The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1873-05-10
Mother Earth.

We will not pretend to say that the
following article, from the Galveston
News, properly belongs to this column,
but it is truthful and pointed enough
to be read with profit any where it may
be found:
1t is to be lamented that so many of
our young and robust men shun the
cultivation of the soil. The empty gilt
ter of city life is allowed to overcome
the solid advantages belonging to rural
emplOyments. It is well known that
but small proportion of those who
embark in the uncertain and trying
experiences of mercantile pursuits rise
to wealth and distinction, and q far
greater per centage Of those who make
the venture Of profession ayoca-
tiOns derive either emOlument or fame
from their exertions. Yet all the ave-
nues of commercial patronage are in
state of chronic blockade by the super
abundance of candidates for employ
ment, and it is well known that for
every ten professional men who do
their work and pocket the fees of a re-
munerative Clientage, treble that num-
Der are habitually out Sat the elbow
from disappointed expectations, and are
plunged into the very abyss of impe
cuniOsity.
It is marvel to hard working man
how thousands of under-paid clerks,
briehess lawyers, pSsand Unappreciated
physicians manage to exc out their pre-
carious existence. Could the veil be
withdrawn from their private life, per-
haps the surprise would be exchanged
for a genuine feeling, Of pity, or, per
haps, of merited disgust. The easy,
lazy, quasi fashionable routine of city
life has such powerful attractions that
many deliberately barter for the miser-
able sham, not only the chance for
competence, but even the self-respect of
manhood.
We are not fayOrers Of the Woman's
rights movement" but yet we could
wish from the bottom of our heart that
the situations filled by effeminate
youngsters with such show Of Ian
guild energy were discharged by their
sisters and their sweethearts. And fur
ther, we could wish that the favor of
the gentle sex could not be won so easi-
ly by snowy attire and drawing room
expertness, to the disadvantage of our
country cousins, whose hands are hard
with honest and thrifty toll, and who
do not dance the German"
Our state, at the present time, is call
ing from all her borders for sturdy
WOrkers-fOr men to break the "stub-
born gleber-to "drive the team afield"
to fOrego the allurements of a lac
quered city life, full of disquietude and
uncertainty, for the unpretending, free,
healthful life on the prairie, on the stock
rancho, on the cotton farm, in the saw
mill and in the mine. All Of these lines
of business promise, to the energetic
and persevering, an immediate support
and ultimate wealth. There is nothing
surer under the sun than the success of
an upright and hard working man, who
concentrates his energies upon the
generous soil Of our State.
Cattle raising is q certain road to for
tune to any one who possesses mOder-
ate intelligence and capital, or in lack
of the latter, untiinching perseverance.
Let the adventurer he no fool, and let
him persevere in his deliberately selected
vocation, and he will grow rich just as
surely as beef is eaten and hides tanned.
| So with the shepherds calling. With
sufficient understanding Of the business
| and adaptation to its severe requisi-
tions, will come rich and speedy re-
ward. y
To speak of the cultivation of our
productive land is like playing over the
| bars of an old song. One stout man
can, unaided, support himself and a
4 moderate family, and have a modest
balance in his favor at the end of each
year, besides the insensible but undeni-
| able increment of property belonging
| to homestead, the natural advance of
real estate and the increase of domestic
comforts.
But there are but few who cannot
command more than their own hands
and the multiplication of substantial re-
suits to the farmer in such case is on
lly matter of simple calculation. And
yet so many of our young men prefer to
Lounge about our streets, cursing their
bad luck and drifting into the gulf of
good for-nothingness. Let them go to
Mother Earth.
You've WOMEN, LOOK OUT!-Now,
young ladies, look out! the young men
are after you-not with view to matri-
mony oh, no! Thep are on the wa1
path. They are going to deal death
and destruction to some of your faults
and findings. Panoplied in conscious
right, they will go forth to battle fol
the demands Of their sex. The young
men of BentOnsport have set the ball
rolling by meeting in solemn con-
clave and passing these resolutions
The first thing you know the young
men all over the country will convene
and adopt them.-Here they are
Hold your breath:
Resolved, That we will pay no at,
tentiOn whatever to any young lady
whose waist measures less than thirty
inches. ....
Resolved, That we will not recognize
any young lady who paints or powders
especially when the powder is visible
on her eye brQWs, II. ....
Dany any young lady to church who
thinks that bran is indispensable tc
calves.
Resolved, That the lady whom we
accompany to church must know more
about the sermon after services, than OF
the style and quality of her neighbor's
clothing. 49,. --
Resolved, That we will not accom-:
pany any young lady to church who
refuses to open her mouth to sing, and
then finds fault with the singing.
i Resolved, That any young lady who
I will have the Biddy discharged and
cook breakfast by Z o'clock, thereby
throwing poor Biddy out of job, il
4 heartless, and therefore, intolerable.
Resolved, That any young lady who
needs to be asked more than six times
to perform on the piano, need not apply
Resolved, That ladies with store teetl
he rejected"
/, 4 reporter of the Poughkeepsie Eagle
| interviewed d winter menagerie and
left most Of his trOwsers against the
bars of the cage occupied by a hyena.
i A Western paner boasts of a "thin
edgeF reporter who saueezes into Sc: