Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1873-09-04
What Shall We do with Our Rows.

What Shall We do with Our Bows.
1T is as impossible to make chemist
OF an engineer, or naturalist, of bow, if
ne mas no special taste or aptness for these
S'uules, as TO make poet out of Digger
dnulan-a 1t is no unusual circumstance
lof parents who have boys Just entering
upon manhood to come to us desiring
counsel IN regard to placing them in a
chemical laboratory, that they may learn
the lrade," as, to their eyes, the business
appears remunerative. They have no
special genius, no training in preparatory
studies, no decided leaning toward chem
lcal manipulation or research, but the de-
sire is to have them made into chem
lists. There is mistaken idea, common
TO many parents, that their children are
as well adapted to one employment as an
other, and that they only need opportun-
tiles to learn regarding this pursuit or
that, to become proficients and rise to
emlnence. More than half the sad fail
ures so commonly observed are due to be-
ing forced iHto the wrong road in early
lie. Young men are forced into pulpits,
when they should be following the pillow !;
forced INTO courts of law, when they
should be driving the plane in carpen-
ter's shop; forced into sick rooms, as
physicians, when they should be guiding
locomotive, or heading an exploring
party into the Rocky Mountains; forced
into industrial laboratories, when they
should be in the counting-r or shop
1t IS wise provision Of Providence
that nearly every boy born into the world
has some peculiar distinctive capablity,
some aptness for particular calling or
pursuit; and if he is driven into channels
contrary to his instincts and tastes, he is
in antag0nism with Nature, and the odds
are against him. One of the earliest and
most anxious inquiries of parents should
be directed to the discovery of the lean
ings of their children, and if they find
that their boy, who they earnestly desire
should adorn the bar of the pulpit, is
persistently engaged is constructing toy
ships, and wading in every puddle of
water to test their sailing qualities; if he
reads books Of voyages, and when in a
seaport steals away to the wharves, to
visit ships and talk with sailors, it is GER
tain he is born for the sea. Fit him out
with a sailors rig, put him in the best
possible position for rising to the honor
able post of ship-master, and YOU have
discharged your duty. If, on the other
hand, he is logical discriminating, keen,
fond of argument, let him enter the law :;
if he is fond of whiting, planning, saw
ing, constructing, and neglects his studies,
turn him over to a good carpenter, to
learn the trade. If he begins early to
spend his pennies for sulphur, inter, oil
OF viTol, aqua f0rtis, etc; if he is such
a persistent eXperimenter that you fear he
will kill himself or set your buildings on
fire; il his pockets are full Of abOmina-
BILE drugs, and his clothing so charged
with the OdOr Of stale eggs that YOU re
fuse to admit him to the table at meal
times, why, the chances are that he is a
born" chemist, and it will be safe to
start him off to some technical school for
instruction.
The question is not what we will make
Of our boys, but what position are they
manitestly designed to fill in what direc-
ton does Nature point, as respects avoca-
tions or pursuits in life which will be in
harmony with their capabilities and in
stincts? 1t is no use for us to repine and
find fault with the supposed vulgar tastes
of our boys. We must remember that no
industrial calling is vulgar; every kind of
labor is honorable; and it is ia. better to
be distinguished as a first-class cobbler or
peddler than to live the contemplate life
of fifth-rate lawyer or clergyman.
There are thousands Of boys born into
the world possessing scarcely a trace of
ambition. Such do not care for disinc-
ton, or even for wealth; if they can pro-
cure the humbest fare, by constant toll,
the aspirations Of their bOyhOOd, and sub
sequently of their manhood, are fully
met. They are negative characters, hap
by with nothing, and suffer no citation or
depression, whether in sunshine or under
a cloud. These boys, who often afford
much modification to ambitious parents,
fill a most important niche in the world ;
in fact, the world could not do without
them. They constitute the great army Of
men who build our railroads, tunnel our
mountains, load and unload our ships, cut
down our forests, and manipulate the red
hot iron masses which come from our
blast furnaces. We cannot alter the tenn
peraments Of such boys. Nature is
stronger than we are, and we'll is it that
this is so. We may hold them by the
power Of wealth or controlling influences,
but when these fail they fall at once to
their place, in obedience to a law as ire
sistible as that which Newton discovered
in the fall of the apple. Study to learn
what they are capable of doing for them
selves; encourage them to do well what
ever work is suited to their natures. Re
gard every calling as honorable the labor
of which is honorably performed, and
thus insure happiness and prosperity to
our offspring .-B0st0n J0ur1al Of Chem
aStry.