Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1868-07-17
General Literature.
CLERKS .F.vD .fPPRE.rTICE
by JAMES PARTON.

by JAMES PARTON.
Sixteen years of age! What shall / be!
what shall do? how shall l 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 generations of
American citizens! Three or four rail-
roads across the Continent-a system of
ship canals between the Far West and the
Atlantic Ocean-the Isthmus of Darien to
be pierced-the national debt to be dis
charged-the Government simplified and
purified-Canada, Cuba and Mexico not
conquered not absorbed, not ever annex
cd, perhaps, yet united to us by the unre-
stricted interchange ofproductsa and services
our cities reorganized and rebuilt, and
the blessings of civilization far more equal
ly diffused than have ever yet been con-
templated! These are but few items in
the great task of preparing the Continent
of America to play that leading and con-
trolling part in the affairs of mankind for
which Nature has fitted it.
Sixteen years of age! How shall l pre-
pare myself to do mans part in this great
work and, by so doing, procure for my
self fair share of safe and rational happi-
ness?
If you go to the West, and talk with the
leading men in Chicago Cincinnati, st.
Louis, Omaha, San Francisco, and ask
thaY -l,at Ii ind ~
western country, they will make you the
same answer:
1--WE want men out here" they say,
"who know how to do something or make
something. OF buyers and sellers we have
superfuity, and professional men, such
as they are, there is no lack. We want
men who can start a factory and work in
one. We want men who really know how
to cultivate the land. Send us doers and
makers, as many as you please; if they are
really competent, we stand ready to give
them a START
Such language as this / have myself re-
peatedly heard in the western country, and
any one who goes there can see for him
self 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 subtle,
incommunicable wisdom which comes OF
doing homely work with their own hands
and mind, patiently and well. One of the
most thriving establishments in Chicago is
a wagon factory, founded twenty years age
by a poor mechanic, whose entire capital nj
starting just sufficed to enable him to COM
plete one rough farmers wagon; but il
was a good strong wagon; it gave great
satisfaction to the man that bought it; il
brought in plenty of new orders to the
maker, and the factory is now turning out
from five to seven hundred wagons week
remember visiting, in Cincinnati, {
large mandatory of bolts and nuts, il
which two hundred men were employed
This establishment was one of five in diff
ferent cities, owned by the same company
and managed by its chief. Great indeed
was my astonishment on being introduced
to this captain of industry, to find him (
brisk and smiling young gentleman o
thirty-two. l thought it must be a mis-
take. | supposed he was the son of "th'
old man." But no; he was the veritabl
founder, chief owner and manager of fiv'
extensive iron works, and during the wa
he had worked a contract for supplying al
army with biscuit. This youngster of thir
ty-two had done these things! and will
the generosity natural TO youth, he was il
the habit of giving away $4,000 year t.
the benevolent operations Of the city. Thi
young fellow has been Injured to work AM
to responsibility from his boyhood, and h
carried on these large enterprises with al
ease and gayety wonderful to witness.
Few persons have looked into the lives O
so many remarkable men as / have, yet
cannot call to mind one of the acknowledg
ed kings of business who did not in earl.
life serve a long, rigorous Apprenticeship
to some occupation akin TO that which h
afterwards exercised, and in which hi
great success was made.
Vanderbilt, for example, was a boatmar
sloop captain, and steamboat captain, 70
nineteen years before he set up for himse
in the business of building and runnin
steamboats,, in which he gained more mon
ey than was ever before gained in a singl
lifetime, except by plunder. There is NJ
to-day in the whole world man VIII
knows as much as about steamboats, an
steamships as this same Cornelius Wander
bilt.
Astor is another illustration. He learne
the fur business from the very rudiment
He used to beat furs from morning Ii
night in his masters back shop, and aftC
| lot 4, hn In ialr 20 a hag y.