Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1869-04-03
ASHTABULA, OHIO, SATURDAY, APRIL 3. 1869
Why don't boys Learn Trades2

The Philadelphia Le,Lqer ;,s,Iv 70.
MARKS tbat the present generation of
young men seems to have = strong aver
sion TO every kind Of trade, business. cali.
lrg or occupation that requires manual
labor, and an equally strong tendency
towards some so-called "genteel' cmuloy.
ment or profession. The result is .ccn
~ a super-abundance of elegant pen,nen.
book-kcepers, aud clerks Of every kind
VINO can get no employment, and are
wasting their lives in the vain pursuit OF
! what Is not TO bc had and a terrible
oVerstoek Of lawyers without practice
and doctors without practice.
The passion on the part of the boys
and young men TO he clerks, office attend
ants, messengers, anything so that it is
not work OF the kind that will make
them mechanics or tradcsmen, is a de.
plorablc sight to those who have full on
p0rtunues 10 sec the distressing effects
OF it in the struggle for such employ
ments by those untOrtunatcs who have
put IT out OF their power TO do anything
else by hegIecting to learn some porma-
rent trade or business in which trained
skill can always be turned TO account
The application for clcrkslips and similar
positions III large establishments are nu-
nlercus beyond anything that would be
thought Of By those who have no chance
TO witness it. Parenfs and relatives. as
well as the boys and young men them.
selves, seem to he afflicted with tho same
nfatuatlon. To all such we say. that
the most nnwisc advice YOU can 1iye TO
your boy, Is to encourage him 10 be a
clerk or book-kccpcr. At the best. IT is
not well paid occupation. Very fire.
4liently 1t is among tie very poorest
This Is the case when the clerk is fortu.
nate enough to get employed but, if hs
should be out of place, then comes the
weary search, the fearful struggle with
the thousands of others looking tor pla
'ces, the ,never-ending disapp0intments,
tue hope deferred that makes the heart
sick, the strife with poverty, the bunlilia
tlons that take manhood out of the poor
souls, the privations and suffering of
those who depend upon their earnings,
aud who have no resource when earning
nothing. No father, no mother, 10 rela-
tive should wish to see their bows or kin
dred wasting their young lives in striv-
ing after the gcntcel positions that bring
such trials and privations upon them in
after life.
How do these deplorably false notions
as to choice of occupation get into the
head OF boys Why do they or their
parents consider it more "genleel'' or de-
slr'ibe to run errandS, sweep out offices.
make fires, copy letters, etc, than to
make hats oI shoes or lay bricks, or wield
the saw or jackplanc, or handle the ma
chinist's file, or tho blacksmith's ham.
mer ! We have heard that some of
them get these notions at school. Ii this
be true, it is u sad perversion of the
means OF education provided for our
youth, which arc intended to make them
useful as well rs Intelligent members OF
society, and not useless drags and drones.
Should it be SO that the present genera
ton OF boys get it into their heads that,
because they have more school learning
and book accomplishment than their
fathers had, they must, therefore, look
down upon the trades that require skill
and handicratt, and whose productions
make up the vast mass of the wealth of
every country, then it is time for the
controllers and directors to have the in
terror walls of our school-houses covered
with maXims and notices warning them
against the fatal error.
Scientific .1mcricaR.