The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1874-08-20
[From the Scientific Americana
The Practical Man.

Afresh from the press, was receiving ou
Il hnai scrutiny, and requested the loan O
/ the paper for a moment when we hat
y finished. He glanced at the first page
SKINNED over the middle, and peepet
n into the inside
81 suppose that paper Interests grea
many people, he remarked.
w We modestly signified our assent, anc
murmured something about forty ode
thousand
well, it does mt me-" he interrupted
NJ harply. at doesn't take no books Oh
Papers to learn me my business, you
know. Never learned nuthin from books
4 in my life. Didn't have but a quarters
4 schoolin,, and then | went into the shop
kSefved my time with old Pete Reynolds
of Boston. You know'd him, mebbe
fdead now. Was his foreman; now I'm
boss of my own works in the city I'm a
practical man, am. All yer hollergevs
land hosserphys may do well enough to
write about; but they amt no sorter use
in the shop. They just git inter mem s
heads, and set EN- thinkin' about other
| things than their work, and then they
| git inventin', and that's the last of 'em.
Why, / had a likely young feller, who
USED to buy that paper, and read on it,
dinner hour. Sometimes he'd stick it
up on his lathe, until l stopped that,
mighty sudden. Wall, one day | caught
him scribblin' with piece OF chalk on a
bit of board; then | know d the inven-
tion fit had got hold of him, and that he
was goner. A few weeks after he comes
to the Office, and says he: Boss, I've got
a little arrangement here that'll make
the old lathe do better work and he out
with one of them reg'lar printed paw
tents, and showed me new attachment
for making gearins, and sich WALL
says I, to humor him. like, sonny saws
/, you can go make yer masheen and set
it up on the lathe, if yer wanter.' But
the ungrateful villin began to say some
thing about royalty and shop rights, and
| told the book-keeper to pay him right
off and let him clear out Blow me if
he didn't go over to Smiths, acrost the
street, and rig his affair there; and the
first thing l knowd Smith was turnin'
out work at half my prices. Then had
to go find that feller, and pay him his
blamed royalty. and heap it was too
Now, there was a good hand Just
spilled by a-readin'; if he'd let that ere
paper of your'n alone, he might ha' been
good, stiddy man, gittin his three dol
lars day comfortable and reg'lar Now
they say he's maxim stamps by thou
sands, but he's spilled. Wont be worth
nuthin ever fer work agin Where nd
have been if I'd pegged away at books
and noozepapers-eh2 p
Our practical friend did not wait for an
answer; for while we were cogitating
suitable response, he suddenly made
bolt out of the car and rushed down
side street toward dilapidated looking
edi6ce, which. we conjectured, was none
other than the works"
EGIIT- IL
practical man" where can l find a
practical man to take hold of nv inyen.
ton and push itY How frequently we
have heard these remarksl And how
often, when we have turned to the
speaker and asked for definition of the
term practical man, has a puzzled ex-
preston and lame attempt at explana-
ton; usually ending with "Uh, l know 1
know what / mean" been the sole reply
Our street car friend is one type of the
practical man. He is of the 'selfstyled''
variety. the most numerous, probably.
existing. He is the least useful as an
the least progressive as
brain worker, and the least enlightened |
as a member of the human race, of any
class of civilized mankind. He is a COM |
pendulum of thumb rules, an epitome of
set ideas encircled by the iron barriers of
the substitution nor admission of better
views, nor the expansion of those within. |
At mere handicraft he may be skilled;
but ask him for reason, and he is dumb. |
He it is who leads the van of the shrek
ers against free and liberal education, |
who clings to that sophism which argues |
that the "world is the best teacher" |
who turns his son directly from the |
nursery into the shop; who renounces
the inventor and all his works, until |
by absolute force of circum-
stances, to yield to progress; and finally,
who. having no knowledge other than
his manuel skill and set of thumb rules,
scorns it in others.
But we want no longhaired philoso-
pliers to run our shops" possibly thinks
the reader True, nor need we have
them. Science" says Lord Brougham
in his fine definition of the term, lis
knowledge reduced to system" The
true scientist is he who not only pos
sesses this systematic knowledge, but, if
he be so situated as to require its imme-
diate aid, knows how to put it in prac-
tice. He is neither the sage who medi-
tates erudite distractions, nor the soi-
lisant practical man. who devotes him
self to mere system. He is eminently
the man of practice, but of intelligent
practice, who is master of principles, of
to whom the mere application
Of truth is nothing as compared with
,he truth itself; the latter immutable,
,he former an idea to be changed as occa-
lion may require or judgment suggest.
Such is the person we mean when we
eek the practical man" not the blatant
who thrusts himself forward
lnder that title.
Our acquaintance of the street car car
led off our paper. He honestly mailed
t back to US the other day. We smiled
IS we saw thumb marks on all the pages,
md opposite an engraving there was
,encil note of: II kno bettur plan than
han this" Perhaps after all latent
dea in his brain has been aroused or
las taken the invention ftp Should he
ee this, he will probably scout the idea
hat our humble efforts have awakened
lin, for it doesn't take no papers to
earn me my business, you know
1t is related of Wharton, the Professor
# Poetry at Oxford. that, after partak-
ng of Sunday dinner with friend, he !
epaired to his service at the church.
IN his way he was powerfully saluted
With the cry of Live mackerelr' Dur
ng the singing of the psalm, he slum-
ered in the pulpit, and on the organ
easing he arose half awake, and, instead
# commencing the prayer, startled the
congregation by giving in loud voice
'art of the cry still ringing in his ears 1
All alive, all alive, O"
A minister of West Anstruther appeal :
d to Sir Robert Anstruther, who was an
Extensive heritor in that parish, to assist
n putting stove in the church, which
le said the congregation found very cold.