The union Democrat., 1869-03-20
why Don't Boys Learn Trades

The present generation of young men seen
to have q strong aversion to every kind o
trade, business, calling or occupation that re
quires manual labor, and an equally s,ron,
tendency towards some so-called 'genteel'
employment or profession. The result i
seen in the superabundance of elegant pen
men, bookkeepers aud clerks of every kline
who can get no employment, and are wasting
their lives in the vain pursuit of what is no
tc be bad and a terrible overstock of law
yers without practice and doctors without pa
tients. The passion on the part of the boy
and young men to be clerks, Office attendants
messengers, anything, so that it is not worl
of the kind that will make them mechanics o.
tradesmen, is a deplorable sight to those who
have full opportunities to see the distressing
effects of it in the struggle for such employ
ments. by those unfortunates who have put il
out of their power to do anything else, by ne
glecting to learn some permanent trade OF
business in which trained skill! can alwavs be
turned to account. The applications for clerk.
ships and similar positions in large establish.
ments, are numerous beyond anything that
would be thought of by those who have no
chance to witness it. Parents and relatives.
as well as the boys and young men themselves,
seem to be afflicted with the same infatuation.
To all such We say, that'the most unwse ad-
vice you can give to your boy is to encourage
him to be n clerk or bookkeeper. At the
best, it is not a we!l-pad occupation. Verv
frequently it is among the very poorest. This
to be employed; but if he should be out Of
place, then comes the weary search, the fear
full struggle with the thousands of others
lnp vi, 81
pontments, the hope deferred that makes the
heart sick. the strife with poverty, the hu-
miliations that take all the manhood out of
the poor souls, the privations and suffering Of
those who depend upon his earnings, and who
have no resource when he is earning nothing.
No father, no mother, no relative should wish
to see their boy or kindred wasting their lives
IN striving after the geuteel positions that
bring such trial and prvations upon them in
after life.
How do these deplorably false notions as to
choice of occupation get into the heads of
boys? Why do they or their parents consider
it more "genteel" or desirable to run errands,
sweep out Offices, make fires, copy letters,
etc., than to make hats or shoes, or lay bricks,
or WELD the saw or iack-plane, or handle the
mechanics s file. or the blacksmith 3 hammer :?
We have heard that some of them get these
notions at school. If this be true, it is n sad
perversion of the means of education provid-
ed for our youth, which are intended to make
them useful, as we'll as intelligent member,
of society. and not useless drags and drones.
Should it be 50, that the present generation
of boys get it into their heads that, because
they have more school learning and book ac-
than their fathers had. they
must look down upon the trades that require
skill and handicraft, and whose productions
make mp the vast mass of the wealth of every
then it is time for the controllers
and the directors to have the interior walls
of our school-houses covered with maxims and
notices warning them against the fatal error.
PHILADELPHIA Ledger.