The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1873-01-17
1sso Strings to Your itoa0.

am always sorry for a man that knows
how to do but one thing. | have seen many
such men. | gave ten dollars TO one who
could speak and write five OF six languages,
translate beautifully but in the middle Of
a hard winter he could not get living. |
remember another man who had preached
twenty-five years till his throat failed hlm,
and he used to go round looking very blue
and sad, dntil people piticd h':f! and made
little donation parties for HIM, because he
was good for nothing except to preach. l
knew a lady once that had taught school for
twenty years, till she was n poor, nervous,
broken down woman, and really didn't
know how to make dress for herself |
know man that wants to keep store, and
he sits with his thumb in his mouth wait
ing for store to come to him to be kept
/ heard of a minister who, when his peo-
pie gave him horse and buggy, had to
wait for the deacOn's wife 10 C me over and
show him how to harneSs-for he didn't
know the bit from the cruppor. Now,
boys and girls every real man should know
how to do one thing right well and he
ought to know how to do several things
tolerably well. Every wise farmer has a
principal crop; but he always puts i'll a
little something else, SO that, if his main
crop fails, he will have something to live on.
Don't carry all your eggs in one basket.
Don't carry all your money in one pocket.
IL you Will W ScI sllOllg right well, learn
one sort of work to get living by, and all
sort of work to get along with when your
one sort gives out.
At West Pom, where they take boys and
teach them to be perfect soldiers, they have
to learn, among other things, to cook and
make bread, and make their own beds and
do their own sewing, and sweep, and dust;
becau G, you know, a sailor or a soldier
never knows where his duty may call him,
and the man who knows how to do the
most things is the best sailor, the best SOL
dier-that is to say, the most of man. L
nevor saw woman do a mans work hand
lily, but | liked her all the better for it
And never saw a man dOa womau's work
neatly but | thought the more of him
for you see that work is something that
needs to be done and he who knows how
to do most Will have the best chance to
make money, or, which is better still, make
himself feel like a useful man. For. Won
see, if a man feels that he is Of no use in
the world except to be a bug in a crack,
and if the crack widens be scared and
drop, or If the crack closes be pinched he
is always anxious about that crack for fear
that something is going to happen, and
tllot he will be out in the cold or else Jam
med. Such a man can never be happy,
because he can never feel that he amounts
to much. But if a man feels that, if lie
cannot make shoes, he can curry horses,
or spade in the garden, or take care of sick
folks, or scour old coats, he is always sure
he can dosomethiDg. That man will never
feel scared.
SO, then, what do you say, boys? Sup
pose hereafter you do as the cadets do at
West Point-make your own beds every
morning till you can do it better than your
own mother can. And girls, do you learn
to harness horse till you can do it as
quickly as your brother. And boys, learn
how to make bread /; and girls, learn how
to sharpen a knife and wbittle, and drive
nails without splitting the board and
boys learn how to hem towels, run stock
ing heels, and patch your own trowsers
and girls, learn how to grease boots and
wagon wheels, to lay shingles, aud ease the
doors when they stick. Keep your eyes
and ears wide open. Learn to do all sorts
of work. And, my word for it, you will
grow hearty and plump, handsome and
h4nnV