The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1872-02-03
Our 0lio.
A Word to Young Men.

A young Englishman of our acquain.
tance, who recently came 20 this coun.
try under the impression that he could
make money easily here, though lie had
no very distinct idea how, wrote to Mr..
Grcely, after exhausting every other
resource asking his advice. He describ
ed himself as literally educated, a grGd.
uate from Oxford, but wi:hou. e:pe..
ience or skill in any particular business,
aud, OF course, out OF moroy. NJ.
Greelcy's reply, which we have oesn
allowed to decipher, begins By Say;ag
to the young man, 81 utterly 1e.sst and
abhor the kind Of education you have
received" which he says embraces
everything except that which it should
embrace-the mastery Of some bus;.
ness that will yield a support. Dir.
Greeley thanks God that he himself
graduated from ga New England com
mon school" not that he UNDERWRITERS
the knowledge to be secured in uniyers.
tiles, we take it, hut because colleges
fail to provide adequately for the future
Of the man by making him skilled
workman in some recognized business
which will certainly yield him Il support,
and the suggestion is one well worthy
OF attention. Mr.. Greely thinks every
man, no matter what his station IN life
ma be, ought to know business at
which he eau earn livelihood gah his
haaas-that every man should know a
trade. in fact; aud 10 u general way he
is doubtless right.
But what do our colleges train man
fory They give US, incidentally, doc.
tors and lawyers in such abundance that
the half Of them never secure a footing
10 their professions, while the non. pro.
fessloual graduates are turned out lib.
orally educated" as the phrase goes,
but utterly destitute of any kind OF
fitness for life. They can read Greek
and Latin they know the calculus, aud
have a limited acquaintance with the
mixed mathematics nnd the gcences.
But how many Of them know how to
make even ten dollars Q week at any
kind Of business ? low many of them
can utilize their liberal educa.ions 7
How many Of them could command a
salary on their merits without influence
aud patronage! Men who are in Jour
nalism see more Of the misery wrought
10y our defective educational sys, lem than
Others do, because mon of education
out of money, invariably try literature
under the de.rslcn that any man with
an education can write for the papers
They come by scores, confident Of their
qualification, while they admit that they
have no experience, and some Of them
even confess themselves void of an idea
as to what they shall write about, iu,a-
ining that the meu who are to pay sor
their matter can afford also to suppl,
them with its framework and spirit.
People talk great deal about the
miseries of the poor and the struggles
of the working classes, but there is pro
badly far more real suffering 10 the
struggles OF those who want to work but
do not know how. We can conceive oil
no more unhappy person than the man
whose ideas have been refined into al
most morbid sentisiyeness by liberia
education without money aud with nc
skill C. anything profitable. A com
plete education is u noble possession
but the education which does not EN-
brace the mastery Of some business is
limentably incomplete, and the parent
who makes blacksmith out Of his sor
does him a much greater kindness than
the one who makes a mere granduate OIL
the boy and leaves him to battle will
life wholly unequipped for the struggle
The fault probably lies less with th,
colleges, which educate man for the
sake OF the man, than with parents VII,
fail to add to what the college has done
the practical teachings necessary to fl
the man for life of usefulness. Ther,
Is something also to be set down to tn,
mistaken feeling that a profession i.
more honorable than trade, and to tn,
snobbishness which pushes into college.
aud iuto the professions many men
whom nature has intended to build
houses or to make machinery or to ill
the soil, To most men collegiate
training is very valuable when joined
to business education of some sort
but some are better without it, aud nc
man is fitted for life who has nothing
more than diploma on which to rely
Hearth and Home.