Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1873-08-21
The Value of a Good Trade.

for fear he would snip off my rose bushes.
| put my shawl on and sat on the grass,
and pretended l was keeping him compa-
ny. He is man of good sense, and he
said great many sensible things. l re-
marked that moving must be his trade,
he did it SO well, and made such nice
work.
"Heh!" he shifted; I'm Jack of all
trades and master Of none. | can do most
anything that take hold of" and he
leaned over and shaved the grass neatly
from about a snarl of se-bushes, bean-
tiful tangle that couldn't prune for very
tenderness of heart.
ooh, thank you" | said; "you die MA
as kindly as mother would f.asS I hor
babe. Any other man woul.,, have Soid
Here's dead branch, Hiss potts > or
'Yon is a useless shoo..:' Or Thai hnsb
yander is a-sutferin' Tor the knife, It,s
my push, you See, and | want it to grow as
Wild, anu rantlng, and riotous, and Just as
eXuavagantly as it pleases. ! Cont care
If It leaps as high as the to-, of the house "
said |, good deal excited!
wen, oar%alate that it would be the
; ne.'er I" little trimmin', but, as you say,
"' veil enough to let natur' have her own
way, just to see what all she can do when
she takes notion. If | was a regular
gardener, s'pose | would have attacted
that bush whether or no. I often wish
father had apprenticed me to that trade
poor man, he's been dead an gone this
many long year; he was a good father,
and don't find it in my heart to bring up
word o. blame agin him. and here he
leaned on the handle of the scythe in q
comfortable sort of a way. "But, Miss
Potts, l think it's every mans duty to give
his boys trades. When father died he left
a farm of one hundred and sixty acres:
there was mother, and we three crown
boys, and the two little girls, and JOHNNY.
ana grandmother. Well, we couldn't ali
nave the farm, and we couldn't any more
preacher and the taxes, and school the
c, 1lldren, and meet an occasional doctors
bin, !; and so Jack and | talked it over ono
nigh l. and though it did seem a little
hard. we resolved, fore God an ourselves
that we q give upall right and claim To-
the old ia. IN to Tom, our oldest brother
if he'd care for mother and the children
and do the part of a dutiful son and
brother. It d d seem kind o. hard. strik-
in out to do for ourselves, two green bows
who'd always been cared for. Jack'd al
ways wanted more larnin', he never was
satisfied, and so he went away 20 school
to shift for himself as he best could. Well,
he worried along somehow, until now he
is qualified to teach-he teaches in the
winter and goes to school in the summer
I'd taken a shine to Milly Brown-she
was modest little hard -workin' creetur-
and so we concluded to marry and help
each other along. We never regretted it;
and though l don't own foot o. land,
and have no trade, we have always man
a. hot ha6 To f1,ro
privation. Be sure I've had to wear patch
upon patch, an Milly's had to turn her
dresses bottom end up, an t'other side
out; we've got along grandly.
but Miss Potts, it's just as much as [
can do to stand up an feel myself man
among men. | amt an independent man;
I've no trade. To-day | NOW your yard;
tomorrow [ help Farmer Hutchins move
his smOke-house; the next day / pillow
corn for Jack Williams maybe the next
III make a chimney in Ephraims kitchen,
or elevate grain in Taylor's warehouse or
haul coal for Caster, or make pavement
on Milk street, or weed somebody's gar
den. That's no way o. doin', hackin'
round for Tom, Dick an Harry, some
times getting paid, and sometimes only
often | work half day for a man and
he'll say I'll do you a good turn, some
time, Wilson, or, it's a mighty nice thing
to be as handy a man as you are, GEORGE
mo, Miss Potts, Pm not tree mani
am bondsman, / wear shackles, an here
I've family comm on, promisin' boys
and girls, an I'm afraid III not be able to
do my whole duty by 'em. God helpin'
me | mean to give every boy O. mine
good trade, anyhow; maybe my girls, too.
When Bower broke up and had to sell his
farm and move to town, just spoke right
up before | thought. | said, Bower
said |, now you can't do better thing
than to apprentice Ned and Timothy to
trades. You don't want to live in town
and have two big idle boys trifiing away
don't let 'em ever feel as though you had
not done all 4 fathers duty. You can
have Ned learn the timers trade, and let
Tim be mason, or plasterer, or a
cooper an what does neighbor Bower
do but up and get mad, an tell me to mind
my own business, an that he was capable
of lookin' after his own family.
"Well, to-day, those Bower boys are
like me, going jobbing round wherever
they can get hands turn to do. | think
it is a shame for a man to bring poor
children into this world and not do a
fathers duty by them, just leave them to
shift for themselves, crippled, shackled,
hobbled, wings clipped, and not feeling
that they belong to the class of men who
are free and brave and bold, and who can
stand up and look the world in the face
and feel themselves no mans inferior.
THAT was a nice thing, sensible, too,
that Esquire Hamilton did last week.
His youngest son, Ralph, don't like to
go to schools dull about learning-it is
drudgery to him, and so, with his own
consent, his father bound him to the
blacksmith's trade. My! what growth
that boy'll get! He is pretty hearty now,
but what muscle will, be developed, and
what ruddy face, and strong arm, and
how happy he'll be.
ooh, | think it's Gods blessing tor
man to have trade, even if he don't fall
back upon it to make living! $3.50
well-Ill try and do my, duty py my
boys" and my neighbor drew his sleeve
across his moist face and went on with
his moving.
NV heart ached for the poor man, and I
shut nv teeth little viclously in memory
of the Indifferent old father in his grave
on the hillside. In my heart sanctioned
everv word had heard, and | thought
what pitv it is that young men so rush
into the over crowded professional ranEA,
nreferring to be a fourth rate lawyer, an
nngodly minister, or an illiterate quack
of of oIcr>,ith