American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1872-12-07
Choosing an Occupation.

| IF boy 1s constantly whiting sticks
fond parents say that lie has embarked
constructive ability - or If he can whistl,
one or two notes of an air correctly, she
will be gr> AZ musician - or if he car
draw with reasonable accuracy, ''tha
child is a born artist" If these presumed
or assumed evidences of genius arc actVd
upon, and those IN authority Sc re arbi
t.arils upon the young man and force him
| into trade or art, on the ground of theil
being better able to judge than he is fol
himself, the possibility, nay, the proba.
bility is that he will iurn out Hal old
SkimpOle, OF whose class the world has
| too many already. He sketches little
| thinkers a little with tools; drums a littl>
on piano and in time falls into line
= it'll the rank and file of the noble army
of incompetents and revilers of fate. He
may protest with all his strength in his
earlier years that he is not fitted for the
occupation chosen for him he may de-
mand to &c transferred into some other
calling that his soul hnngers after; it is
all in vain if some one in authority, be the
same parent or guardian says: ~ our pro-
fessiOn as been chosen for GU and You
must follow it; your elders have had
more experience than you and can tell
better, by reason of it, what yOu need -
and so the young man is condemned for
life. He goes mOping all his days and re-
fuses to be cOmtOrted, simply because Ills
heart is not in what he is doing. He IS
out of his element he disturbs the ma
chinery of the world he is as bad as a
broken wheel on train: everything with
which he is connected gOe- halting and
humping and jumping because of him. If
he does not reach the highest place in his
profession, his elders, with astonishing
inconsistency, upbraid him and say thai
he has no ambition, no energy. no desire
to succeed; when the simple fact is that
| I.x,
cess.
''How can l know about thing dunno
nothing about?' exclaimed an exaspera-
ted and badgered witness in the box.
''How can I have inspiration to preach
when L am always thinking about machin-
cry; or paint, when am always wishing
to preach, when divine truths fire my
error of their y.a : - A man out of his
place says these things 1T heart if not in
actual words. and his whole life is embit-
tered by the blindness of his elders who
would not see, but claimed the right, be-
cause they had the power, to squeeze a
human heart into the corner they thought
it should fill. For it is crushing the heart
out of the man to make the boy travel in
a circuit he is untitled for. All his ener-
gies and ambition reach forward to one
goal; all his nature is bent upon that one
thing, and because you cannot see as he
sees, oh parent or guardian! because you
are not him and do not love it as he loves
it, you destroy his future power. 1t is Il
serious responsibility to assume to direct
the calling in life young man shall fol-
low. an action to be taken only upon
great deliberatiOn. Whatever he under
takes he must stick to. In the early years
of his life, when the world expects but
little of him. he must study or work hard
to be qualified for the later ones, when it
exac.s a great deal. He cannot be always
young he CANNOT have two youths !; he
must give his young life, his bright hopes,
his aspirations to the work in hand. What
if his heart is far from it and he is longing
with all h S strength fer that other calling
which you have put out Of his reach !
Y ou might as well 60 out into the world
when he is of age, as some foreign parents
do, and select wife for him. With equal
consistency you might say: Il have had
more experience in the world than you !;
you can live happier with this woman
than one of your own choosing yet this
is an action you would shrink from cem-
hitting. Is not mans profession the
same in d gree as his wife? Does he not
live by it as with her? Are not all his
hopes conferred upon it, his happiness
which springs from cOngenial Occupa-
ton in some respect the same as cOHnubi-
al affection? 1t certainly is; tor unless a
man love the work to which he applies
himself his labor is of no force, OF little
worth. He is halfhearted. simply because
he lacks the inspiration which enthusiasm
lends to every occupation, even the hum
blest. The shoemaker who likes to make
shoes makes better ones than the convict
enforced to do so, and the same is true of
every work under the sun.-ScientJfc