Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1869-10-21
Professionalism.


$50 often allied to feebleness of
minds miztakea for the noblest
impulse Of ambition, bow fatally
it impels lis victims into positions
of forlorn sbsur1ity! To this may
perhaps be attributed the fact, that
the most useful pursuits are regard
ed with kind Of contempt, and on
every eide We see men hopelessly
struggling in false positions. A
man, nowadays, is nothing il not
professionally" aud hence it is that
so many Of the divinely-appointed
cabbage-growers Of the nineteenth
century turn renegades to the pur-
poses Of their birth, end waste the
siGOr Of their bucolic iniellects in
vain attempts TO solve the mysteries
Of the law, Of physic, and OF many
other things to them equally tempt
ing and impossible.
1t cannot be gainsAid that the
general opinion of the legal profes.
sion is, that it is one rather conven-
tionally honorable" than morally
eorrect-a necessary evil, i'll fact.
Every body knows excellent individ-
ual members Of the bar, but no one
believes in the virtue of that plural
monster, designated abstrscily as
lawyers The law ia "the per-
fiction Of human reason" We are
told, though it is too often applied
for the perVersion of human justice.
1t is the willing ally of the assas-
sin, or the avengsr of bis victim
the hired instrument of villainy, or
the protector Of the injured, accord
ing as the geight of fee prepOnder-
ats. 1t is the prosecutor Of the
poor-the dread Of oil who shave
anything to love- dry study, in
dacing frequently among its de.
voices chronic spirituOus thirst-a
lottery with thousand blanks to
one prize; and yet all these objec-
tons are outWeighed, in the estima-
ton Of thousands, by the privilege
it coDfers of having ones name
painted on piece Of tin, thus
"JOhn Budkins, Counsellor at Law"
1t is true that Budkins becomes q
gentleman" by diploma, and, once
admitted to the bar, is entitled to
write himself "Esquire;" bit even
the law cannot alter what is fore
ordained by nature, and be is but
a illegal gentleman" after ALA
thing frequently very distinct from
he genuine article. The wide
world, with its thousand useful and
honorable occupations, is open to
Budki0s. The blooming prairies in
ute him to cuItivation-his fathers
shop presents lair prospect for an
industrious successor; but the in.
ratuated youth--instiga gated, probably,
BY the lattering hopes Of bis fool.
sh mother-hss resolved to be
professional" ind immures him.
self in solitude and ssediness in a
back Office, Illuminating
,ver 3 chew Of the "Aeed," and
wondering month after month, from
what quarter the first victim may start
up. Theidea Of earning bis livingis
quite beyond his comprehension. 1t
5 his privilege 10 live at the exk,-.-e II
# others-to draw on the scanty !
esources of the embarrassed credi-
or OF the needy borrower to s
eed on the prey for which silly liti- '
yants are contending. And for this !
he is content to drag out weary years I
Of bslfstarVed IaziDess: !
Somebody has discovered that "all
Sin is disease" and conceding the
ruth Of the proposition, it would be
easy TO prove that its promoter
The doctor-is the root of all evil" t
;SSayeyer this may be, we seriously e
nOhSSto the opinion that the phys.
.cking asnia, which attacks such az g
Undue proportion Of our fellow citi- i
sens, is retributiOn for the vices and
ollies Of civilization. 1t is meIancholy /
o reflect upon the hard fate of buu- $
lreds of our fellow creatures, who
ire existing SithOut cash and with t
,ut hope in the world-waitiug for
he opportunity, that never comes,
# putting sick mortals "tO their t
,,,-oo,;oc" Whence Comes this !