before he set uE
for himself III the business of building
and running steamboats,, in which he
gained more money than was ever be-
fore gained i'll single lifetime, except
by plumber. There is not to-day in the
whole world man who knows as much
about steamboats, and steamships as thi:
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 a while, he
used to take a basket of trinkets and
nick-knacks, and go round among the
sloops and markets, driving hard bar
> gains with boatmcn, Indians and mar.
+ ket-men for such skins as they brought
to town. BY and by he shouldered his
pack and tramped the country for pelt
ries; and extending his journey, a
length he became familiar with every
place, every tribe, and every person
connected with the fur trade in Nortl
America. Then he went to Europe, ano
learned all about the market for furs and
their prices in every part of the world
Few men have ever understood a thing
so we'll as Mr.. Aston understood the bu
siness of collecting curing and selling
furs. He knew it as a man knows the
trade to which he has served long ap
premiership under watchful and ex
acting master.
Another case in point was the frs
Rothschild, who from his twelfth t.
his twenty-seventh year, laboriouslN
acquired knowledge ofmoney, first a
errand boy and money-counter to hi
father, and afterwards as bankers clerk
Girard, too, was thorough sailor be
fore he ever owned ship, and was per
sonally familiar with most of the com
mercial ports long before he ever con
signed a cargo to one of them.
There is my valued friend, John Cor
ham, of Providence, the head of TIL
largest mandatory of silver ware il
the world. He did not go into his faith
3 er's counting-room as a clerk, but int
his fathers shop as an apprentice, andh
learned how to do with his own hand
whatever he has since had to direct 9th
ers in doing.
Rut such examDIes are numherIess