Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1872-01-23
a Painful Gontrast-Wake nm. Bows

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| We copy thesfuIlowing article from The
South, newspaper published in New York
! city. We are forced to acknowledge the con.
/ trast to be correct
To a southerner visiting the populous and
| stirring centres of trade of the North one
sight strikingly contrasts with some things
which lie is accustomed to see at home. We
/ allude to the active employments of bows and
young men in New York aud other large cities
The stranger meets with hundreds of youths.
varying In age from fourteen to twenty. who
are engaged in the thousand different branch.
1 es OF manufacture, traffic and business
These boys move along the leading thorough.
fares with an energy and directness which
give the most hopeful promise of future sue
cess with brows knit, lips compressed, eyes
that look right onward, they urge their de-
| termlned course amidst the eager thousands
that throng the streets. Here one bears an
order book or shipping list another carries
bank deposit book; one has handful of cir
cuiars for distribution ; one an armful of mat
ter just received from the post-ofice third
bundle of dispatches that have flashed over
the wires from the most distant portions OF the
world. A brawny, bare-arm lad pushes
along handcart loaded with wares, threading
his eager way amidst the hundreds of busting
vehicles that block up the narrow street.
Here is boy bent double, putting along with
towering pyramid of paper boxes roddpg.
| above his head. AT the corner We run against
| the carpenters apprentice with folding ladder
upon his shoulders, and complement of tools
III bis swart hands. BY the curb-srone sits
the street merchant, a beardless youth. with
gli'terin. store of gaudy ,rnkets, industri-
ousiy assailiDg the eye and ear of every passer
, by In the immense store rooms of wholesale
houses, as well as in the narrow quarters of
the thriving ragman, boys aud young men are
installed as active and effective workers. In
machine shops and toundries they are found
showing the. plane, welding the axe and
swinging the sedge hammer, fitting them
selves tor the sternest toll of this busy work.
day world. Yon see but little idliug or loaf
, ing about street corners. The traditional
whistler, with his everlasting jack knife, is an
extinct genus Everywhere, on the contrary,
you find energy, activity and exertion.
In the South, we are glad to know, hun-
dreds OF boys aud young men in the country
districts have aroused themselves of late wears
to the necessities of the situation. An in
creasing number has gone into the fields. lay>
ing aside traditional pride and constitutional
indifference and with honest and faithful
toll have these worthy men vindicated their
claims to a noble manhood. All honor to
these hardy pioneers who thus point out the
royal road to independence and prosperity
But enter our Southern towns. The con-
trast is pitful. Scores Of young men of eli
gibe age and ample 7hysjq~e, to make their
mark in the world of honest toll. are seen
ldlng and lounging around the streets. A
few are found measuring dry goods across the
counter OF merchants who when they sell an
average OF ten dollars day mark it down as
notable era in the years calendar Content
to drivel away existence upon level of intel
lectual stagnat'on and physical torpor, they
hunt down every store-keeper who has five
hundred dollars invested in tenpenny nails.
shoe thread, coffee mills and bandana hand
kerchiots to besiege him for the exalted sta>
ton OF chief clerk in his establishment.
And just out Of the town limits lie ten
thousand acres Of fertile land, all fallow, and
running to waste with second wilderness for
want Of honest work. The cry is, .Oh, the
lazy Digger" "The country is ruined be-
cause the niger won't work" Out upon
you thriit,ess tribe! You are the real bane
and curse of your impoverished country You
are as hearty at meal times as an English
sailor, and as lazy afterwards as an anaconda
that has swallowed II five year old baboon.-
Quit your lazy prctcuce of reading the law
that you will never understand, and the medi>
SihO e"dk VIII tuiu yt'u d licensed uuack.
Get out of your silken stove pipe beaver tha,
has not been paid for, and your sixteen dollar
boots that makes the i'll paid shoemaker groan
with anguish when he lifts up his eyes and
sees you great way off. Fly to the deserted
fields that mplore your aid. Rebuild the
shattered fences; renovate the ill-used soil
till the willing earth. So shall your barns be
filled with plenty, as the Scripture beautifully
hath it. Go to the workshop and learn an
honest trade. Let your faces be blackened
by SCOT and your hands be hardened with tools.
l, will do you good. Fools may prate and
asses bray, but all good men and we'll wishers
of their country must and will commend your
course and bid you God speed. Boys, seek
energetic work aud your fortunes will grow
and your characters strengthen, your country
smile on you and your conscience approve your
wise aud honorable career